It’s fruit fly season – a time for remembering how annoying the last fruit fly season was and furiously prepping your home to try and keep those little menaces away.
While fruit flies aren’t really harmful to humans, they are really annoying and getting them out of your home can feel impossible, especially when you consider that fruit flies can lay around 500 eggs at a time. Yuck.
However, there are solutions to getting rid of them and they might not even cost much money – they’re probably already sitting in your kitchen cupboards, in fact.
How to get rid of fruit flies
1. Clean the dishes
Fruit flies love breeding grounds – and dishes with even hints of scraps of food on them are ideal to them.
If you wash dishes right after using them (or put them in the dishwasher, if you’re lucky enough to have one), you take away one of their potential breeding areas. Ideally, don’t leave open cups of liquids like water or tea around, either.
2. Clean your drain
Your drain may look clean from the outside but there are likely bits of food stuck in there that small flies simply can’t resist. Pour hot water down your drain to clear any debris and keep it clean.
3. Do a stock check of your cupboards
Have you forgotten about any onions or potatoes? According to University of Kentucky Entomology, “a single rotting potato or onion forgotten at the back of a closet, or fruit juice spillage under a refrigerator can breed thousands of fruit flies”.
4. Make the most of your basil plant
Fresh basil acts as a repellent, so placing a basil plant near your fruit bowl or breaking some leaves up and placing them directly on to fruit can keep them away.
5. Create a vinegar trap
In a bowl or cup, drizzle some non-white vinegar such as red wine, balsamic or apple cider vinegar. Then, cover the top tightly with cling film and poke some small holes in the wrap. The flies will be attracted to the vinegar but won’t be able to get back out. You can also use a banana for this same purpose.
6. No vinegar? Use dish soap
Mix together one part water to one part dish soap and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. The vinegar will act to attract the flies and the soap will make them drown in the water.
7. Make sure you’re keeping cloths and towels dry and clean
While many of us are in the habit of leaving damp cloths and towels around in the kitchen, these are also breeding grounds for flies.
Instead, make a point to wash these at least daily and only have them out if they’re dry and clean.