After mosquitoes, fruit flies may be the world’s most annoying flying insects. They buzz incessantly around your face, stopping only to threaten the apples and bananas in your fruit bowl. Here’s how to swat away these pernicious pests.
First, remove the source
Fruit flies are attracted to the sugar in ripe, even rotting fruit and other produce. Beverages such as beer and wine are also a temptation.
Find where the fruit flies are feeding, trash the source, or move it to the refrigerator. Then, clean the bowl with a disinfecting cleaner, such as a mild bleach solution, to eliminate potential health hazards. (Fruit flies also dine on manure, which means they can bring dangerous bacteria to the bowl. They can also lay eggs on your fruit.)
Next, trap and destroy the fruit flies
You can clear your house of these flying tormentors with a simple homemade solution.
- Mix a solution of vinegar or red wine with a dash of sugar and a few drops of liquid dish soap in a small disposable container such as a paper cup. The flies will land in this solution and drown.
- Or, for a few dollars, you can buy contact strips for flying insects. The flies land on it, cannot escape, and die.
Related – Bye-Bye Fly: Keeping Flies Out of Your Home
