Fruit flies are not only annoying, they also spoil our fruit and vegetables. It's all the more important to get rid of them quickly.
When temperatures rise, they are suddenly everywhere - fruit flies appear out of nowhere and invade the kitchen. Sliced fruit, the wine glass in the living room or the fruit juice for the children - fruit flies stop at nothing and seem to multiply explosively. Fruit flies in the kitchen are just annoying. Simple home remedies can help get rid of fruit flies. It is also a good idea to set up a fruit fly trap. These are commercially available, but you can also easily make them yourself.
What are fruit flies?
Fruit flies are only a few millimeters in size and yet they are one of the most annoying pests in the house. Fruit flies are easy to recognize with a size of three millimeters. The mini flies tend to appear where there are cut or layered fruit and vegetables. There they will find an ideal breeding ground.
The fruit flies deliberately lay their eggs on soft and rotten fruit so that the larvae can start eating as soon as they hatch. Female fruit flies lay up to 400 eggs. Several generations are raised each year. If you don't do anything about the infestation, you will soon find yourself surrounded by flocks of small flies.
How do fruit flies get into the kitchen?
It only seems to take seconds. As soon as the wine is in the glass and the apple is cut open, the fruit flies are there. The small flies have particularly fine antennae and can get into the apartment through the open windows.
Tip: The fruit fly perceives sliced fruit 1,000 times better than humans.
Fruit flies are increasingly found in the following locations:
- Fruit Basket
- Vegetable Bowl
- Wine Bottle
- Wine Glass
- Juice Bottle
- Juice Glass
- Kitchen waste
- Beer
- Vinegar
It can also happen that fruit flies do not get into the room through the window, but are bought with them. If the larvae are already on fruits and vegetables, then this is to the human eyenot visible.
Small flies in the potting soil - what to do?
It seems that fruit flies don't just feel at home in the fruit basket. If fruit flies are found in the flower pot, they are actually fungus gnats. These insects look confusingly similar to the fruit fly.
Fruit flies in potting soil are mostly visible when the plants are watered. Then the little flies really swarm out and buzz around the plant. Fungus gnats prefer a moist environment and lay their eggs on a substrate rich in humus. The larvae live in the soil and eat the roots. A small infestation is not a cause for concern, as houseplants are usually not damaged.
If you want to drive the little flies out of the substrate, you can cover the soil with a layer of quartz sand. The sand should be filled in several centimeters high. A similar effect is achieved with a cover made of coffee grounds. In general, it can already help to water the plants less.
Tip: Placing carnivorous plants at the flower window can quickly decimate the fly infestation.
Proven home remedies against fruit flies
Fruit flies can be reliably driven away by either deterring or attracting the pests. There are several ways to do this.
- Olive Herb: The aromatic scent of the plant belonging to the genus Holy Herb drives fruit flies away from the fruit basket. The herb can be dried and placed in small linen bags. These bags not only look decorative, they are effective at repelling fruit flies.
- Tomato Leaves: The leaves of the tomato plant give off an intense smell that fruit flies don't like. The fresh leaves are scattered around the fruit basket, causing the little flies to flee.
- Lemon: This homemade fragrance experience can be used to combat fruit flies. A lemon is cut open and studded with cloves. Fruit flies will quickly flee when the fruit lands in the fruit basket.
Make fruit fly traps - this is how it works
A classic fruit fly trap can be made in just a few simple steps:
- fill a glass with fruit juice
- add a few dashes of vinegar
- fill with some dishwashing liquid
- Stretch permeable film over the glass
- Setting up a flytrap in the kitchen
The fruit flies climbthrough the foil into the container. Since there is detergent in the liquid, the surface tension of the liquid is lost. The fruit flies cannot land on the fruit juice and drown.
Tip: Wine or sparkling wine can be used instead of fruit juice.
Make your own flytrap out of sugar and yeast
For this equally effective solution against fruit flies in the kitchen, mix a cube of fresh baking yeast with lukewarm water. You add a spoonful of sugar. After thorough mixing, a liquid reminiscent of milk should have formed. The liquid is filled into a bottle and placed in the kitchen near the fruit basket.
Tip: The fruit fly can no longer free itself from bottles with a long and thin neck.
Insider tip: denture cleaner
This flytrap is particularly quick to use, as no laborious mixing of different substances is necessary. Commercially available denture or braces cleaner is dissolved in water. If the container is placed next to the fruit basket, fruit flies can be effectively driven away.
Buy Fly Traps
Various fly traps are commercially available. These are also based on the principle that the fruit flies are attracted to certain liquids, crawl into a container and cannot escape from there.
In addition, products are also offered that can be attached to lamps or cupboards in the kitchen. These are adhesive strips that are treated with different substances. The fruit flies absorb the smell and stick to the sticky surface.
Another method of controlling fruit flies is to use fly traps that plug into the socket. The light attracts the flies. They are then killed by the built-in high voltage grid.
Catch fruit flies alive - is that possible?
If you want to act in the interest of animal welfare, you will have a hard time with fruit flies. But the trade has reacted and now live traps for fruit flies are offered. The small jar is made of plastic and features an integrated slotted drogue and lid.
How to catch fruit flies alive:
- Open jar
- Place a small piece of fruit on the bottom of the container as bait
- Attach Drogue
- Set up a live trap in the kitchen
- fruit flies have collected in the jar, close the jar
- Open vesselOpen windows and release fruit flies
If you don't want to buy these fly traps and still want to catch the animals alive, you can use the following trick:
- Put the banana peel in a plastic bag and place it open near the fruit basket
- Fruit flies collect in the plastic bag
- Seal plastic bag and release fruit flies in a convenient place
Tip: If the above measures are unsuccessful, the fungus gnat has probably nested in you. These small flies live in moist potting soil and a section at the beginning of the text is dedicated to combating them.