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How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies?

By Staff

Did you know, once a fruit fly finds its way into your home, it will find a medium (like fermenting fruit) and lay up to 500 eggs which will take about a week to become a breeding adults. A fruit fly infestations can happen overnight, here are some tips to get rid these pesky pests.

Tips To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies

Fruit Fly Trap :

Things you will need :a banana or two, a knife, some cling wrap or similar plastic wrap, a few rubber bands, and old plastic jars or bowls that can be thrown away after use. Make sure the container is deep enough to hold a few slices of banana.

Method : Slice the bananas and divide the slices into several containers. Now, take some liquid dish soap, honey or vegetable oil and rub it around the top of the bottle opening, along the insides down into the jar. Place the cling wrap or other plastic wrapping tightly over the opening of the jar or bowl, and place a rubber band around it to hold it snuggly in place. With the help of a knife, poke a few tiny holes into the plastic wrap. Make sure the holes are very tiny, so that the fruit can snuggle inside but can never come out. After trapping few, dispose the entire jar. Do not use the jar for any other purpose. You can also use wine or apple cider vinegar as a substitute to banana.


Spray the house with diluted lemongrass oil. Just add 10 drops of oil to 2 ounces of hot water. This will not only help in killing fruit flies but also spiders, ants and other creepy crawlers.

Hang fly strips with both their sides exposed to flies. Fruit flies will stick to the fly trap and die. Look for them at places that sell stuff to horse owners

Mix 1/4 cup white vinegar and a squirt of liquid dishwashing soap in a cup and add water until the bubbles reach the top of the cup. Leave the cup in an area where you find them the most. The fruit flies will surely get attracted to it and they get stuck in the bubbles.

To eliminate them forever from your kitchen, combine 1 pint milk, 1/4 lb. raw sugar and 2 ounces of ground pepper in a saucepan and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Later pour the mixture into shallow dishes. Flies will attack the dishes greedily and will soon suffocate and die. This method is practiced in England since 1850.

A pyrethrin space spray can also be used. Pyrethrin spray is also used by pest control operators to spray the tiny areas where fruit flies and other insect pests breed.

Story first published: Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 11:07 [IST]
Read more about: pest control sharon supriya