How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies?
The summer months are a wonderful time of the year. The whole place is filled with colours, and seasonal fruits are everywhere. But just when you are admiring your fruit bowl, you notice something unwelcome. It’s the pesky fruit flies!
Fruit flies often take the fun out of summer. You see them anywhere you go, flying around your kitchen, much to your annoyance. But worry not! Experts in pest control Dublin got some tips on how to get rid of fruit flies in Ireland once and for all!
Inspect the Drains
Yes, those seemingly innocent drains might just be the best pathway for fruit flies to enter your home. If you suspect that this is the case, you can confirm your suspicion by covering it overnight with plastic. Check for fruit flies underneath the following morning.
Use natural drain cleaners to clean your drains and keep them free from organic material. Try to run your garbage disposals as often as possible.
To clean your drains better, pour equal parts of salt and baking soda and top it with an equal amount of white vinegar.
Always check around and under your sinks for any leaks. Fruit flies love laying their eggs on moist organic surfaces, and the areas under the sink are a perfect example.
Be sure to re-grout tiles and reseal fixtures around your sinks to prevent leakage. See to it that the wood and the rest of the surfaces beneath the sink are dried completely after every use and cleaning process.
Clean As You Go
While you love your kitchen, it is also one of the parts of your home where you do all kinds of messy work. One of the simplest pest control tips to get rid of fruit flies in Ireland is to always clean as you go.
Yes, there is a good and sensible reason why commercial kitchens follow the same policy. A clean kitchen will not only keep the fruit flies away but will also make it easier for you to cook and move around your kitchen.
As you cook, pick up kitchen peelings and vegetable scraps right away. All compostable materials must be taken outside to the compost heap immediately after you produce them.
You can also consider getting a compost crock with a tightly sealed lid. Put it beside the prep area so you can keep the peelings and cores there before you take them outdoors.
For kitchen scraps such as banana peels and citrus rinds, you can place them inside scrap bags and store them in the freezer until you can put them in the trash to be picked up outside. Freezing these scraps is better instead of leaving them in the trash where they will only attract fruit flies.
All food prep surfaces must be cleaned and dried thoroughly, including around the stoves, under the counters, and anywhere where scraps might accumulate.
If you are using wooden cutting boards, make sure you also wash them often with hot water and let them dry completely. This is important because these tools are also a favourite spot for fruit flies to lay their eggs and larvae.
Discard Rotting or Overripe Produce
Check all your vegetables and fruits to see if they are too ripe, decaying, or rotting. Dispose of problematic fruits and vegetables because female fruit flies can lay their eggs on these surfaces.
Refrigerate Your Fruits and Vegetables
Although you might love seeing your fresh produce on the counter, these may look like a feast to the eyes of fruit flies. To keep your kitchen and your entire house free from fruit flies, keep all your vegetables and fruits inside your refrigerator, especially bananas.
This simple step can stop these pesky insects from entering and spreading around your Dublin home. It is also necessary to prevent more serious infestations.
Pay Attention to Your Trash Bins
All garbage bins in and around your home must have tight-fitting and well-sealed lids. Keep the bins covered all the time. Make sure that the bins are always clean inside and out, especially the edges around the top.
Any container that will go to the recycling bins must be washed properly first, especially soda cans and fruit juice bottles.
Use Store-Bought or DIY Traps
After you have kept your home free from all possible food sources for the annoying fruit flies, you can just wait for them to die. Unfortunately, these insects can often survive for two weeks or even more given the right conditions.
To speed up the process, you can also use traps that will lure and capture adult fruit flies. Some of these traps are specially made for indoor use.
You can also try making your fruit fly trap. Prepare one or two homemade traps using vinegar and place them around food prep and storage areas to let them do their job.
Make a cone using a half sheet of paper or a large file card. Leave a tiny opening at the bottom part and insert this into a jar that contains a half-inch amount of apple cider vinegar. ACV is more effective than white vinegar because its smell is similar to fermenting fruit.
The fruit flies will then go down the cone to reach the vinegar. Once they get inside, they won’t be able to find their way back out. Seal the cone at the edge of the jar. You can apply some oil to capture any insects that might try to squeeze through.
A similar method is to mix apple cider vinegar with a few drops of dish soap in a small bowl. Microwave this mixture for 20 seconds to make it smell better which will attract the fruit flies. The dish soap will reduce the liquid’s surface tension, causing the bugs to get stuck and drown.
Another effective and quick way to trap circling fruit flies is to use a piece of plastic wrap over a small bowl or custard cup with a tiny hole the size of a pencil poked in the plastic close to the centre. The traps can also work well using wine or beer.
These are just some ways how to get rid of fruit flies in Ireland. But if your problem persists, don’t hesitate to enlist the help of professionals who can provide the best services for pest control Dublin.
