Ah, It’s summertime!
So you probably have some delicious fruit in your kitchen: peaches, strawberries, oranges…mmm!
Oh, but you know how it goes – you bought more bananas than you could eat up in time,
so, it’s time to talk about how fruit flies.
So you see, to get the fruit to fly, you can grip it like so, and fling it as hard as you
can, with a slight up-angle so it flies a long way, like this!
Whew!
Wait wait hold on.
Oh, you mean Fruit Flies -- the Bugs?
Well that’s different.
Yep, Summertime’s when you can get these little irritating home invaders that decide
to help themselves.
So here are some tips on how you can keep them out of your sweet summer treats for good!
Starting with…
1.
The Funnel Method The funnel trick is a magic trap for fruit
flies, and it’s kind of a fun DIY project.
All these tips are, so get ready to awaken your inner crafter!
- Start by grabbing a tall vase or jar to use as your base container.
- Next, you’ll need to choose your fruit fly bait.
Fruit flies go after anything sugary, so you have a lot of options here, and most of them
are probably lying around your kitchen right now.
You can go with your over-ripe fruit: slice up some squishy peaches, blackened bananas
– any super ripe or rotting fruit will work here.
If you don’t have any or you don’t want to use fruit, you can also use honey, maple
syrup, any fruit juice or sugary soda, or even apple cider vinegar.
- Whatever bait you end up going with, put it in your base container.
You don’t need a lot, just enough to cover the bottom.
A layer that’s about 2 fingers wide will do.
- Now, roll a piece of paper to create a funnel shape, and tape it so that it keeps its form.
- Stick the narrow end through the top of your base container so that the funnel is
resting in the opening.
Make sure the tip of the funnel isn’t touching your bait.
- Finally, set your fruit fly trap near the infested area – perhaps near your fruit
bowl, garbage, or sink.
And Ta-da!
The fruit flies in your house will be no more!
This trap is so simple, yet it works like a charm.
The flies will fly down into the wide part of the funnel and follow the sweet (er, rotting!)
scent of the bait inside.
However, thanks to the funnel shape, they won’t be able to fly back out!
Leave your trap out overnight, and by morning, you should have a whole family of fruit flies
munching on the bait in your container!
If you have persnickety fruit flies and don’t see any in the container the next morning,
try a different bait.
To, uh, take more drastic measures, you can pour some lukewarm water in your container
along with some dish soap.
Let it sit for a while, then swish it around a bit.
When you’re done, dump the mixture out in your yard.
Rinse out your container – you can reuse it for more fruit fly traps!
2.
The Bowl Trap Here’s a similar method but with a little
less crafting.
All you need do is put ripe or rotten fruit in the bottom of a medium or large bowl.
Throw in a sweet liquid as well, maybe soda or syrup.
Again, you don’t need to fill it or anything – just a layer about 2-fingers-thick on
the bottom.
Cover the bowl as tightly as possible with plastic or Saran wrap.
Grab a fork and poke holes around the top of the wrap.
Leave it out overnight, and you should see fruit flies feeding on your bait in the morning.
This is the same idea as the funnel method – we’re luring the fruit flies to a bait
that they can get to while making it harder for them to escape.
The flies will go into the holes you made with your fork, but they won’t be smart
enough to get back out of the bowl through those same holes.
If you don’t see any fruit flies in your trap in the morning, you might’ve made your
holes too big.
Remember, even full-grown fruit flies are less than half a centimeter long, so you really
don’t need big gaping holes to trap them.
Try again with smaller ones and see how it goes the next time around!
3.
Freezer Swap Take 2 medium-sized jars and fill them with
fruit rinds and peels.
Cover the mouths of your jars with clear stretchy plastic wrap.
Press down in the middle of the plastic wrap with your finger to create a funnel shape
down inside the jars.
Poke a small hole, perhaps with a toothpick, in the middle of the dents; this is where
the fruit flies will enter the trap.
When you notice fruit flies in one jar, put it in the freezer.
This will freeze the flies and their eggs!
When you see flies in the other jar, swap it out for the one that’s been chillin’
with your frozen pizzas.
Rotate the jars for a while like this until you have a fly-free kitchen!
4.
Prevention Well, what better way to get rid of fruit
flies than to keep them away in the first place?
At least you won’t have to feel guilty about, ya know, sending them to meet their maker.
Anyway, the one sure-fire way to prevent fruit flies in the first place is to store your
fruit properly.
It’s tempting to just place your sweet produce in a fruit bowl on the kitchen counter.
But once fruit is ripe, it’ll last much longer when refrigerated.
You can refrigerate apples and bananas right away.
This will slow down their ripening process.
Even if your bananas are black on the outside, still try refrigerating them – this may
save the tasty inside.
Fruits like mangoes, papayas, melons, peaches, and avocadoes (yes it’s a fruit) can be
left out at room temperature to keep ripening.
But once they’re fully ripe, they should go straight to the fridge so that they’ll
stay good for a few more days.
Berries and grapes should be kept refrigerated and eaten the same day or not long after you
bought them.
Citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit stop ripening after they’re picked, so these
can stay in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
Knowing how to store your fruit will make it last longer and keep your kitchen a No-Fly
zone!
(Isn’t that clever?)
Now it’s your turn down in the comments: how do you keep your home bug-free in the
summer?
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Stay on the Bright Side of life!