Dealing with Fruit Flies

Why Fruit Flies Arrive
Fruit flies will not show up unless there’s rotting, overripe, or open food in your house for them to eat.  They’re not interested in fresh fruits and vegetables.  Does the tomato you have sitting on the counter have a small bruise?  That part of it has gone bad, and it can attract fruit flies.  I once had to dig through an entire bushel basket of pears to find one that was slightly bruised way at the bottom.  It was a small black spot, but it attracted an entire swarm of fruit flies.

Use these two steps to be eliminate fruit flies.

How to Eliminate Fruit Flies Step #1

1. Throw out all bruised, overripe, or spoiled fruit and vegetables.  You can place overly ripened fruits in the fridge to slow down the process.
2. Wash all counter tops and effected areas with a disinfectant.

How to Eliminate Fruit Flies Step #2
Create the following recipe. I found this on-line but I can’t remember where so I can give the proper credit.
Fruit Fly Collecting Mixture: Add the following to a large bowl and mix.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 quarts water
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
• 2 Drops Dish Detergent

Preparation:

1. Put this out on a counter near where the flies are and they’ll be floating on the surface before long.  Just throw the mix out when you’ve got them all.  If you keep your home free of fruit fly food sources, they’ll never come back.  If they do, just scrub everything down and then put out the mixture.

Amie Sue’s note: This really works. I had an infestation of these little creatures as I was hoarding 50 lbs of fruit.  I made the mixture and soon I had a little bowl of floating fruit flies.

Posted on Monday, December 6th, 2010 at 5:05 am. Filed under: Raw Techniques RSS 2.0 feed.