Effective ways: how to get rid of fruit gnats

Drosophila: description of fruit flies

The midge that gathers on fruits is called Drosophila. It is also called fruit midge. She really turns on fruits, because she loves sweets very much.

Perishable fruits and vegetables are the main breeding ground for it. It does not harm fruit and berry plantings and feeds on rotten ripe fruits.

Gray, yellow-gray flies often take root in kitchens. The size of the body of an adult fruit fly reaches three millimeters. Males are smaller than females.

Description and behavioral features of fruit flies

Fruit flies are small insects whose body size does not exceed 1.7 mm in males and 2.5 mm in females. The color is yellow-brown or yellow-gray with transverse dark stripes on the abdomen, the wings are transparent. A distinctive feature of fruit flies is their large red eyes.

Unlike fruit moths, whose adults do not eat, fruit flies feed at both the larval and adult stages. Their food is plant sap and rotting organic matter, but midges prefer fruit.

Fruit midge

Females lay eggs on the surface of the fruit, within a day the larvae hatch, after 5-6 days they pupate and after another 5 days small midges are born. During her life, the female lays 350 – 400 eggs.

Fruit fly reproduction

Fruit flies rapidly increase their population in conditions of high humidity and high air temperatures. The putrefactive environment is favorable for females to lay eggs. Within a day, a larva hatches from an egg, and in five to six days it develops into an adult fly, going through all stages of the pupa.

The instant reproduction of fruit flies is explained by the ability of flies to mate half a day after emerging from the pupa. Mushki retains the sperm of males until it is fully mature and lays up to eighty eggs at a time.

Description

In total, there are more than 1000 species of different midges, but most often fruit flies (also called wine flies) are happy to settle in an apartment and feel quite comfortable.

These are small dipterous insects, only 3-5 mm in length (females are slightly larger). Their life cycle takes place in 3 stages: egg, larva and imago.

Drosophila reproduce rapidly: during her short life, each female lays about 400 eggs, and this is a very high speed.

Their eggs are small, only half a millimeter. From the moment they are laid by the female until hatching under normal conditions, only 5-10 days pass.

Adult Drosophila flies are very nimble, and catching them is not always easy. They feed on the juice of fruits or vegetables, and are especially fond of food waste and rotting fruits, where they lay their eggs.

Harm and benefit

Since the habitat and reproduction of the fruit midge is sewage (garbage cans, vegetable and fruit waste, garden fruit rot, sewage, spoiled food), it is a source of the spread of infectious intestinal diseases, so combating it is mandatory. Drosophila may be a factor influencing the manifestation of allergies.

Despite these facts, many terrariums and fish farms breed fruit flies as food for reptiles, amphibians and fish. Aquarium fish also love to eat fruit flies.

Reasons for appearing in a person’s home

Drosophila are found very often in an apartment or residential building. Popular places of their settlement:

• flower pots with waterlogged soil (overwatering causes the roots and stems of houseplants to rot);
• rotten vegetables and fruits that were not disposed of in a timely manner;
• supplies in the pantry - fruit flies infest cereals and nuts;
• A trash can that is not emptied every day is rarely washed.

READ ALSO: Reasons for the appearance of flies in an apartment and how to get rid of harmful buzzing insects
Often flies appear in boxes of onions, zucchini or pumpkins stored in a closet, bags of potatoes or beets. It is enough to rot one fruit in a bag for fruit flies to choose this source of food and reproduction.

One of the names - wine fly - was given to Drosophila for its special love for wine smells and fermented food products. Carelessly forgotten and sour jam or compote in an open jar will certainly become a breeding ground for insects. For this reason, it is unacceptable to store empty, unwashed alcohol bottles at home.

How does a fruit fly get into an apartment?

• Midges appear in the apartment if the table is left uncleaned after a meal.
• Drosophila are infested by stale fruits or vegetables brought from a market or store. Fruits and vegetables tend to quickly deteriorate if improperly stored, which creates a breeding ground for harmful insects.
• They can enter through open windows and vents from the street and take root in the apartment.
• Ventilation passages and cracks in the walls are also ways for insects to enter the apartment.
• They can appear if the basic rules of home cleanliness are not followed (unwashed dishes, uncleaned pet food area, dirty refrigerator).
• A home orchard can cause the proliferation of fruit flies, which enter the room through door and window openings.
• Drosophila can also be brought into the house with purchased flower indoor plants. In the absence of food objects, midges can take root in flower pots, because they maintain a high level of humidity.

In the apartment, fruit flies find a source of food - table scraps and stagnant garbage, sewer holes.

Where do midges come from on fruit in an apartment?

Fruit gnats and flies are traditional garden pests. Where do the midges on fruit in the apartment come from? There may be several options here.

• Midges that swarm around fruits do not always live in them. Check for them in sink, sink or bathtub drains, near hot water pipes and in areas around flower pots. If they are there, pest control will need to be done in these places too. Insects have extremely developed sense organs, so they can find sweet food even from a great distance. If you don't have mosquito nets on your windows, pests can fly in from the street, attracted by the desired sweet aroma, which you, for your part, may not even feel.
• Produse store. Midges and their larvae may already be on or in the fruit at the time of purchase. They can end up in a fruit bag at the store and then come out at your home. If the fruit is already infected with larvae, the flight can happen right in your apartment, however, usually the fruits at this moment are already severely damaged and are actively decomposing. Do not buy fruits that are already spoiling, even if this process has just begun.
• Harvest from the dacha. A similar situation can happen if you bring crops from your dacha. Such an abundance of insect species can gather on and in such fruits that midges will be only one of the evils. Before taking the fruits home from the dacha, select the best and cleanest ones, wash them thoroughly and only then pack them in a bag or box for further transportation.

In any case, it is fruits that cause insects to appear in the house, and they do not necessarily have to be in the form of fruits. Insects are also attracted to sweet liquids, alcohol containing sugar, baked goods, jams, preserves and chocolate, although it is already problematic to lay larvae in them. Decaying food waste in a garbage can is also extremely attractive to fruit gnats.

Ways to combat midges

How to get rid of midges in an apartment? Having appeared in human habitation, she stubbornly fights for her survival. It is not possible to quickly get rid of it until its nest is discovered - a place of active reproduction. It can be hidden in an ordinary bowl of fruit, in a bag of vegetables, in a food cabinet, even in the refrigerator, in the trash can, in the siphon of the sink and washbasin.

The appearance of fruit flies indicates that it is time to start general cleaning and daily maintenance of ideal cleanliness. Both popular recommendations and special toxic preparations for killing insects help to get rid of fruit midges.

Insect spray

A remedy such as “Dichlorvos” is always at hand. This is the most effective drug for controlling flies. Spraying toxic sprays and aerosols, especially in the kitchen, is extremely undesirable; after using this method, you will need to thoroughly wash everything in the room - furniture, gas stove, cabinets...

Toxins can also end up on food, so many are interested in what means of killing flies is gentle and safe for humans.

Inventing bait traps

How to effectively get rid of annoying fruit gnats? What can be done to prevent them from appearing for a long time? Do you want your favorite jam left on the table to not be a treat for fruit flies? Then you just need to get some scented insect traps. These can be sticky tapes, store-bought repellents that are hung around the perimeter of the kitchen or other room where there is a large concentration of insects, or ultraviolet devices.

You can also make traps with your own hands using basic available tools. Here are some ways.

• A shallow container with a neck (a plastic bottle without a neck, a glass, a glass jar) is filled with fruit, jam, sweet syrup with a small amount of lost fruit or an apple core, covered with film, tied with a rubber band, and holes are made in the film with a fork. Place the trap on the table, near the sink, near the trash can. Within a few hours the trap will be filled with a large number of insects. It is necessary to continue using such traps until the fruit flies are completely exterminated.
• The trap can be made from transparent plastic cups with lids. To do this, pour a little honey into the container, add a piece of fruit and close the lid. The glass is turned upside down, holes are pierced in the bottom with an awl. Such traps are small and easy to use at home. The cups should be transparent so that the result of the trap’s operation can be seen. Such devices can be placed throughout the house.
• Sweet sticky caramel (5 tablespoons of sugar, 1 spoon of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of water) is boiled over low heat until a sticky mixture is formed, it is applied hot to a sheet of A5 paper, allowed to cool and hung around the perimeter of the room. The midge flies to the sweets and sticks to the leaves.
• A wine bottle with a minimal amount at the bottom can also serve as bait for midges.

Vacuum cleaner efficiency

As trivial as it may sound, a vacuum cleaner gets rid of midges in the house. A powerful air stream can pull flies into the trash bin in a matter of seconds. This method is effective in large concentrations of fruit flies.

Aromatherapy and smoking midges

Camphor can help against fruit midges. It is heated in a hot frying pan until a specific evaporation of the product begins to form. It is necessary to fumigate all rooms in the house, especially carefully in places where there are large concentrations of fruit flies.

Midges cannot stand the smell of geranium; plant this plant on your kitchen windowsill and the midges will not bother you.

The aroma lamp is an excellent device for fighting insects. The fruit midge does not tolerate the scent of cloves. An hour of operation of the aroma lamp gives a sustainable result.

Preventive actions

The main fight against midges is to follow basic rules that must be followed daily:

• Take out trash and wash trash cans in a timely manner;
• store only fresh food in the refrigerator;
• regularly sort through vegetables stored in pantries;
• When bringing fruit from the market, it is advisable to wash it before putting it in a vase;
• wash dishes more often;
• Ventilate the apartment only using mosquito nets.

Follow these recommendations and forget about insects forever!

Means of struggle

If after general cleaning and total disinfection of the entire house, a flock of midges is still flying around and you don’t have enough patience to wait until they disappear on their own, you can use special means.
Choosing what to use depends on the degree of midge infestation in your home.

If there are few of them, folk methods will suffice:

• spray the flock with water, alcohol or window cleaner from a spray bottle, and then collect it with a broom;
• smoke camphor out of the house (heat it in a frying pan) or scare it away with the smell of garlic, geranium, horseradish;
• collect fruit flies with a vacuum cleaner or with sticky tape;
• make your own trap.

If the number of fruit flies is massive, you can use ready-made products:

• traps. Thanks to the special shape and bait inside, they allow you to get rid of parasites in a short time;
• sprays. Contain contact substances that are lethal to fruit flies;
• zappers. Special devices that shock flies with electric shock;
• repellents. Their work is based on repelling fruit flies, but there are also those that contribute to their death;
• gels. Liquid substances toxic to insects. Excellent for wastewater treatment.

When using, please note that some of them are toxic and require compliance with safety regulations.

All methods are good in the fight, the main thing is to eliminate the paths from which midges can appear in the apartment and not give them a chance to further reproduce.

Everyone has encountered a situation when midges begin to fly over uncovered fruit after some time. This raises a logical question: “Where do midges come from?” Moreover, they appear even when the windows and doors are closed. In addition, you can see them not only in the summer heat, but also in the middle of winter.

Midges bring a lot of inconvenience, irritating the inhabitants of the apartment, and in addition they render the fruit unusable.

What kind of insects are these?

We are talking about fruit flies, or “fruit” (or wine) midges, which are popularly called “oxalis”. They belong to the Diptera family and are relatives of ordinary ones, but they are 2 times smaller in size. The length of fruit flies is 3-5 millimeters.

Fruit midges live for about 5 days. But despite such a short life span, they manage to lay many eggs (each female lays up to 400 eggs), from which larvae hatch.

The favorite habitat of fruit flies is rotting fruits and vegetables, the juice of which they feed on. Midges are attracted to wet tea bags, jam, fermenting wine, unwashed dishes, wet rags, spoiled bread, trash cans, and sewer blockages. You can see fruit flies near cages with pets, as well as near aquariums in which the water begins to “bloom.”

Another type of insect is also found in the apartment - flower midges. They grow in pots of indoor plants if they are over-watered. Insects give particular preference to violets. Such midges damage the root system and leaves of plants.

Drosophila prefer places where dampness and dirt thrive. But they can often be seen in those apartments where perfect cleanliness is always maintained.

How do midges get into an apartment?

It turns out that wine midges lay eggs on ripe fruits. Eggs can remain viable for a long time without developing. But as soon as favorable conditions appear (room temperature), the development mechanism starts and larvae hatch from the eggs after 24 hours, which turn into adults within 5 days.

In apartment buildings, fruit flies often fly in from neighbors through the ventilation holes, hearing the smell of rotting food that is attractive to them. Due to their small size, fruit flies easily penetrate through any gap.

It is best not to create favorable conditions for midges to breed. Fruits should be washed with hot water to destroy eggs laid on them. It is better to store fruits in the refrigerator.

But if fruit flies do appear, then you can use a simple method. Take a plastic cup and place a piece of any fruit or even a peel into it. The top of the container is tightly sealed with cling film, and holes are made in the walls with a large needle. Through these cracks, fruit flies can easily penetrate inside, but they will not be able to fly out. Once the insects have collected in the glass, they can be easily destroyed.

There are probably no people who have not encountered ordinary midges. Sometimes they attack an apartment completely unexpectedly and it can be difficult to figure out what caused their visit. At a dacha or in a country house, their appearance is quite natural, but where do midges come from in an apartment? Before moving on to this issue, let's talk about the midges themselves.

Where they appear: common causes

It should be immediately noted that fruit flies are not capable of causing significant harm to human health, but they can cause a lot of trouble due to their annoying nature.
The annoying midges appear where there is always something to eat, so the kitchen becomes the favorite place. Midges feed on the juice of fruits and vegetables, so as soon as the process of rotting begins in them, they immediately appear. The question immediately arises: how do midges get into our house? Everything is very simple, they are already present in plant foods, and to be more precise, the eggs, once laid by an adult, are found on fruits and vegetables. Midges can also appear in flower pots, since their eggs can be found in the soil.

Naturally, having noticed fruit flies in their kitchen, every person asks the question: how to quickly get rid of fruit flies? Let's figure it out.

This prolific midge species often lays eggs on vegetables or fruits left outside the refrigerator. You can find many larvae in onion stocks and bags of potatoes. A swarm of these insects can suddenly fly out from a jar of jam that has been open for several days or from a garbage can. They are attracted to kombucha, glasses with compote or leftover juice. They fall into glasses of tea or milk, and land on bread and other foods.

Sweet fruit left in the fresh air attracts fruit flies

There are a number of other places where midges suddenly appear:

• a bathroom where wet things can accumulate or smudges may form in hard-to-reach places;
• pet cages;
• aquariums with stagnant water;
• vases with bouquets of flowers that have been standing in the room for a long time.

Drosophila on cucumbers

The main reasons that determine where annoying midges come from are damp places with accumulation of dirt and rot on fruits, herbs, and vegetables.

How to get rid of DROSOPHIL flies at home?

From egg to larva they need only a day. The further fate of fruit midges depends on you. In a matter of days (no more than 10), in favorable conditions, a new generation will appear, whose sole purpose is reproduction.

In addition to this, there are several more loopholes where midges come from in the apartment:

1. Window. Open wide, they attract not only fruit flies. Even mosquito nets don't help. Look, if the cells are within 3 mm in size or there are holes in the canvas, then you have found the place from which fruit flies get home.
2. Ventilation ducts. For some reason, when cockroaches appear, they are the first to be suspected. Meanwhile, if the bars are not insulated, where else can flies come from in the apartment?
3. Sink drain. Most often, drain midges live there, but sometimes fruit flies also appear.
4. Bin. This is the only object that comes into contact with the outside world. During a short trip on the way home, you can easily bring with you a fruit gnat or a whole brood of eggs on the walls.

How to get rid of fruit flies

To get rid of wine flies at home, you need to:

Remove their power sources. Spoiled food is thrown away. Rotten parts of sick flowers are cut off and the plant is replanted to make sure that the root system does not rot. Kill visible fruit flies - insect repellent aerosol is suitable for this. Flies are sensitive to mosquito repellent tablets and liquids in a conventional fumigator. Clean up the house, do wet cleaning (be sure to wash the trash can). Place traps with food bait for hidden midges.

Drosophila can be quickly collected with a vacuum cleaner. The dust bag is then removed, tied tightly in a plastic bag and discarded. If it is not possible to use a poisonous aerosol (for example, there is a lot of food in the place where insects accumulate), the flies are sprayed with water from a spray bottle. Under the weight of the water, they fall to the floor, where they are removed with a damp cloth.

How to deal with fruit gnats

Naturally, the first thing to do is general cleaning.
Remove all places that can serve as a “base” for pests (they have already been indicated above: garbage, fruit, etc.). Completely clear the apartment of anything that is a breeding ground for insects. In some cases, it makes sense to use special pipe disinfectants. Don’t forget about the vacuum cleaner: you shouldn’t be satisfied with even the most painstaking and important cleaning, since it is not able to give an absolute result. If cleaning does not lead to the expected result, you will have to use professional means or even the help of specialists. The simplest option is an insecticidal aerosol, but keep in mind that it can cause harm not only to pests, but also to people. The recommended and classic option is adhesive tapes that need to be unrolled and hung from the ceiling. In some cases, you can also use a fumigator that can provide high efficiency in killing pests. The main thing is to use high-quality plates that are aimed specifically at fruit gnats. This is the most professional way to kill fruit gnats.

We hope you found this article helpful and wish you good luck!

How to withdraw correctly?

The appearance of midges should under no circumstances be associated with cleanliness in the room. Their presence does not depend on the amount of dust and dirt. To prevent midges from breeding, it is necessary to thoroughly wash vegetables and fruits before putting them in the refrigerator or putting them on the table. As soon as the products are processed, it is necessary to dry them thoroughly, since when wet they begin to rot very quickly.

In order not to wonder how to get rid of fruit flies in the kitchen, you should follow these prevention recommendations:

1. As soon as it becomes noticeable that vegetables and fruits are beginning to deteriorate, they should be disposed of immediately.
2. You should not leave foods that can quickly spoil on the table; this also applies to fruits that are cut, such as apples, watermelons, melons.
3. Fruits and vegetables should be stored in the refrigerator. The fact is that heat is destructive for fruits, which undergo rapid rotting.
4. Vegetables that are stored for the winter should be stored in a cool place; ideally, you can use a refrigerator or cold cellar.
5. It is important to take out the garbage in the kitchen on time, as midges can also appear in food waste that has stagnated. If the bucket contains products that quickly deteriorate when exposed to air, then in just an hour you will observe a whole colony near the trash can.

The main reason for the formation of midges is a humid environment where leftover food or things rot. Therefore, you first need to check the house for the presence of such places:

1. 1. Bathroom. The drains in the bathroom and sink should be washed with special cleaning agents or soda and vinegar. Dirty clothes should be washed immediately, and washcloths should be dried well after bathing.
2. 2. Aquarium. If there is such a structure in the house, then it should be covered so that insects cannot get inside. The table on which the fish aquarium is located must be wiped dry.
3. 3. Cells of small rodents and birds. Midges lay their eggs in the cage litter. There are many nutrients here for the rapid reproduction of insects. This problem can be eliminated with thorough cleaning. It is necessary to clean not only animal cages, but also their bedding.
4. 4. Indoor plants. Many people make the mistake of adding tea leaves and coffee grounds to flower pots instead of fertilizer. Such rotting substance may well harbor fruit flies.

Wine midges enter the apartment mainly with fruit purchased in supermarkets or grown in their own summer cottages. To prevent midges from spreading throughout the entire apartment, you need to maintain cleanliness.