Top tips to get rid of fruit flies - PEST UK

Providing pest control services in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, London, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, West Midlands, West Sussex, Wiltshire. Est. 1985.

Top tips to get rid of fruit flies

In Featured, Pests

Why are fruit flies a problem?

Fruit flies are annoying, and although they don’t bite, they can be a health hazard They carry bacteria and transfer it to wherever they land. They’re particularly attracted to ripe and rotting food, manure and other faeces that may contain salmonella, E.coli and listeria which cause food poisoning. Additionally, female fruit flies inject batches of eggs into ripe fruit, thus contaminating it.

They like to live, feed and breed in warm, damp spaces such as drains, cleaning cloths, mops and buckets, waste disposals, bins or anywhere there is ripe, rotting, decayed fruit or empty beer and wine bottles and food tins.

An adult female fruit fly can lay up to 2,000 eggs on the surface of anything that’s moist and rotting. Within 30 hours, tiny maggots hatch and start to eat the decayed food. Within 2 days, they’re all grown up and ready to mate, too. This means they can quickly become an infestation.

 

 

 

How to prevent an infestation

  • Cover fruit on table or kitchen worktops
  • Immediately fruit gets ripe, put it in the refrigerator
  • Throw overly ripe food away
  • Clean tables and kitchen worktops frequently
  • Clean up any spills immediately
  • Don’t leave fresh food out once it’s been opened
  • Keep food storage areas, drawers and cupboards clean and dry
  • Clean any spilled food from under the fridge and other appliances
  • Keep kitchen sink drains and waste disposals clear of food debris and residue
  • Rinse your recycling to make sure all jars, bottles and tins are free from food and liquid debris
  • Empty the kitchen bin every day
  • Clean up any spills inside, outside or around your bins
  • Keep bins, buckets, cleaning cloths and mops clean
  • Hang a few small muslin bags of basil, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemongrass, lavender or cloves around as they don’t like the smell of those herbs

How to get rid of a fruit fly infestation

If you already have an infestation because fruit flies are hovering around your fresh fruit and vegetables or your kitchen sink drain, you can take the following actions

  • Throw the food away where the flies have been hovering and scrub the area clean.
  • Pour boiling water down drains and waste disposal.
  • Make traps
    • Wine or apple cider vinegar traps: in a jar or plastic bottle put a splash of wine or apple cider vinegar and a squeeze of washing up liquid. Place a paper cone on top of the jar or use the top part of the plastic bottle with the narrow end pointing down. The wine attracts the flies, the washing up liquid makes it difficult for the flies to fly, and the cone will keep any flies that do survive in the jar.
    • Rotten fruit trap: place some rotten fruit at the bottom of a jar or plastic bottle. Place a paper cone on top of the jar or use the top part of the plastic bottle with the narrow end pointing down.
  • Use insect sprays and sticky paper fly traps: these will kill adult fruit flies but won’t stop their eggs from hatching. Note: use insect sprays with caution as they contain poisonous chemicals.

What products do we use?

We may use a combination of fogging or smoking and a residual insecticide treatment as appropriate depending on each individual situation.

Click on the product to access its data sheet

Coopex Maxi Smoke Generator

Coopex Mini Smoke Generator

Cytrol Forte WP

Effect Microtech CS

Ficam D

K-Othrine WG250

Lignum Pro I62.5

Perbio Choc RTU

Vazor DE

Vazor Provecta 

Vulcan P5 DP

How much does it cost to get rid of fruit flies?

Insecticide treatment from £85/£90 +VAT

 

Click here for our full price list

Guarantee for insecticide treatment

Complete elimination of a fruit fly infestation isn’t always possible but the number of flies will be greatly reduced. It is important that you follow our tips to prevent an infestation after we have administered the treatment. Note: fruit flies look similar to filter, sewage and drain flies.

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