How To Eliminate Fruit Flies

Previous readers will wonder why the writer is making a hub about flying pests rather than Yugioh archetypes. To make a long story short, fruit flies currently annoy the writer just as much, if not more, than the new graveyard-loving irritants that make the Gimmick Puppets look like Cabbage Patch Kids. One fruit fly leads to ten, and in another day ten lead to twenty. They nest in your sinks, plants, and trash. They fly in your drinks, on your food, and in your face. You'll swear you've done something wrong, that you've been afflicted with one of the lost plagues of Egypt, when all you did was open your front door. Well, I have good news for you, the writer has researched, tried different methods, and emerged victorious against the insect kingdom's air force-pest branch. Unless Moses knocked on your front door and personally afflicted you, the following traps and techniques will prove effective in eliminating the fruit fly threat.

The first thing you'll need to do is reduce the swarms you have buzzing about. Spraying each time you see a plume of periods is tedious; they float past fly-tape like robbers jumping fences. Gather the following materials to control the infestation:

• A rubber band
• A cup or a jar
• Clear, plastic wrap
• A knife with a sharp tip
• Some fruit (Pears and Bananas work with equal results. Apples eventual dry-out and lose their ability to attract.)

Fruit flies, like most of the annoying members of class insecta, navigate by smell more than sight, so even if your container isn't see-through, the fruit flies will still find their way in.

To assemble your cage of doom, please follow the steps listed below:

1. Chop your fruit into a few chunks, then put those chunks in your respective container (the cup or jar). Save the rest of the fruit for future traps.

2. Stretch out a piece of plastic wrap so it fits over the lid of the cup or jar, with enough left over to cover 2 to 3 inches down the container (around 5 centimeters for the rest of the world). Cut the wrap, and place it tightly over the container's top.

3. Put the rubber band just below the lip of your container, fitting it from the top-down. It functions to ensure the fruit flies can't escape from the sides of the plastic.

4. Use the knife to poke four to five holes into the plastic (Not the entire knife; just the tip). No, it's not to give your flying nuisances breathing holes, but to ensure they can enter the trap. The writer tried using needles and stickpins, but holes so small never allowed the fruit flies to enter my traps.

5. Set the fruit-stalker-snares in areas of high fruit fly concentration, such as the kitchen (where they find all their yummies) and the bathroom (where they get their water supply).

6. Empty the traps outside at least once a day, and watch your cake remain safe!

Even if you've captured a couple hundred of the buggers in one week, if you don't eliminate nesting grounds, even with traps, you'll be fighting an uphill battle with a rock tied around your waist. Perform the following procedures to make fruit flies think twice before playing paddy-cake in your home:

1. The Sinks: The writer doesn't even have a garbage disposal system in his sinks, yet was surprised to catch several fruit flies flying from them one day. The solution? Pour cooking oil down the sinks to soak the wings of those partying in them, then keep the entrance locked with a sink-stopper. Only unstop your sinks when you do the dishes.

2. For the Plant Lovers Out There: These guys are a little too versatile... Fruit Flies are attracted to the moist soil in potted plants, and will nest and breed in it too 0_0. Pour less water in the pot, spray more on the leaves, and it'll be like hanging a “No Solicitors” sign above your plants. The best solution would be to sit your plants outside, but the writer himself proved unable to do that.

3. Seal The Garbage: Keep your trashcans in a sealed area, either in a cabinet or a closet, and keep the lid on your cans. If you're one of the unlucky ones with a trashcan without a lid or a sealed area to place it in, place a trash bag tightly-down over your trash can. Then turn it into a death trap. When you open the bag over your can, spray Raid inside it, or whatever fly-extinguishing spray you're accustomed to using. Only remove the bag when trash gets put in. It's tedious, but will save you a lot of fruit-fly-ache.

Felicitations! The fight's almost over, now you just have to do what you should have done in the first place. Take the next steps, and you'll prevent the most unwanted comeback in history from gracing your kitchen:

1. Get a Screen Door: If you don't already have one, it'll greatly reduce the chances of fruit flies slipping past your defenses when you step outside to smell the roses, or grass, or forest, or city exhaust, or whatever.

2. Don't Leave Yummies for The Enemy: Not only will leaving unsealed food and drinks about reduce the chances of them swarming into the traps, but it also gives them incentive to stay for a spell. Finish your drinks or refrigerate them, rinse juice containers and soda cans, and don't leave food exposed.

3. Keep the Sink Clean: Fruit Flies find tasty treats on dirty dishes like rockers find groupies at concerts. While you're infested, it's best to keep your sinks clean of dirty dishes, or you'll give your buzzing adversaries food on a ceramic platter.

If Moses actually did knock on your front door and said, “Let there be Fruit Flies!” Or if you're just the impatient sort that doesn't want to go through all these steps (The writer was at one point himself), then using insect foggers will cure your problem. You'll first need:

• A number of insect bombs (technically called foggers) appropriate for your house size (one for each room. The writer personally used Hot Shot Indoor Foggers)

• Plastic Sheeting or Drop-Cloths (Those old sheets or blankets you use to cover things you don't want to get paint on)

• A Utility Knife (To cut plastic sheeting if using it)

• Trash Bags

To begin the Reckoning, follow the steps listed below. Negative points for skipping now.

1. Pick a day where you'll be able to leave the house for at least 2 hours. Remember, your indoor plants and pets aren't pests, at least the writer hopes they're not, so you should find a place for them while your bombing the home.

2. On that day, cover every surface, excluding the floor, with the plastic sheeting or drop-cloths. Cover everything you don't want to get the fogger chemicals on.

3. Put all loose items, such as silverware, bowls, and plates, in the trash bags, and place those bags in a corner of a room.

4. Don't give them anywhere to hide... Open every cabinet, drawer, and door inside the house (Not the doors leading to the outside, lol).

5. Place a fogger on an elevated surface in the center of each room (At least a chair's height high). NEVER put a fogger in a room as small as a closet, or it may explode.

6. Start the bug bombs up, then leave house for at least 1 hour.

7. Return to your home, open all the windows, leaving the screens down, to air-out your home. If you don't have screens, then you'll just have to crack your windows... Stay out of the home for another hour so the air can become breathable again.

8. Throw away the plastic sheeting, return your loose items, and enjoy cleaning the leftovers of your fallen, flying scourge.