At some point, every San Diego home battles fruit flies–even into the months of Fall.
Just 2.5 millimeters in length, these tiny airborne critters linger near garbage, circle fresh fruit and land in wine glasses when we least expect them. They then end up hanging around our San Diego homes and patios for weeks at a time looking for fruit, wine or whatever else suits their little appetites.
Fruit flies are pests, but we can defeat them in a number of ways–without resorting to poisonous sprays:
First of all, get rid of the lures. Remove fruits or foods that are attracting fruit flies and at least temporarily, place these attractions into refrigerator after washing well.
Next, out a saucer or bowl and fill with sweetened liquid–or your already fly-polluted glass of wine. Leave overnight and celebrate your kill the next morning. If there are any swarming around the next day, you may want to refresh the saucer and bowl and do daytime battle.
If you prefer something cuter, you might want to check out the Terro Fruit Fly Trap. Shaped like an approximate apple, you can set the trap anywhere you like and wait for the same results mentioned above. It’s filled with a vinegar-like solution meant to attract and trap these pesky flies.. Once the flies are contained, they can no longer breed, and the pest problem subsides.
The Terro product sells for about $8 at local hardware stores and around $5 online.
We prefer to trap with our own concoctions (sometime a splash of red wine left in a glass overnight) and do battle when the need arises. — Roberta Murphy