Has this ever happened to you? You’re scrubbing a dish in the kitchen sink and see a tiny creature shoot up out of the drain. Is that a gnat? Then you notice more of them zooming around your kitchen. These irritating little guys are actually fruit flies. And if you’re wondering how they got in there and what may be done about them, you’re in the right place.
Why Are They Here?
Fruit flies survive all over the U.S., and mate quickly. According to WebMD, “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 two days, they're all grown up and ready to mate.” As they’re lured by moisture and rotting food, they’ll head for your trash can, your overripe fruit and the kitchen drain, which is packed with moisture and small pieces of food. Sometimes you’ll see them come up out of the drain. This can be especially likely if you have a partially clogged sink or disposal that drains slowly. This retains more moisture and food waste that draws these insects and allows them to thrive and reproduce.
How Bad Are They?
When fruit flies move from a dirty surface to a clean one, they bring germs with them. This might include listeria, salmonella and even E. coli. All of these bacteria can result in serious cases of food poisoning.
What Can I Do About Them?
Because of this bacterial exposure, keep your surfaces clean at all times. Use a kitchen surface cleaner that kills bacteria. Don’t reuse sponges that can soak up, retain and transport germs. It’s best to use paper towels and throw them away.
Bug sprays can eliminate the adult fruit flies but won’t kill the eggs. And you probably don’t want to spray insecticide all over your kitchen. Instead, run boiling water into your drain. Before bed, close off your drains with clear packing tape. Each morning, you should see some fruit flies attached to it.
Here are other traps you can also use, all with a jar:
- Wine—Add an ounce of wine inside the jar. Add a hole in the lid so the fruit flies can enter. You can also use a funnel or paper cone in the place of a lid.
- Old fruit—Same as above, but with rotten fruit in place of wine.
- Apple cider vinegar—Same as above but with apple cider vinegar.
- Apple cider vinegar and dish soap—Same as above with dish liquid added, which makes it more difficult for flies to escape.
- Yeast—Put in two or three ounces of water, one packet of activated dry yeast as well as a teaspoon of sugar.
To avoid attracting fruit flies:
- Wash your produce as soon you bring it home. Occasionally they can possess fruit fly eggs or larvae.
- Refrigerate as soon as you can.
- Avoid keeping overripe produce in your kitchen. Buy only what you’re going to eat.
- Empty your kitchen trash often, and keep it closed.
- Keep your surfaces clean and disinfected.
- If you like to keep windows up, put in some well-fitted screens.
If the listed methods haven’t eliminated your fruit fly issue, there may be a problem with your p-trap. That’s the area of your drain pipe bent in a u shape to capture water and keep foul air from drifting up into your home. It also stops flies from living in your pipes and flying up out of the drain. If your pipe has a leak and has no water seal, this can lead to a fruit fly infestation. Run the water and look below for a leak. If you find one, get it fixed promptly. Leaky pipes can encourage mold and structural damage to your home.
You should also hire a plumber if your kitchen sink or garbage disposal is draining more slowly than usual. This problem not only helps attract fruit flies, but over time the sink drain can completely clog and become inoperable. The Robinson Service Experts plumbing team has the equipment, experience and knowledge to determine the problem and solve it right away. We utilize a video drain inspector to plainly see what’s going on within the pipes, and a number of methods to clean them, depending on the type and extent of the blockage. If the problem is your garbage disposal, we can repair or replace it at a price you can afford. We also handle leaky pipes.
If you are looking for any sort of plumbing service at all, contact the professionals at Robinson Service Experts . Whether we’re warming, cooling or making the water run, we take great pride in keeping our customers comfortable. With more than 4,000 team members, we can deliver and innovate better than anyone. Our can-do family attitude helps us get the job done on time, and right—the first time.