Fly in the buttermilk, shoo by shoo goes the nursery rhyme that we all know which we learnt in our kindergarten. Thankfully this rhyme when enacted makes us smile but never a fly that we meet, ever, NEVER!! It’s a complete NO-NO. It’s not just buttermilk these creepy and unhygienic creatures gnats or flies (commonly known as fruit flies) are everywhere … giving panic attacks to people everywhere in the whole wide world in our kitchen atmosphere, more specifically when they find fruits and vegetables.

They usually feed on ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables. They breed in the kitchen trash, drains, mops and rags etc. They can enter your home uninvited through open doors and windows and come unannounced with this bacteria which otherwise isn’t harmful to humans but will fleetly without warning destroy all your expensive organic fruits and vegetables available for them. But with the term’ bacteria” used as such no one gets a good feeling cause its food they prey on and we don’t want that food to be served to anyone in the family, isn’t it?

So, let’s learn a little more about these fruit flies or sometimes called as vinegar flies. Their scientific name is fruit fly problem. They have red eyes and the adult can easily grow to 1/8th of an inch. They have a color coded body, the front being tan and the rear black. They can lay some 500 odd eggs at a time and multiply very fast than imagined, so as that their complete life cycle takes less than a week to reach its completion. And the most interesting of them is that they can smell food from a distance which ranges from 7 kms. Undoubtedly, they are rot pursuers.

Getting rid of fruit flies

There are many ways to keep them out from the kitchen but it has to be followed up diligently on a regular basis to completely get them away.

– The kitchen waste/trash should always be covered and never kept inside the kitchen

– Kitchen door and windows should be sterilized once in awhile

– The wash are should be cleaned thoroughly. Avoid flushing small particles of food into it which goes into the drainage and gets clogged calling for these gnats to make their way.

– The vegetables and fruits that come from the market should be washed well and either put inside the refrigerator or covered properly if kept outside.

– The dishwasher, stove and the wash area should be thoroughly cleaned every day to check on food crumbs and residue that would have fallen unnoticed.

– Hot water should be poured in frequently to the wash area to completely wash them off.

– Use the vegetables that are ripened or compost the ones which are not preferred for eating.

– The fruit fly trap which is also very commonly used can be tried at home. Stale beer along with vinegar, dishwashing liquid and a rotten piece of fruit or vegetable can be placed inside of a mason jar and covered with a plastic wrap with small holes. This will attract the fruit flies into it and can be easily trapped.

Try all the above to evade the gnat and fruit fly breed in your kitchen. So, don’t become an insect hunter yourself, but let all these natural ways shudder them to enter your space.