What Kills Fruit Flies

Everything You Need to Know

By Kelly Ventura  •  Last Update: 15/10
8 minutes read.  •  Home » DIY Pest Control

Want to know what kills fruit flies? So read this post to the end to discover what you can use today to kill them.

What kills flies is a question that people often ask themselves the moment they realize that they have a problem with flies in their home, or anywhere for that matter.

Flies are very annoying little pests and chasing them around can get tiresome. You also are certain not to want them landing on hanging out on your food, so it is best to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

When it comes wanting to know more about what kills flies instantly you can find all the information that you need right here.

However, there are a few things that you need to know about fruit flies that will help you when it comes to identifying them as well as help you better understand why they need to be treated quickly and efficiently.

What You Need To Know About Fruit Flies

What You Need To Know About Fruit Flies

Fruit flies do feast away on your food, but that’s not all they do. These flies are known to carry disease.

Some people mistakenly believe the myth that these flies only have a life of 24 hours. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, as life cycle for these flies can around 8 or 10 days.

Fruit flies also breed at an unthinkable speed. A female is capable of laying as many as 100 eggs each day.

You need to be able to identify fruit flies to know if they are indeed the problem. Fruit flies are about an eighth of an inch is size.

They are most commonly identified by their red eyes. These flies are also often yellow in appearance.

Fruit flies are very attracted to food that is left laying around. This is why they are often found in restaurants and other places where food is processed.

Now that you have a little bit more information on fruit flies you are certainly going to want to eliminate them as soon as possible. It is easy to see how a small problem can turn into a bigger problem rather quickly with these insects.

Now you are wondering what can you do to fix a problem once it has already begun. It starts with killing the fruit flies and then preventing infestations from occurring going forward.

Read more: 31 Simple Ways to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

What Kills Fruit Flies On Contact

When it comes to killing flies instantly you only have a couple of options:

  1. Swatting Them
  2. Spraying Them With Chemicals

Both of these methods are able to kill the flies instantly. However, one works much more quickly on larger infestations.

There are sprays available to you that contain pyrethrin. This is used to kill flying insects quickly and efficiently.

However, if you don’t have any spray on hand and need to kill off a few flies you can always resort back to your handy flyswatter. If you don’t have one then you can simply use a piece of paper lying around and roll it up to make a decisive for swatting the fly.

Read more: Top 5 Products You Should Use to Kill Flies Effectively

What Kills Drain Flies

Fruit fly larvae may sometimes be found feeding on the side of the grain in your home. You can find a drain treatment to place into your drain that will eliminate the source for breeding and break up any organic matter that has built up in your drain over time.

This is a quick and easy fix. It shouldn’t take much time or money to eliminate the larvae from your drain.

What Kills Fruit Flies Naturally

With many people nowadays interested in eco-friendly products, it is no surprise that you might want to what kills flies fast and naturally. You have a couple of options.

First, there is a product out there that can break the cycle of a fruit flies life. These products contain a liquid form of bacteria.

You can put this on your garbage bins, mop heads, around your drain, under the sink, or any other locations that the fly may land. Don’t put this on food items.

Another option is one that is made from using food grade materials and it puts off a peppermint aroma. This kills the flies from the air.

This is able to be sprayed around your food and it is safe which is a great benefit. This is great to spray directly over a large group of flies to kill them by contact.

Read more: How to Kill Flies Effectively and Fast

DIY Methods For Killing Flies

There are several different options when it comes to what kills flies fast that you can make yourself. These don’t take much time and often you will already have these things laying around the house.

1. Apple Cider Vinegar

What Kills Fruit Flies: Apple Cider Vinegar

If you have apple cider vinegar that is unfiltered at home you are already ahead of the game. A nearly empty bottle will do just fine, you don’t need much.

Now remove the cap and place plastic wrap over the opening. Once that is in place, use a rubber band to hold it on to the bottle.

Now poke a hole in the plastic wrap. This will be the hole that the flies will enter the bottle through.

Vinegar is a scent that they are not able to resist. They are also not going to be able to find their way back out once they have entered the bottle.

2. Soap Dish With Vinegar

What Kills Fruit Flies: Soap Dish With Vinegar

If your flies aren’t taking to the whole plastic wrap idea then you can instead add just 3 drops of the dish soap to bowl that you have vinegar placed in.

This time you will leave it uncovered. The soap will cut out the tension of the surface of the vinegar, thus causing the flies to drown by sinking in.

3. Paper Cone

Paper Cone

For this, you will need fruit that is very ripe, a little vinegar, and a jar. With the fruit and vinegar inside the jar, roll up a piece of paper to make a cone and stick it in with the narrow opening on the inside.

The fruit flies are going to be very drawn to this. They will go in and not be able to get back out.

4. Red Wine

What Kills Fruit Flies: Red Wine

Red wine sounds strange, doesn’t it? Well, you should know that fruit flies like the smell of this just as they do vinegar.

You can leave out a bottle that only has a small amount left after you have finished drinking it of course. The flies are sure to fly right inside the small necked bottle and be trapped.

5. Pepper, Sugar, and Milk

What Kills Fruit Flies: Pepper, Sugar, and Milk

Add 2 ounces of ground pepper, double the amount of raw sugar, and a full pink of milk. You need to allow this to simmer for around ten minutes.

Once it is finished you need to pour it into a shallow dish. When the flies go to the mixture they are going to drown quickly.

Read more: 20 Simple Ways to Kill Roaches Effectively

Other Methods For Killing Fruit Flies Quickly

There are even more answers to the question of what kills flies fast. Fruit fly strips are something you may find of interest.

Crazy right? They have strips for these just like they do your everyday house flies.

These strips have no smell and you can place them on the knobs of the cabinets located where you have the most problems.

It can even help to kill a mosquito, cockroach, silver fish, or moth here and there.

How To Prevent Future Problems

All this knowledge is great, but if you don’t know how to prevent infestations from fruit flies then you are going to find that your problem will return. So what can you do to keep the fruit flies away?

If you have been taking all the proper measures and you are still having a problem with fruit flies then it may be time to have a professional out to see what the issue might be. It is always better to fix the problem than to mask it.

Read more: Top 10 Natural Mosquito Repellents

Conclusion

Now that you know what kills fruit flies and how to prevent them the rest is up to you. Be sure to regularly take the necessary measures to prevent the flies from coming back.

Found this post useful? Share it with your friends so they too can learn what kills fruit flies.

What Kills Fruit Flies: Everything You Need to Know
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