How to get rid of fruit flies and protect your food

Insects in the house are always an undesirable phenomenon. And when they strive to share our bed, it’s doubly unpleasant. In addition to physical and moral discomfort, “uninvited guests” can cause harm to health - they are carriers of various diseases. As soon as you notice the “enemy”, you need to immediately begin the fight. Raptor products have proven themselves well in this regard. They are active against bedbugs, cockroaches, moths, flies, mosquitoes and other pests.

Insects have been neighbors with humans since time immemorial - with people it is warm, safe and there is always something to profit from. For example, the oldest mention of bed bugs dates back to 400 BC. e. And it is still impossible to completely protect yourself from these bloodsuckers.

What are fruit flies and where do they come from?

The fruit fly is otherwise known as the common drosophila - an insect of the Drosophiliadae family, a typical representative of the order Diptera. Drosophila have a specific yellow-brown color with characteristic black rings across the abdomen. Female fruit flies are much larger than males, their body length can reach 2.5 mm. Many representatives of this family prefer to live near a person’s home, eating waste from his table.

Flies prefer spoiled plant products and fermented juices. But their favorite delicacy is rotten sweet fruits. Midges can come to the smell of food leftovers in the sink drain hole or move up the ventilation pipe from neighbors.

Organic debris, like fresh fruit, provides a reliable place for females to lay eggs. When fruits and vegetables begin to spoil, an optimal environment for the growth and development of the “babies” is formed inside. Therefore, fruit flies can easily enter your apartment in the larval stage directly from the store counter, after which they will hatch within 24 hours. One female fruit fly can leave behind impressive offspring - about 400 eggs! It is quite difficult to fight such a large army.

By the way, you won’t be able to hide from fruit flies either - midges inhabit all continents on Earth except Antarctica.

Is fruit fly dangerous for humans?

Fruit flies do not pose a threat to human health as such, because their area of ​​interest is rotten fruits that are not eaten. However, it is quite possible to “catch” unpleasant intestinal myiases if you swallow lurking larvae along with food.

In addition, fruit gnats are dangerous for the reputation of your home - you should definitely get rid of them, especially if you are expecting guests. Insects in the kitchen can make you look bad if one of your guests eats “infested” fruit.

Fumigators for children

These devices differ in the active substance and concentration, which does not exceed 1%. Due to the fact that natural substances are often used, a specific smell may be observed during operation, but you can also purchase plates with different scents.

Fumigators can be used in children's rooms if children have reached the age of 2 years. When choosing plates, you need to make sure that they are written “for children”, they must also be hypoallergenic and contain natural ingredients.

The device can operate for no more than 2 hours; it is forbidden to leave it on overnight. Popular products for children include:

• Raptor Nekusayka.
• Fumitox Nezhenka.
• Mosquitall is a line of child protection for children.
• Picnic with chamomile extract.

How to get rid of fruit flies in an apartment

Typically, winged parasites live in the kitchen, where they can profit from leftover food or overripe fruit. The surest way to get rid of insects is to deprive them of their food source:

• Promptly dispose of rotten and overripe foods, especially if they are stored outside the refrigerator. Sweet juices, compotes and other drinks containing high amounts of sugar are bait for insects.
• Pour hot water or boiling water over vegetables and fruits purchased in a store or market before consumption to destroy parasite eggs. Even if the food appears unspoiled, you may simply not notice the “surprise” left by the midge and bring the parasites home.
• Store sweet, perishable fruits (bananas, apples, grapes) in the refrigerator.
• Dispose of household waste regularly; the trash can is a smorgasbord for insects. Leftover food rots quickly, especially in summer, so in addition to midges, an unpleasant odor may appear in your home.
• If fruit flies are infested in a flower pot, you need to remove the top layer of soil and treat the soil with a special insecticide, after drying it.
• If there are pets in the house, its food should not lie in a bowl all day - throw away any leftover food and wash the container immediately after feeding.
• Use specialized products against fruit gnats.

Operating principle

Most Raptor products, regardless of release form, work on the principle of fumigation. The chemical releases nerve toxins into the air when exposed to high temperatures.

Raptor vapor particles from insects settle on the bodies of flies, mosquitoes and other pests and penetrate the body through the spiracles. The drug enters the hemolymph and reaches the nervous system with the blood, which has an immediate effect. The result is complete paralysis with death.

Raptor preparations against moths, mosquitoes and other midges contained pyrethrin extracted from mountain chamomile flowers. Subsequently, the manufacturer began to use artificial repellents that have a more pronounced effect.

Effective protection against fruit midges RAPTOR®

The RAPTOR® fruit fly trap helps fight fruit midges at home without harming food. The trap is a compact design in the form of a small bottle with a sticky house lid. The bottle is filled with liquid, which contains an attractant - an effective bait for insects. Giving in to temptation, the midges get “hooked” and stick to the sticky surface on the inside of the trap, unable to get out. It is worth noting that this does not affect its appearance at all - from the outside, the device for combating fruit flies remains attractive and fits perfectly into the kitchen interior. An important point is the safety of using such a product: it does not need to be sprayed or applied to surfaces. Thanks to this, RAPTOR® fruit fly protection can be safely used even in a home with small children - just make sure that the product is not within their reach.

The effectiveness of the RAPTOR® trap lasts up to 30 days.

Tips for use:

1. Do not place the trap in front of an open window or in a draft.
2. For best results, place the trap close to where you store produce such as ripe fruit, potatoes, mushrooms and onions. You can install several traps in the cellar.
3. If the sticky side is overfilled, the trap must be replaced before the end of its service life.

Insect repellent

A universal remedy for combating flying and crawling insects in the form of an aquafumigator from RAPTOR® will help to quickly destroy fruit flies, both visible to the eye and hiding in the depths of kitchen shelves.

The action of the aquafumigator is based on the evaporation of the active substance cyphenothrin through a thermal reaction between the vapor-forming agent and ordinary water. The insecticide in the form of steam penetrates even the most inaccessible places where insects and their larvae can live. A highly effective substance developed by Japanese scientists ensures complete destruction of insects and has a residual effect, so your home will be protected from uninvited guests for a long time.

Cyphenothrin has low toxicity to humans and animals, because their mass significantly exceeds the mass of insects. Therefore, the aquafumigator can be safely used in an apartment.

Tips for use:

1. Before starting to treat the room, turn off the smoke detectors.
2. The aquafumigator should be placed in the center of the room on a flat horizontal surface.
3. To make it easier for steam to penetrate into all corners, open the doors of cabinets and cupboards, move furniture away from the walls.
4. When processing the room, do not forget to close the windows and doors.

All products from the RAPTOR® line have undergone multiple laboratory tests, their safety and effectiveness have been confirmed by the Scientific Research Institute of Rospotrebnadzor of the Russian Federation.

Destruction options

There are many ways to kill annoying insects. You can use both chemicals and folk, safer measures. There are a wide variety of traps for them. There are enough options for fighting, and everyone will find an ideal effective way for themselves.

Insecticides and other ready-made preparations

An excellent remedy for fruit flies is aerosols and numerous insecticides. Their choice depends on the place that needs to be processed:

In apartments

The best results are shown by Dichlorvos, Raptor, Kombat and Raid. When carrying out treatment, it is necessary to remove four-legged pets and strangers from the premises. After processing, which should be done while using personal protective equipment, wash your hands and after a while ventilate the room well.

Soil treatment

To determine whether there are larvae in indoor plants, slightly lift the top layer of soil. If you find small worms in it, use Actellik or Fitoverm insecticides. But you can simply completely replace the damaged soil by moving the plants into new containers.

Kitchen sinks

If fruit flies have chosen shells for residence, Domestos, Mister Muscle or Mole come to the rescue. You can also simply periodically pour boiling water over the shells.

Knowing that fruit flies cannot tolerate cold, in the cool season you can easily get rid of them by thoroughly ventilating the house. Additionally, turn off heating appliances, open all kitchen cabinet doors wide and provide deep ventilation. The flies will quickly die from hypothermia. Then all that remains is to sweep them onto a dustpan and throw them away.

Expert opinion

Mityuk Stefania Bogdanovna

A regular mosquito fumigator does an excellent job of killing fruit flies. But the plate must first be treated in a solution with toxic substances.

Folk methods of struggle

From the entire list of folk recipes, we can highlight the following methods that have proven to be the most successful and effective:

Camphor

A very effective substance against fruit flies - they cannot tolerate camphor evaporation. To kill parasites, heat pieces of camphor in a frying pan until steam forms and walk around the rooms or garden with it.

Tomato tops

Plant tomato seedlings in the garden or on the windowsill. The flies cannot stand the pungent smell emanating from tomato tops and quickly die.

Essential oils of eucalyptus, anise and basil

These odors are also deadly to flies. The premises are scented taking into account the area - the consumption is 5-6 drops of essential oil per 15 m2 of room.

If flies plague you in the garden, plant bushes of myrtle, geranium, tansy or eucalyptus in the garden plot. The aroma of plants will repel fruit flies and get rid of annoying insects.

Original traps

Fighting tiny flies is a troublesome and time-consuming task. To minimize the loss of time, you can build special traps.

There are several options:

• Traps with liquid . To obtain a bait mixture, sugar syrup and live yeast are used. The substances are mixed in equal proportions and diluted in a small amount of water. The resulting liquids are poured into wide containers (saucers, bowls, deep plates). Traps are placed in the garden or in the corners of rooms. Drosophila, attracted by the sweet smell, flock to the aroma and drown in the thick liquid. Instead of sugar and yeast, you can use any beer, sweet concentrated juice and honey water.
• Vinegar traps . To make the bait, ordinary table vinegar is mixed with dishwashing liquid. The thick solution is poured into small wide glasses and placed indoors or in the garden on verandas and terraces. Every week the solution is changed to a fresh one, and the old one with the fruit flies that got into it is poured out.
• Duct tape . You can buy them in almost any supermarket or hardware store. The adhesive tapes are removed from the packaging and carefully laid out or hung in the habitats of the flies. As fruit flies accumulate on the sticky layer, the traps are replaced with fresh ones. Sticky traps can also be made from double-sided tape. The adhesive tape is cut into fragments and attached to the places where fruit flies are detected using cardboard pieces.
• Potassium permanganate . Such traps are more suitable for flower crops in which fly larvae are found in the soil. Potassium permanganate is diluted in water until a faint pink color is obtained. The surface of the soil in pots is treated with the solution. Antiseptic liquid completely destroys all larvae.
• Traps with mechanics . It's easy to make them. A piece of sweet fruit or slightly overripe berries is placed in a small plastic cup. The top of the glass is covered with ordinary cling film, in which small holes are made. Drosophila flock to the bait, but are no longer able to fly out of the cup. If you don't have cling film on your household, you can use a rolled-up paper cone instead.

Predatory plants

Some plant crops are predators by nature and readily feed on various small insects, including fruit flies.

For example, at home you can plant:

• Venus flytrap;
• Zhiryanka;

• Nepenthes;
• Sundew;

• Sarracenia.

These are indoor types of crops that will rid the premises not only of fruit flies, but also of flies and mosquitoes. When an insect lands on the leaves of such a crop, they slam shut, and the plant eats the victim entirely or sucks out nutrients from it.

Predatory plants are dangerous and poisonous to cats and dogs. Keep this in mind when choosing this option for combating fruit flies.

Interesting facts about fruit flies

Drosophila in nature

Why are fruit flies needed? After all, nature couldn’t have created these insects just so that they would tirelessly annoy humans? In fact, fruit flies are an important part of the food chain - small amphibians and reptiles feed on them, so breeders and reptile lovers cultivate flies en masse in their homes.

Drosophila in medicine

Fruit midges play an important role in the development of medicine. After all, about 61% of known human diseases have a correspondence in the genetic code of Drosophila. Therefore, scientists have learned to use the fly as an experimental organism to study the mechanisms of immunity, the formation of cancer cells and diabetes, and even the principle of drug addiction. Fruit flies are also used to genetically model the development of serious diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.

Some scientific works based on the study of fruit flies were awarded the Nobel Prize.

· Drosophila are binge drinkers!

Scientists have discovered that fruit flies have an unparalleled body detoxification system, because their entire diet consists of fermentation products containing from 5 to 15% alcohol.

The addiction of flies to alcohol is due to the high probability of death of individuals from infectious diseases transmitted by flies through the blood of fungal bacteria living on rotten fruits. Alcohol is a kind of medicine that causes the high vitality of fruit flies. Thus, scientists have experimentally proven that a standard diet allows 60% of individuals to successfully pass through all stages of development, while feeding with non-alcoholic yeast leads to the death of 100% of experimental subjects.