Fruit Flies
Identification
The fruit fly ranges from light tan to reddish orange and brown. Red Eye Fruit flies have a taste for too-ripe fruit (other produce, too!) and thrive on high-fructose substances, while its cousin the Dark Eyed Fruit Fly likes deteriorated organic matter.
Why is there always more than one fruit fly?
The female fruit fly lays its eggs on the surface or inside fruit that’s overripe, rotting, or decaying. Each female fly can lay up to 500 eggs at a time, so it’s important to take action as soon as you spot the first fruit fly. After hatching, the larva feast on their surroundings (like a past-ripe banana) for a few days, before evolving into fully formed adults. Overall, their life cycle is pretty quick—fruit flies are capable of mating just two days after they reach the adult stage—which means your clean-up clock starts ASAP.
How do I stop fruit flies from breeding?
The fruit fly hates clean surfaces, so keep those countertops as clean as possible. When you spill some fruit juice or other sugary substance, don’t wait until your favorite TV show is over to clean it up. Keep those sink drains free of food particles and eradicate all of the gross residue in and around the drain. If you don’t, they’ll become the perfect destination for fruit flies to breed. You don’t want that!
Treatment
The key to solving fruit fly problems is removing the source of infestation and breeding (the source is the same for both). Fruit flies can be a bit tricky because identifying the source is not always easy. The most common areas to find fruit fly sources are drains, sinks/dishes, trash cans, dishwashers, open wine bottles, drink cans, pantries, and even kitchen baseboards.
Without any pesticide, cleaning the source or tossing the attracting food will remove the issue.
Your Scatter solution can only assist in the control of fruit flies. Once the source is removed, you can spray the surrounding area lightly with your Scatter kit to control the lingering fruit flies. DO NOT spray down the drain!!! See next for drain options.
If you found that fruit flies were coming from the drain or garbage disposal, you can use a foaming enzyme cleaner to help remove the organic material the flies were living on. These can be purchased from any store or Amazon. A recommended product for this would be InVade Hot Spot Bio Foam.