About Fruit Flies

Fruit plies are a pest common to many homes. As their name suggests, they are often found in the kitchen hovering around the fruit. However, they do not eat fruit and they are generally not brought home from the grocery store as many people commonly believe.

  1. Significance

    • Fruit flies can quickly become a problem in the home. If there is fruit left out of the refrigerator for any length of time, there is a good chance that fruit flies will be attracted to it. This can make the fruit unappetizing at best and full of fruit fly larvae at worst. Often, in the case of fruit bowls and decorative fruit displays, many fruit flies will gather, creating a serious pest problem.

    Function

    • Fruit flies are attracted to fruit, but they don't eat it. What they are actually after is the yeast that is feeding on the fruit while it is breaking down. For this reason, they are not interested in fruit that is not yet ripe or fruit that has not yet begun its breakdown. Fruit on display at the grocery store is generally not at the stage of breakdown, and is generally not under attack by fruit flies. Fruit flies are hardy and live in a variety of climates. They come in from outdoors and attack fruit in people's homes.

    Time Frame

    • Fruit flies hatch from eggs and grow into adulthood in about 10 days. The eggs are usually laid on fruit or other materials that are fermenting. The newly-hatched fruit flies are larvae, which will molt twice before it enters the pupal stage. This entails staying inside a hardened shell for about 6 days before emerging as an adult fruit fly. The fly can then live for a week or more as an adult.

    Identification

    • Fruit flies are smaller than house flies--about a third of their size. These tiny insects have light-brown bodies and generally have red eyes. There are strains of fruit flies with white eyes, but that is not the norm. Each female fruit fly can lay as many as 500 eggs during her short life. They begin mating within hours of emerging from their pupal stage and can begin laying eggs within 1 day.

    Prevention/Solution

    • An infestation of fruit flies can be avoided by keeping fruit covered inside the house. This will prevent fruit flies from being able to feed off the yeast on the fruit and from laying their eggs on it. It fruit flies have already become established, there are several ways to get them out of the home. An easy way is to place a piece of fermenting fruit inside a half-closed bag. Once the fruit flies descend on the fruit, the bag can be sealed and discarded.