How Bad Are Fruit Flies?

While fruit flies may seem harmless enough, they can do a lot of damage. In the worst cases, they can ruin a whole crop, rendering it worthless. In the home, you can remove affected sections of fruit, but on a commercial scale, the situation is not as simple.

Adult fruit flies lay their eggs on rotting fruits and vegetables. Once they hatch, they feed on the decaying food. When they are ready to pupate, they leave the food materials for areas that are less humid. It takes between 8 and 15 days for fruit flies to develop from egg to fully grown adult. Once the adult emerges, it begins mating.

One of the best ways to keep fruit flies away from your home is to keep them away from open bottles of beverages and fruits. Avoid placing open containers of food on counters or tables, and make sure trash cans are not overflowing with food residue. If these measures don’t work, you can try using homemade solutions. However, this approach requires a lot of diligence and time.

In addition to fruit flies being nuisance pests, they can also be a health risk. They can carry dangerous bacteria and germs that can infect your food. Therefore, you should always wash your hands after handling fruit flies.

Continue reading:

Do Fly Traps Expire? Can You Use Fly Spray on Plants? Can You Eat the Fly Agaric Mushroom? How to Visit the Burning Man Geyser How Do Flies Turn Into Maggots? Can Fly Larvae Regrow Legs? How Quickly Can Fruit Flies Reproduce? Dragonflies and Other Insects Play Dead to Avoid Predators