How Do Fruit Flies Create Maggots That Ruin Fruit?

The best way to prevent fruit flies from ruining your fruit is to prevent them from getting to it in the first place. This can be done by ensuring that your produce is refrigerated until it is consumed. Then, dispose of leftover produce properly. You can also use homemade vinegar traps. These can be made from recycled plastic containers. To make the traps, drill holes in the top of the container. After that, you can hang the trap on a wire.

The female fruit fly lays its eggs in semi-mature fruit. Using her retractable ovipositor, the female flies will insert the eggs into the fruit. A single female fruit fly can lay up to fifty eggs. They may lay hundreds to three thousand eggs during their life. The eggs are nearly one mm long and white. Once laid, the eggs hatch in two to three days and the larvae begin feeding on the fruit.

The fruit fly larvae will feed on the decaying fruit, then develop a pupal case. Eventually, they will turn into an adult fruit fly. During their larval stage, they lay hundreds of eggs. The larvae feed for three to four weeks before becoming pupae in the soil. The pupae will spend the winter underground.

The larvae will start to feed on the fruit, along with various bacteria. The female fly will lay her eggs while inside the fruit. Both maggot and bacteria activity will cause the fruit to rot internally, which can lead to premature fall of the fruit.