Eddie’s Food Frustrations: Fruit Fly Frustrations
Adeline loves food – lots of it and often, both at home and out and about. Usually, that goes just fine, but sometimes it doesn’t. In the series Eddie’s Food Frustrations, she shares her bemusement. This week, it’s about a small but persistent enemy: the fruit fly.
This morning I took a bite of my cracker and I swear I just missed biting into a fruit fly. The annoying little fly came so close to my face that I went cross-eyed. Of course, it was after my egg sprinkled with cress, but I found it rather ‘in your face‘. And in this case, my face.
Fruit Fly Frustrations
At the local drugstore, I heard an elderly woman exclaim that she was going completely crazy from those fireflies in her house. For a moment I thought things were very cosy at her place, until the sales assistant asked whether she perhaps meant fruit flies. It was a relief to know I’m not the only one.
In the bin
The rotten thing about fruit flies is that they are attracted to things that are rotting. So now it immediately looks as though I live in some kind of filthy den. Nothing could be further from the truth. My boyfriend cleans almost compulsively, which makes me understand this fruit-fly invasion even less. Though I must say I have a potential culprit in my sights.
Or rather: out of my sights, because I have just thrown the basil plant and the mint plant into the bin at lightning speed. I tapped a branch and at least five of those reddish flies flew at me. The horror.
Fruity friends
After some thorough research, I have already mapped out the journey of my fruit flies. In the supermarket, the herb plants naturally stand right next to the fruit section. Fruit flies love rotting leaves and fermenting fruit. A single fruit fly lays approximately 300 to 900 eggs. Of course, that had to happen in my plant, which I put in one of those cosy pots on the kitchen counter. Voilà, you have an outbreak.
By now I’m disgusted with myself too. Yes, you can quickly go downhill when you’re in the middle of an invasion. So when I spread things on my crackers, I don’t take my fruity friends’ eyes off them for a second. I even walk backwards very carefully towards the fridge to get some more toppings. Without breaking eye contact with my plate, because heaven forbid they land on my food with those filthy little legs.
The good news: yesterday I killed four fruit flies with a small bowl of vinegar and drops of washing-up liquid. Only 596 to go.
Also read:
- How long can a fruit fly survive in the fridge?
- Fruit flies: 8 tips to get rid of them in a flash
- Gross: a single fruit fly can ruin your entire glass of wine
