This little plant in your kitchen works wonders against fruit flies
Fruit fly frustrations—do you suffer from them too? Annoying, right, how those little bugs fly around and land on your food. Honestly, your house can be as beautiful and clean as anything, but with fruit flies in the kitchen, it still feels like a shabby mess. And it looks dirty even when it may be spotlessly clean. So you want to get rid of those nasty flies. How? Very simple.
Fruit flies usually appear during the warmer months of the year, often from late spring to early autumn. And they reproduce like crazy; an adult female can lay as many as 500 eggs (!) a day, usually on ripening or rotting fruit. This is also what attracts them. Other food scraps (and damp environments) work well too. It is therefore important to keep kitchens and dining tables clean and dry, clear away food scraps quickly, and cover fruit and vegetables properly to prevent fruit flies.
Another thing that helps: change your garbage bag frequently. Especially if it contains fruit scraps. Have you done all that but are you still stuck with those little pests? Then follow the step-by-step plan below.
Lovely little plants
We previously gave you tips for getting rid of fruit flies in no time. If you missed them, we’ll highlight the tip of all tips once more. Put a basil plant in your kitchen and you’re done. Basil has a strong scent that repels fruit flies. Fruit flies don’t like the smell of basil and will avoid the area where this plant is located.
Another tip is a mint plant: that works well too. Or lavender. Lavender has a pleasant scent for people, but repels fruit flies. They don’t cope very well with the scents of basil, mint or lavender, so they stay out of your kitchen. Rosemary also has a sharp scent that fruit flies don’t like.
The advantage is that you’ll want to have all these herbs in your kitchen anyway, because they’re great for cooking.
Strategic spots
So how do you go about it? Place a few basil plants in pots in strategic spots in your kitchen, especially near fruit, vegetables and garbage bins. Regularly trim the tips of the basil to encourage the plant to grow better. This also helps spread the scent, because you’ll have a ‘fresh sprig’ again. If you don’t have a fresh basil plant, you can also use dried basil leaves. Place them in small bags or bowls near your fruit and vegetables, but a plant works best.
Ta-da. Easy peasy. You’re welcome.
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Source: Franska
