How to Keep Fruit Flies off of Bananas (5 Simple Tips)
Do you ever reach for a perfectly ripe banana only to find a swarm of bothersome fruit flies hovering around it? It’s a common annoyance that can quickly turn your kitchen into an unwanted insect party. But fear not, as there are simple and effective ways to keep these tiny pests away from your beloved bananas!
In this article, we will explore some ingenious methods and natural remedies that will help you protect your favorite yellow fruit from becoming a fruit fly paradise. Say goodbye to those unwelcome guests and hello to enjoying your bananas in peace once again!
Understanding Fruit Flies
Fruit flies are attracted to the sweet smell of ripe fruit, making bananas a prime target. These insects can lay hundreds of eggs on the surface of the fruit, leading to a rapid increase in their population. To prevent fruit flies from infesting your bananas, it’s important to take proactive measures to deter them.
How to Keep Fruit Flies off of Bananas?
Fruit flies are pulled in generally to fruits, yet additionally to filthy dishes, litter boxes, and food waste and slime in channels. For bananas, flies simply tend to populate overripe bananas of any sort being forgotten about.
Therefore, the easiest and simplest way to keep them off bananas is to keep the stems of the bananas covered with the tape they accompany. This tape is meant to prevent the ethylene gas from getting away from the fruit, as this gas makes bananas ripen quicker. As a result, overripe bananas attract fruit flies.
5 Other Ways to Keep Fruit Flies off of Bananas
If fruit flies have made their way to your home, don’t worry. You can still keep them off the fruit by following any of the following ways:
1. The Apple Cider Vinegar Method
This method is very effective and easy in getting rid of the fruit flies. All you need to do is just take a bowl. Add some apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dishwashing soap to it. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and poke some holes in the wrap.
Apple cider vinegar will attract the flies and they will get into the bowl but due to the surface tension created by the dishwashing soap, they will not be able to come out of the wrapped bowl, and eventually, they will die.
2. Wash Your Bananas
Washing bananas is the key rule of hygiene. Certain people wash fruits to remove any pesticide residues from them. For fruit flies, they lay eggs on the fruit. These eggs and larvae can pose serious health issues to humans if ingested. Washing bananas thoroughly with boiling water will help you make them clean and safe to eat.
3. Use a Fruit Fly Trap
Using a fruit fly is an easy and inexpensive way to keep fruit flies off of bananas and other fruits. These traps have sticky attractants on both sides, the fruit flies, if trapped, will never be able to fly away once they get attached to it, and eventually, they will die on the trap.
4. Use Herbs to Repel Fruit Flies
Herbs tend to have a very strong scent, some of which attracts certain bugs while others repel them. Basil is one such herb that is thought to repel fruit flies.
To utilize this method, you have to simply put a basil plant, or even a few leaves, near your bananas to aid in repelling fruit flies.
5. Keep Bananas Covered
One way to keep fruit flies away is to cover your fruit. You can do this by placing your bananas in a closed paper bag or any other closed container.
Don’t forget that placing bananas in a closed paper bag will ripen the bananas much faster, so you should consume the covered bananas early.
To read about some more ways to keep fruit flies off of bananas, click here.
Is It Safe to Eat Bananas With Fruit Flies?
Eating bananas with fruit flies is not recommended at all because flies lay eggs on the fruits, and these eggs then hatch to form larvae. So, if you ingest fruits infested with flies, you may end up becoming sick from eggs. Therefore, it is better to throw out the bananas that you suspect may have been contaminated with fruit flies than take a risk of your precious health.
It is important to wash the fruits thoroughly before you eat them, particularly those that you are uncertain about. Fruits, that have the skin on, are safe to eat if you inspect them and wash them thoroughly with boiling water before peeling and cutting them.
Do Fruit Flies Make Bananas Rot Faster?
Yes, fruit flies make bananas and other fruits rot faster. This is because they gobble the fruit up, breed, and lay eggs all in the natural fruit, which obviously will make the fruit decay quicker. The bacteria, larvae, and eggs are generally hindering the fruit that you ought to avoid.
Therefore, it is very important to keep the fruit flies off of bananas and other fruits. For this, you have to discard the natural products where they are invaded, and you have to wash fruits after you utilize the different techniques covered above to dispose of them. When in doubt, take the fruit out.
| Also read: Can You Eat a Banana Whole Without Chewing? |
Conclusion
By following these simple tips, you can effectively keep fruit flies off of your bananas and enjoy them without the annoyance of these pesky insects. Incorporate these practices into your kitchen routine to maintain a fruit fly-free environment and preserve the freshness of your bananas.
