Make your own Fruit Fly Traps - Healthy, Happy Gardening

I love to garden, I love to grow things, I love adorning my house with bowls of fresh fruit that look gorgeous and the kids can help themselves too.

Living in Qld though, insects are a part of daily life, Think ants, stick insects that make you jump a foot in the air they are that big, spiders **shudders**, mosquitos, cockroaches and having big bowls of fruit in the house, fruit growing in the garden and compost bins means you have to deal with the dreaded, FRUIT FLY...

Nothing ruins that dazzling, gorgeous fruit bowl on display in your kitchen quicker that these tiny little flying dots of havoc....

I have been through humid Summer's where it has been optimum conditions for them and they have grown to plague proportions....They can feel nearly impossible to get rid of sometimes and nearly drive you to drink as they wither and ruin beautiful fruit. Especially when it is growing beautiful and organically in the garden!

But you can take offensive action! Oh yes, feel like the sniper of the veggie patch and arm yourself with some tricks of your own to outwit these tiny little flecks of fruit doom.

TOP TIPS for dealing with pesky Fruit Fly

Even though we are in Winter here and fruit fly are at their most annoying in the heat, they can still be a right pest, so it is a great time now to get into some good habits and proactive action.

• Be vigilant in the garden about picking up fallen/rotten fruit. I swear they can smell this stuff from the other side of Australia.
• Even though of around 200 species of fruit fly only 2 are said to be a problem for home gardeners one of these is a particular pest in Qld, where I live and is usually found around plants like tomatoes, bananas (oh how they love to ruin my bananas in the house!), citrus or all kinds, guavas, eggplant (weird I know right?), pears, stone fruit, apple, capsicum, avocados and they just have massive rave parties with mangoes!! So with these plants try and keep their area as "clean" as possible.
• Use very specific "bags" to cover fruit you really want to protect in your garden. Ask at your local nursery.
• Companion plant as much as possible. Many strong smelling herbs and plants work as excellent garden "friends" helping to hide the scent of other tasty varieties, like basil with tomatoes. Not full proof by any means but it does help!

• Fruit fly are said to in particular really dislike Rue. Plant some in your orchid, grow some in the garden, put it in a vase near your fruit bowl if you like! 
• Cover fruit bowls with some sort of light covering inside like cheesecloth, mosquito netting. not super attractive but after a couple of days if your kitchen is also super clean they will dissipate and look elsewhere.
• Trap them!
  You will find an ENORMOUS variety of fruit fly home made traps on the internet and by asking around neighbours and farmers but you know what?
  The simplest have been to me over the years the very best.
  This is my ever trusty go to fruit fly trap. It works and you can whip it together with what you have around the house!
  
  Bek's Super Simple Fruit Fly Trap in a Jar
• 
  You will need:
  1 jar
  1 piece of paper
  1 chunk of banana or apple or pineapple etc
  splash of vinegar (I used apple cider)
  sticky tape.
  
  First clean down your kitchen, all surfaces and make sure all dishes are dried and put away, all fruit bowls checked for suspect fruit etc.
  Cover remaining fruit bowls after swooshing away fruit flys with some sort of netting to keep them off for a day or so.
  Take you jar, place a chunk of fruit in there and a splash of vinegar.
  Roll the paper into a tunnel with a tiny end and a large moth end.
  Put it tiny end down into the jar.
  Tape the paper funnel into place so you dont have escape holes.
  Place it near the fruit or area you were finding them leave for a day or so.
  Wallah!
  NOTE: make sure to keep the area very clean and fruit covered so they all are left with the trap as most attractive option.
  
  
  I am a firm believer in living 80/20 or 90/10. Doing the best we can, eating,drinking, cleaning, having the most eco options out there for the most of the time for the healthiest life we can.
  I am also as someone who does a LOT of cooking, cooking demonstrations, catering gigs an absolute freaker over cockroaches. Esp living in Qld where they are everywhere, in every house and as big as birds (ok maybe that was a slight exaggeration) but they are just nasty, evil arch enemies of chefs and home cooks everywhere so I have to be completely honest and tell you, while I do use natural pest control in my veggie gardens and things I do use cockroach bait in my house sometimes. Yes, I do!!
  Are you an ECO warrior or a 80/20 healthy living mum?  What is one none eco thing you NEED to use/have?