| Fruit flies | Fruit flies | Fruit flies are a common and annoying problem in homes, restaurants, supermarkets, and any other place where there is rotting and fermenting food. Fruit flies can be a problem any time of the year. Adult fruit flies are 1/8 inch long, usually have red eyes, and a tan and gray body. Fruit flies lay their eggs near the surface of fermenting food and moist organic material. The maggots (larvae) feed on the surface of the rotting fruit. Fruit fly larvae only need a moist bit of fermenting material to develop. Although they are especially attracted to ripened fruits and vegetables, they can also breed in drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, trash containers, mops and cleaning rags. Fruit flies take only a week to develop from egg to adult and an adult female fruit fly can lay up to 500 eggs. For information on spotted wing Drosophila or SWD (<i>D. suzukii</i>), visit the Spotted wing Drosophila page in the Common Insects and Mites section of the WSU Hortsense website. |
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