How Do I Get Rid of Fruit Flies in the Office?

Our friends at Assured Environments wrote an awesome article on a question we get asked very often: “How do I get rid of fruit flies in the office?” You can find the full article HERE.

Fruit flies are notoriously difficult to get rid of. They’re tiny, fast, resilient, and they reproduce like crazy. Unfortunately, even if traps kill every adult fruit fly in the office, chances are eggs will hatch and you’ll have a new generation of fruit fly larvae to deal with.

While you may not be able to totally eradicate the fruit flies at work, there’s plenty you can do to reduce the population in your office. Implement the practices below and see their numbers dwindle. If you’re still wondering how to get rid of fruit flies, give Assured Environments a call. We’re always ready to help New York businesses stay pest-free.

What are fruit flies attracted to?

It’s no surprise that you can find fruit flies swarming around ripe, well, fruit. However, fruit flies aren’t actually attracted to fruit, they’re attracted to sugar; fruit just happens to be a sugar they can lay eggs in.

How do I get rid of fruit flies in the office?

Following these three steps will help prevent any new fruit fly infestation in your office:

Don’t leave food out at the office

Before you go home at the end of the day, scour the office for any uncovered food. This includes fruit, bread, candy, meat, cheese, yogurt…pretty much any office snack.

Either dispose of the food outside of the building or ensure that it is sealed in an airtight container and put it in the fridge. If you want to keep fruit flies out, you can’t provide them with a buffet!

Wash all of the fruit you bring in

There’s a good chance that fruit flies are hitching a ride on fruit that you bring in the office from home. One way to prevent these pesky pests from becoming your new coworker is to wash all the fruit you bring into the office as soon as you get in. Even if you brought your apple that morning, a fruit fly could have found it and snuck aboard at any point during your commute.

Clean counters and desks

Fruit flies don’t need much to survive. A crumb here and a spill there will keep fruit flies content. That’s why it’s important to wipe down surfaces at the end of the work day. While you wipe down your desk, make sure you take out your desk trash as well!

Rinse cups, bottles, and containers

Fruit flies love fruit first, sugary beverages second. Fruit flies will get at the last dregs of coffee, soda, energy drinks, or even water. Before recycling any cans, cups, or bottles, rinse them out thoroughly with water from the sink. Make sure you dry them out, too!

The most helpful tip of all? Get in touch with CleanStart Property Services. If you still have fruit flies in office plants or buzzing around your kitchen, we have 100% confidence that we can completely wipe out your fruit fly infestation. Give our experts a call and we’ll snuff out those pesky pests and keep them out.