Overview
- Acorn Environment Services advised households on Sunday that extra vigilance is needed this September because mild weather can let fruit flies remain active indoors.
- The firm identified the most common breeding sites as overripe fruit bowls, kitchen and food-waste bins, sugary recycling, drains and spills under appliances, and forgotten stored produce like onions or potatoes.
- Acorn recommends five practical steps to halt infestations: throw away overripe produce, empty food-waste bins regularly, rinse bottles and cans before recycling, wipe up spills promptly, and check hidden or stored produce.
- Experts warn that killing visible adults usually fails because fruit flies breed rapidly in tiny amounts of fermenting residue, so tracking down and removing the source is essential to stop reappearances.
- If source removal and cleaning do not stop the problem, households are advised to seek professional pest control, and the wider rollout of food-waste bins may mean more homes need to adopt these routine checks.