Want them gone? Remove the fruit. That’s it. Take out the bananas, tomatoes, and any compost. No food = no larvae.
Set a trap: a bowl of apple cider vinegar with a drop of dish soap. The flies drown, but the larvae can’t escape the fruit. It’s a spa of death.
Freezing the fruit works, too. 24 hours in the freezer kills every egg and larva. Then you can compost without guilt.
The philosophical take
Fruit fly larvae remind us that life finds a way. Even in a rotten peach, there’s a tiny miracle happening. Or a tiny nightmare—depends on your mood.
Next time you see one, don’t just shudder. Think about the 40 million years they’ve been evolving alongside our fruit. They were here before us.
And they’ll be here after we’re gone, probably munching on an old avocado in a landfill. Cheers to that, little wrigglers.
