How to quickly remove fruit flies from the apartment? Drosophila. Fruit flies and how to get rid of them.

The appearance of numerous small midges in the apartment causes a lot of anxiety. These insects are characterized by an incredible reproduction rate, so it is advisable to start looking for methods of getting rid of them at the first sign.

Causes of insects in the house

Before embarking on the fight against midges, it is necessary to imagine what causes their appearance.

You can bring eggs with contaminated fruits, berries, vegetables. When the fruits begin to rot, larvae appear. Their growth is very fast. After five days, these are already pupae, and after another five days, adult insects fly around the apartment.

Before looking for means to destroy midges, it is necessary to establish the place where they fly from:

• bin;
• an aquarium if the water is rarely replaced in it;
• a cage with a hamster, guinea pig, rat and other animals;
• bowls with leftover cat or dog food;
• potted flowers, especially if the remains of tea leaves are poured under them;
• stagnant water in flower pots and pallets;
• leftover food stuck in the siphons.

Physical methods for the destruction of midges

There is simple ways helping to fight the midge invasion. After checking all the places in the apartment, and determining that these insects fly out of the sink drain, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse the pipes, opening them to strong pressure hot water. This will destroy the larvae and eggs. To finally solve the problem, you should eliminate a possible blockage by using a plunger, or using special tools. In the future, control flushing of pipes with hot water is regularly carried out.

A small amount of midges is easily caught with a vacuum cleaner. It is enough during daily cleaning to pay attention to the presence of flying midges and quickly eliminate them. If there are no household members in the house, you can use the method that involves the use of camphor. Since midges cannot stand its smoke, pour enough crushed camphor into a preheated frying pan and go through the rooms with it, opening the windows.

A weakly concentrated solution of potassium permanganate will help to cope with midges that have populated flower pots. It is enough to pour a clod of earth on them and spray the plant. If necessary, the procedure is repeated after a week. Helps to reduce the number of insects ash, which is mixed with the soil. With an excessive number of flying midges, you will have to transplant the plant, throwing out all the infected land. The roots and the pot itself are washed with a light pink solution of potassium permanganate, and then a flower is planted in fresh soil.

Pouring a dishwashing detergent diluted in water into a spray bottle, you can spray it when flying midges are detected. Due to the sticky composition getting on them, the ability to fly is lost, as the wings stick together. This gradually leads to a decrease in the number of insects.

A variety of ways to deal with annoying midges will be successful if you first eliminate all sources of dampness, put fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator. Check stocks of cereals and stock up on special containers with lids for storing them. After such measures, sticky tapes will help get rid of annoying insects. Since new midges will no longer appear, such a measure will be enough to deal with them quickly enough.

Homemade traps

After the source of the appearance of midges has been established and measures have been taken to eliminate it, all that remains is to get rid of flying individuals. For this, traps are effectively used, placed in the apartment in places where they will be inaccessible to children and will not interfere with adults in their daily activities.

There are several varieties of such traps designed to deal specifically with adult flying insects.

• Is taken plastic bag, in which overripe slices of a banana or green apple are placed. Gradually, midges gather, attracted by the smell of treats. When there are enough of them, you need to quickly tie the bag and throw it away.
• The next type of trap is made from plastic bottle. Cut off from her top part about a quarter of the total length. Several holes are made in the lid, large enough for the midge to crawl through. Any fruit bait is placed on the bottom, then in lower part fastened with a lid down the cut off top. After filling with midges, the trap is thrown away with them.
• You can arrange plastic cups with bait in the house, into which a paper funnel is attached. It should have a small hole at the bottom, and the upper part is glued to the glass with tape.
• It is also possible to collect flying midges into a trap in the form of a plastic cup with the remains of compote, covered with cellophane on top, in which several small holes are made.

All these methods allow you to completely get rid of midges within a few days.

Folk remedies

A variety of folk remedies that involve the use of available substances do a good job with the invasion of midges.

• You can spread out in several places in the house small open bags with chopped horseradish placed in them, the smell of which midges do not like.
• Small containers are placed in the apartment, into which a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a little liquid agent used for washing dishes. The midges are attracted to the smell of vinegar and sit on the bait. Thick consistency detergent composition does not allow them to fly.
• If you leave overnight a glass of yogurt with poured into it a small amount beer, then in the morning there will be a lot of drowned midges in it.

There are also unusual people's councils about how you can get rid of the midge in the house, which has chosen flower pots. It is recommended, for example, to stick ordinary matches into the ground with their heads down or sprinkle it with ground pepper.

Midges do not like the smell of geraniums, so it is advisable to grow this flower not only for the sake of beautiful buds, but also as a prophylactic against annoying insects.

Chemical preparations against midges

If simple means, proven different people, do not help, you can turn to chemicals. You need to purchase them in a specialized store. Before proceeding with processing, the instructions are carefully studied. The apartment should not have children, the elderly, animals.

To protect yourself, you should wear a thick robe with long sleeves. You will also need gloves, a respirator, glasses, a scarf. It is convenient to use an aerosol that is sprayed not only in the air, but also in places where the larvae may be. Then the windows are closed in the house. After a few hours, the room is thoroughly ventilated. Of course, to poison midges chemicals not available in all rooms. For example, for the kitchen, this method is not recommended.

The final stage after the final disappearance of the midge is a general cleaning. It is important to wash everything hard-to-reach places make sure there are no leaks. Stock up on enough containers with lids for storing cereals. If there are animals in the house, it is necessary to clean the cages daily, wash the bowls.

Video: How to make a mosquito and midge repellent

Fruit flies are pesky little creatures whose presence in a house in itself annoys all its inhabitants. When these little creatures, not limited to annoying flickering, are actively spoiling the food, and in addition they are still trying to bite, the patience of the residents comes to an end, and they begin to urgently look for means to deal with annoying aliens.

Where do house midges come from and how to get rid of them

Small black flies, which annoy the housewives so much, are extraordinary insects. The unique ability of these malevolent flying creatures to appear, as if from nowhere, gives them a certain mystical halo. However, the secret of the appearance of flocks of midges in hermetically sealed apartments has nothing to do with magic. Drosophila flies, of course, do not have the phenomenal ability to seep through walls. In fact, midges get into tightly closed rooms along with products brought from outside, and the larvae and eggs of fruit flies can hide not only in vegetables and fruits, but also in mushrooms, cereals and garden flowers.

Each fly does not live long. Having appeared in the world at dawn, in the evening of the same day she dies, but if there is a food base for her in the apartment, namely, a supply of spoiled vegetables and fruits, the wine fly manages to lay a huge number of eggs on them in a day. Thus, the number of midges begins to increase exponentially, however, in fairness, it should be noted that in winter, fruit flies do not breed so actively, but if you do not fight them, even in cold weather they can fill the whole house in a few days.

In addition to rotten fruits, midges love indoor flowers, or rather, the moist soil in which they grow. In addition, the reproduction of midges that have entered the house is facilitated by stagnant water in the aquarium, dampness prevailing in sanitary facilities, dirt in the cells of pets, leaking sewer pipes, dishes unwashed for several days and garbage forgotten in the kitchen.

Therefore, if fruit or flower flies are wound up in your home, before you start to poison uninvited guests, try to eliminate their "tavern" first. To do this, first remove all food from the table and wash dirty dishes, then inspect the refrigerator and conduct an audit kitchen cabinets. Immediately take out the rotten fruits and moldy cereals found there in the trash, along the way, take with you the garbage that has stale in the bucket.

Having finished putting things in order in the kitchen, to eliminate dampness, ventilate the apartment, clean the aquarium, loosen the earth in flower vases and drain the water from their pans.

At the end of the cleaning, vacuum the floors throughout the house and at the same time check if there is an apple core lying around in some secluded place.

The three most effective ways to deal with annoying midges

1 way. Industrial insecticides

In the event that the general cleaning did not give the expected result, and malicious flies continue to scurry around the apartment, you, of course, can poison them with some kind of insecticidal aerosol, but the same dichlorvos, for example, is allowed to be used only in the toilet and living rooms, it is unacceptable to use such a toxic pesticide in the kitchen.

In rooms where food is stored or prepared, it is better to use factory-made adhesive tapes to combat midges. Unfold and hang under kitchen ceiling a couple of Velcro, and the very next day you will see that the number of small "saboteurs" who secretly made their way into your house has significantly decreased.

A fumigator can also be a great way to solve the problem of a fly invasion. Fill this device with a special fly-resistant plate, or attach a tank of anti-fly liquid to it, turn on the unit all night, and in the morning you will not find a single fruit flies in your house.

2 way. Homemade traps

Fruit flyers can be fought not only with chemistry, but also with safer, but no less effective folk remedies, which include the homemade traps described below.

drunken trap. Flies love beer and dessert wine. Put on kitchen table an open, unwashed bottle of beer or liquor. After a couple of hours, a great number of fruit flies will gather in it, flocked to an unexpected feast, but you just have to plug the cork of a vessel full of midges and take it to the trash.

apple trap. No less sweet alcoholic beverages, fruit flies love apples. Taking advantage of this weakness, you can build a very effective trap in which natural apple cider vinegar will play the role of bait. To make such a trap, take a half-liter jar, fill it a quarter warm water, pour a spoonful of natural apple cider vinegar into the water, the smell of which has a bewitching effect on midges, and add a couple of drops of shampoo or dishwashing liquid there. Attracted by the aroma of their favorite fruits, midges will fall into the water, and the "sticky" soap film formed on the surface of the liquid will not allow it to fly back.

3 way. Repellents

If you don't have time to build traps, try to scare away unwanted guests with some kind of unpleasant smell for them. As such means - "horror stories" you can use:

• camphor, the smell of which is very disliked by all flies and mosquitoes. Throw a pinch of this substance on a heated dry frying pan and, as soon as its crystals begin to emit a characteristic wormwood aroma, immediately remove the bowl from the stove and walk with it throughout the apartment. Having smelled the smell of camphor, the flies will be forced to retreat.
• garlic- garden midges are afraid of the smell of this plant, so they can scare away flies that have chosen flowerpots with indoor plants. Cut a few cloves of garlic into plates, spread them over the surface of the substrate in flower pots, and midges will soon leave their homes.
• cloves, the rich aroma of which plunges midges into a panic. Put a dessert spoonful of clove buds in a small bowl, fill them with a glass of water, and put an impromptu aroma lamp on the stove. When the liquid in the ladle begins to boil, a thick spicy spirit will spread throughout the apartment, which will disperse the "stray" guests.

Comment on the article "How to get rid of midges in the apartment: 3 most effective ways"

Midges!. Household amenities. Dacha, garden and vegetable garden. Dacha and dacha plots: buying, landscaping, planting trees and shrubs Moshki - well, we have the same thing in the evenings, but this happens every year - there are a lot of grass in the meadow near our fence and 100 m to the river. In July they will disappear themselves ...

Discussion

From midges the most good remedy it's vanillin. The most common, mix the sachet with any cream and smear, but be careful with allergy sufferers. Not a single midge sticks. Checked

From midges, turn on the infrared exterminator of insects

Got the mosquitoes! Fight against insects and rodents: o). Economy. Home Economics: Housekeeping Tips, Cleaning, Buying and Using Tell! This midge (something like a poplar moth, if such a thing happens) looks like just aphids, every evening ...

Discussion

SALVATION I am in all rooms, in the kitchen and at front door I hang flypapers from flies + sometimes I spray dichlorvos on the nets, there are a lot of corpses!

Yesterday, the mother-in-law complained about such people, they have a 10th floor, and where mosquito net no-karul. She even called them something, I don't remember. But she said that every year it is necessary to urgently order the mosquito net. Apparently there are no other options

How to get rid of midges in the apartment: 3 most effective ways. Fruit flies are pesky little creatures whose presence in the home is annoying in and of itself. Where do houseflies come from and how to get rid of them.

Discussion

The reason must be sought, what has deteriorated - whether vegetables, cereals. Throw out the spoiled ones, the flies will disappear.

1 about onions. To catch those that fly, take a couple of plastic 0.33l juice bottles (there should be some juice left at the bottom), poke holes in the lids with a fork: the flies will gather inside the trap bottles in a day.

Where do houseflies come from and how to get rid of them. If you grease window frames and shoals of bay oil and set traps in the house, you will generally forget what a fly is. How to get rid of midges in the apartment: 3 most effective ways.

How to remove midges??? We have never had these animals in our lives, I just always thought that they are taken from those who keep flowers at home and Two years ago, the family was advised to make a trap for midges, now this is the only way to save ourselves. And the trap is the following: we take a bottle from ...

Discussion

Oh, how I suffer from them: (They nest in my coffee machine, where the coffee cake is. I spray fumitox at night, it lasts for several days, then again
and in flowers they are, and in a bow :(

Two years ago, the family was advised to make a trap for midges, now this is the only way to save ourselves. And the trap is as follows: we take a bottle of cola or something else, fruits, juice and leave it in a warm place, after a while all the midges will be in the bottle and not a single one in the kitchen, for the best effect in the neck - a cone, flies fly in but they can't fly out. Working 100%%%%%%%

Drosophila melanogaster, otherwise fruit or vinegar fly, is a small, about 3 mm long, insect of the Drosophiliadae family from the order Diptera. These flies can be observed near spoiled fruit. In nature, they also feed on plant sap, rotting plant debris. The larvae also feed on microorganisms. Drosophyll (we call it "wine fly") goes to the wine smell.

One way or another, everyone has come across Drosophila. It is worth forgetting about vegetables or fruits that are stored outside the refrigerator, pour indoor plants - as they are right there. We have this time appeared when we put apple cider vinegar. It's hard to get rid of. Therefore, we are making a separate article - we are studying who they are and how to get rid of them without the use of chemistry.

fruit flies(lat. Drosophilidae) - a family of the order Diptera insects ( Diptera), includes more than 2000 species. It has worldwide distribution. The most famous genus is Drosophila ( Drosophila). Members of this genus are also called fruit flies.

The family includes two subfamilies - Drosophilinae and Steganinae- and about
about 70 births. Larvae develop in decaying plant debris, fruits, vegetables, mushrooms.

The easiest way to get rid of fruit flies within a few days is to completely deprive them of food. But it is difficult for us to do this - in country house, in the kitchen, there is always something for them. Can be hung sticky tape She helps, but not much.

Young larvae cannot penetrate deep into the solid medium and die, while the laid eggs may die in a liquid medium.

Drosophila are said to be able to eat thermal insulation as well. True, this is unverified information, but rumors. However, I met them several times. Like it or not - I do not know.

fruit fly, Drosophila Drosophila melanogaster many aquarists know. Both adult insects and their larvae are used as food.

Drosophila females and males. reproduction

The Drosophila fly, like all Diptera, has three stages of development: egg, larva, adult insect.

Morphologically, females and males differ from each other in a number of ways. Females are somewhat larger than males, although the size of both can vary greatly depending on feeding conditions, especially the larval period of development affects this. The abdomen of the female is somewhat rounded, with a pointed end; in the male it is cylindrical, with blunt end. Also, the male can be easily distinguished from the female by the last few segments, which are completely pigmented in him. The upper chitinous shields of the chest in insects are called tergites (they, together with sternites and pleurites, participate in the movement of wings).

The female has eight well-developed tergites, while the male has six, with the sixth and eighth tergites fused, and the eighth included in the reproductive apparatus. Sternites are the same chitinous plates on the ventral side. The female also has one more of them than the male, and the first, second, seventh and eighth sternites are not developed in representatives of each sex.

Drosophila eggs are somewhat elongated, about 0.5 mm long. In fresh cultures, they are easily visible, being deposited on a nutrient medium.

Hatching of the larva from the egg and the beginning of postembryonic development is associated with increased nutrition and growth. An excess of food at this stage of an individual's life has great importance: to a large extent, it determines not only the size of the fly, but also its viability. The first time after hatching, the larvae remain on the surface of the medium. Then they go deep into it and remain there until the moment of pupation.

Pupation begins with the fact that the larvae leave the environment, stop feeding and crawl briskly for some time. Then they become immobile, significantly reduced in length and acquire the barrel-shaped shape characteristic of the pupa. The pupal period of development is characterized, on the one hand, by the destruction of larval organs and tissues, with the exception of the gonads and nervous system, on the other hand, the development of adult fly definitive organs from imaginal discs. The period of pupal transformation is 4 days.

At the end of the third day, the outlines of the eyes become visible through the cover of the pupa, in which a yellowish pigment is produced by that time. A few hours before hatching, the wings are clearly visible, by which time the eyes become bright red.

The hatching of the fly and its release from the pupa cover is achieved by injecting liquid, as a result of which the pupa cover is torn, and the fly is released.

The flies usually emerge from the chrysalis early in the morning. Young, newly hatched flies have a long yellowish body, almost devoid of pigment, short, not yet spread wings. After 8 hours, the females are ready for fertilization. Females begin to lay eggs from the end of the second day and continue until the end of their lives.

The scheme of getting rid of midges Drosophila

1. We find and destroy the habitat of midges.
2. We put traps on those midges that managed to hide.
3. We carry out activities to prevent the appearance of midges.

Common habitat: rotten fruits or vegetables (apples, pears, onions, potatoes, etc.), bags of cereals and nuts, not closed jar with jam or compote. Midges can even live in some kind of jar with a chemical.

Traps for midges

Glass jar
1. Place in glass jar bait (pieces of fruit, juice or compote).
2. Fold a funnel out of paper.
3. Make a small hole at the tip of the funnel.
4. Insert a funnel into the neck of the jar with the tip down. Glue the joint with tape.

The midges fly to the smell of the bait, fall into the jar, and it is difficult to get back, because the bottom hole of the funnel is small and difficult to find.

A plastic cup
1. Take a small plastic disposable cup(can be from under yogurt, etc.).
2. We put the bait for midges in a glass: pieces of fruit (apple, peach, nectarine, banana), juice, compote, used tea bag etc.
3. Stretch cling film on top of the glass.
4. We make small holes in the film with a thick needle (the size of the hole should be such that the midge can climb in, but not too big, otherwise it will crawl back out).
5. We put the glass where midges often live.

The midges fly to the smell, climb into the glass, but cannot get back out, because the holes are small. When the number of midges reaches about 15 pieces, you need to throw the glass in the trash. Repeat the procedure until all the midges are gone.

Put a few apple cores in a plastic bag for a day, preferably sourer. Midges love sour, spoiled. They will climb into the bag and begin to live there, feed. When they are in the package, you must carefully and quickly tie the package. And throw it out.

Prevention of the appearance of Drosophila

Need to wash the trash can general cleaning in the kitchen. Remove all leftover food. If you have pets, clean out their bowls regularly, and if they leave food, clean out the refrigerator. Don't leave dirty dishes. Check bags of vegetables regularly and discard rotten ones.

It is necessary to find their "home" - usually it is wet potatoes, "thoughtful" or rotten vegetables and fruits. If fruit flies have nothing to eat and nowhere to breed, they will gradually disappear on their own, and there is no need to breed them with all sorts of dichlorvos and raptors. It is necessary to remove all food, take out the garbage, do not water indoor plants (if any).

Check under the sink - food residues can remain there and be a breeding ground. They can start in a pumpkin that lies on a closet, or in a bow. Often bred in flower pots of indoor plants. Sometimes they fly to ground coffee. They are bred in a teapot, if you do not throw out the tea leaves.

We take these tips out of the comments under the article on the site - many tips are original and very interesting! So:

If a midge starts up in flower pots, then you need to stick an ordinary one there match, head down, disappear.

Most often, flies appear due to rotten potatoes, onions - all spoiled root crops are a breeding ground for flies. The main thing - remove source. Gradually they will disappear. Be patient.

I do a deep cleaning once a week. ultraviolet, and during the year an ultrasonic trap works for me, this is how we save ourselves.

I solved the problem with flies simply: 1) I collected crawling and flying ones with a manual kitchen vacuum cleaner (fortunately, they do not fly fast). 2) at night in the place of their accumulation (I have a jar of kombucha) turned on mosquito repellant lamp. The effect is amazing - in the morning almost not a single fly!

Vacuum cleaner perfectly caught, even on the fly!

You can put a jar of flies into the freezer for a few minutes. They'll die. Checked.

Poured into a cake lid beer, to cover the bottom a little, a lot of people gathered and almost everyone drowned.

I found that they are very fond of spoiled bananas. In the kitchen, I put a crushed, rotten banana in a bag. Problem solved.

Fly tape, smear with red wine. And here they are right here.

Husband accidentally left leftovers on the table apple compote in a jar, during the night darkness filled them there, at first I closed them with a plastic lid and then I thought for a long time how to kill them, you can’t open them, throwing away the jar in this form is also not the case, I decided to put into the microwave and turned it on for a minute! The end came to them all instantly! A glass jar should be put in the microwave covered with a plastic lid, do not be afraid, it will not explode, 40 seconds at a power of 600 - 700 is enough.

Tip: Pour some water into a glass jar, some apple cider vinegar or juice and a little dishwashing detergents and put this jar where you have the most flies, and you will take away in a few hours you will have almost no flies, this trap attracts them. Apple vinegar attracts flies and they fly into this jar, dishwashing detergent does not allow them to get out of there. You need to renew this fluid once a week.

Getting rid of fruit flies is very easy. Buying fly or mosquito repellant that are designed for the raptor. Install plates to window glass and the problem is solved! From the sun, the plate heats up and releases a deadly poison for flies.

I accidentally discovered a means of combating flies: I began to clean horseradish roots for a horseradish snack, horseradish cleaning left in open package- all flies instantly disappeared. It's been several days and they haven't returned.

Fruit fly traps

There are also ready-made products on sale to get rid of fruit flies and they are effective. If you put homemade vinegar, put traps right next to it otherwise the flies will scatter all over the house.

Glue trap "Raptor" with bait liquid will provide effective protection from a fruit fly. The principle of the trap is simple. The composition of the liquid includes a special substance that attracts flies. Following the smell, insects get on the sticky surface with inside traps with no way to get out of it back. At the same time, outwardly, the trap remains still clean and attractive. The feeling of comfort and cleanliness in your kitchen is guaranteed!

Mode of application: Open the box. Take out the liquid bottle. Unscrew the cap from the bottle. Take out the cardboard tape with the sticky layer. With a sharp movement, remove the protective paper from the sticky layer.

Fold the trap into a "house" shape with the printed side of the sticky side inward, joining the lock labeled "insert into slots" in the direction of the arrows. Insert the trap on the neck of the can. Make sure that the perforation on the trap fits snugly around the neck of the can. Place the trap in insect breeding areas - in kitchens near fruits and pantries - food storage cabinets - potatoes, onions, etc. Do not place in drafty areas. The trap retains the ability to attract flies for up to 30 days. Consumption rate - 1 trap per room 10-12 m 2.

And another trap: Trap "Aeroxon" for fruit flies. It is arranged in much the same way, only here in the package - 2 pieces at once. The flies begin to flock very quickly - excellent cleaning of the room!

The Aeroxon glue trap is designed to kill tiny flies flying over rotting fruit. Fruit flies are found in kitchen, utility and warehouses where fruits and vegetables are stored. The flies are lured with a special bait to the adhesive surface of the trap, and firmly stuck to it. The trap can be placed in close proximity to food, it is completely safe.

No, I will not convince the reader of the dangers of drinking beer - those who have been visiting the Tavern for a long time know that I am not averse to sometimes drinking a mug or two of good beer myself. Oh, and here is the first key word - "good". What is a good beer? The answer is unequivocally impossible. If only because there are a lot of criteria for good beer, including taste. I really want to take them all apart in turn, it's worth a try, at least. But today I will dwell on, perhaps, the most important question for many - is real beer sold? And under the present, everyone is free to choose - "non-poisonous", "correct", "without preservatives" and so on.

Unfortunately, the current regulations for beer products are such that the manufacturer is not obliged to indicate the full component composition of the drink on the label - as a rule, he hides everything that does not exceed 0.5% by weight. I've only come across one fairly honest brewing company so far whose product sported a preservative, sodium benzoate, on the ingredient list. The rest believe that the buyer sleeps better if he knows less.

Worst of all, it is very problematic to conduct an analysis at home on your own, contacting commercial laboratories is expensive, and government agencies will respond to your request only if there is a violation. And if, say, such a fact is easy to find for sour cream, then, alas, it is more difficult for beer.

I follow with interest all the news about the imminent appearance of personal quality testers food products, and even participated in a startup to create one of them, but for now it remains to use available funds to suggest whether a certain beer is "correct".

What exactly are we risking?

Indeed, why do we need to know what the manufacturer is hiding from us and does not write on the label. Beer seems to be like beer, it is drunk, hops and pleases. And here there are several options:

• Beer is real, original, does not contain anything superfluous, only natural ingredients. Everything seems to be in order. Just don't overuse.
• The beer is real, but genetically modified components were used in the brewing process. It's time to write a serious article about myths and the real possible harm from GMOs, based not on replicated populist facts, but on knowledge of genetics and biochemistry (I'll try to publish before the New Year). For now, just note this point, and we will keep it in mind for all subsequent ones (if the manufacturer hid the use of a preservative from us, he could also hide the fact of using GMOs).
• Beer is real in the sense that it is brewed according to technology. But then, to increase the shelf life, preservatives are added. Possible harm variable - from a simple feeling that we were cheated by not indicating the full composition on the label to possible harm to the body (allergic reactions, microflora addiction to antibiotics, gastrointestinal problems, and so on - for more details, if interested, read in the appropriate section).
• The beer was brewed in violation of technology, then the manufacturer tried to give it the "right" taste, color and smell by adding various "left" components (foaming agents, taste improvers, colors, etc.). The possible harm is even wider than in the previous paragraph, for additional information- again in our special section.
• Not beer at all, but a "beer drink" that only resembles real beer in taste, color and smell. It can be produced in any way. Accordingly, the harm from it depends on the composition: from minimal to serious.

Methods for the determination of preservatives

Many compounds and food additives can be present as preservatives in beer. The most common are benzoates, ascorbic acid, sulfur dioxide, nisin, etc. Can we try to determine their presence in beer? With the exception of sulfur dioxide, which you can easily recognize (but rarely use), it's not that easy.

Of course, the most reliable is analysis in the laboratory, for example, chromatographic. But it is not available to most beer lovers, so we will assume the presence of preservatives in beer in other ways, not 100% reliable, sometimes indirect, but allowing at least to determine which beer is better. I know a person who defines the quality of beer in a very specific way: for a few hours in the evening, he tries to drink at least three liters of beer for a modest snack. I will leave aside the expediency of this method, I will only talk about the criteria, in the direction of increasing quality (the author's style is preserved):

I will not offer you such a method, I will simply tell you about possible home methods of comparison, and I hope you will offer your own.

First, let's look at the label.

I repeat, I only once met the mention of a preservative on the label of a beer bottle. But how many times it was not - an interesting question. But the label itself sometimes contains enough information, in addition to indicating the composition. Firstly, if the inscription is not "Beer", but "Beer drink", then the likelihood of preservatives and other additives in it increases. Secondly, if the beer is unpasteurized (as the label says), and the shelf life is more than two weeks, then the beer clearly contains a preservative. Thirdly, any shelf life of more than six months implies the presence of preservatives.

And again, the Drosophila fly is on guard of our interests

The idea to invite an outside expert to taste beer for supplements did not come out of nowhere. Once, when we were going on vacation, we forgot a potato in the kitchen under the sink. It began to rot, and on returning home we found a happy flock of fruit flies in the kitchen. Of course, we threw out the potatoes as soon as we found them, but we gave up on the flies: there will be nothing to eat, they will hatch out on their own. In the evening, friends came to visit, brought beer with them to celebrate our return. The holiday, as usual, dragged on past midnight, I didn’t want to wash the dishes anymore ... In general, a couple of mugs with unfinished beer at the bottom remained standing in the kitchen. What was my amazement in the morning when I found drowned fruit flies in mugs with beer. The whole flock decided to end their lives in such an interesting way.

Since then, we have often used this approach, if we suddenly needed to get rid of fruit flies somewhere, and advised it to others, until one day, having gone on vacation again, we forgot some fruit on the windowsill. Again fruit flies scurry about in the kitchen. I go to the nearest store (then beer was still sold in stalls), the choice turned out to be small, I bought a can of Baltika No. 3. I don’t like it myself, so I just poured it into several glasses and mugs and left it overnight. Alas, in the morning no one swam in beer, and the flies continued to fly around the kitchen, as if mocking me. I was surprised and, since the profession had long taught me to establish the cause of the incomprehensible by experiment, I walked to the pub and bought my favorite beer then. In the same way, he poured it into mugs and glasses, left it to stand next to the Baltika. The next morning, you guessed it, there were no flies in the kitchen - they all drowned themselves in beer, and all - not in Baltika-treshka.

I decided to complicate the experience. I didn’t want to bring fruit flies through a rotten fruit or vegetable again, so I just turned to my friends in the laboratory where they grew these flies for their experiments, the benefit of substandard flies, as well as large desiccators, in which we watched the drowning of fruit flies, in they were in bulk. I bought another Baltika, now a penny (No. 1), took a couple of varieties of local beer (then the Victoria brewery was still working, who remembers from my fellow countrymen) and brought sodium benzoate with me, which, as I then thought, could be the only preservative for beer. We placed chemical cups in the desiccator, poured beer into it, and what we did was: two cups of Baltika, two cups of Baltika with benzoate (for the purity of the experiment), two cups of light local beer, two cups with it plus benzoate and etc. The result was disappointing both for fruit flies, which drowned everything again, and for Baltika and for those glasses of beer in which we added benzoate: a maximum of 1-2 flies drowned in them, all the rest were drowned in local beer without adding benzoate.

This is how Drosophila flies again demonstrated their indispensable role in biological experiments :). And since then, I have periodically indulged, checking beers that I had not drunk before, thus for “lice”. It should be noted that every year the probability that fruit flies will not climb to swim is growing and growing. Alas and sorry. I’ll tell you, if you suddenly have fruit flies, you can use this fact to check your favorite beers: in which one they drown more, they probably have fewer additives.

Of course, such an experiment cannot be called a full-fledged test for preservatives, but the results make you think and ask questions to the manufacturer.

Souring beer test

AT recent times I prefer unpasteurized beer from a local German brewery. It is not strong (4°), with a pleasant pronounced taste (two varieties: one with a more pronounced shade of hops, the second is slightly sweet), non-carbonated. Too bad this brewery doesn't produce dark varieties. So here it is guarantee period the storage of a bottled version of this beer is half a month. At the same time, I note that already on the 5th-6th day from the date of production, an inconspicuous sourness is felt, and I would not recommend purchasing this beer with an age of more than 8 days (it does not linger, however). It's in a sealed bottle! And, on the other hand, there is a fresh memory of a half-drunk bottle of beer by my graduate students (I don’t remember the brand and manufacturer of this beer), which was corked and it stood like that for a month, not only not turning sour, but practically not changing its taste. Do you think there were no preservatives in it?

This is where one of the most simple tests but it takes some courage. Pour beer into a small glass so that it takes up half the capacity. Put in a warm (35 - 40 degrees) place, covered with a piece of paper. Every 8-10 hours, check the smell and taste of the beer (literally tasting a little bit. This is what requires a certain amount of courage). Unpasteurized beer without preservatives will acquire a sour taste and / or characteristic smell after a maximum of 12 - 16, pasteurized will last 6 - 8 hours longer. Beer with preservatives will either stay longer than a day (I still had a record of more than 4 days without a change in taste and smell), or it will acquire a bitter slightly oily taste (in this case, most likely, an antibiotic was used as preservatives).

You can dip strips of indicator paper into the cups to check for acidity. But it's still safer to try :) If you don't have enough courage, see a slightly more difficult next test.

Joint milk-beer test

For this test, you will need natural milk that you trust. It should normally sour in a warm place, not acquire a bitter or oily taste (you can read more in the material "Why are dairy products bitter?"). Then everything is simple: you put in a warm place in identical containers (also half a container, I use plastic test tubes for microbiological research, it is convenient to mark and arrange them in a tripod, but, as they say, everyone uses what is at hand), covering their piece of paper, milk and a mixture of halved milk with degassed beer (simply stir some beer in a glass with a teaspoon for 3-5 minutes to degas). And periodically check for souring. A mixture of milk and beer should turn sour for you at about the same time as just milk (well, maybe half an hour or an hour later or earlier). If this is the case, the content of preservatives in beer is minimal or absent. In all other cases, it is worth assuming the worst.

I've tested many beers (it's not hard to do a quick test if you've bought or given a beer or sub-sort of beer that you haven't drunk before), many fail this test. The test is far from 100%, but it is not difficult to conduct it. By the way, beer produced outside the Russian Federation also comes with preservatives, and I often came across this.

Until we stop

Alas, laboratory tests suitable for the accurate detection of preservatives in beer are practically unavailable for the home. Even TLC (thin layer chromatography) requires equipment and reagents. Therefore - these are feints with the ears. I admit the possibility of error in some cases, but my experience as a chemist and biologist tells me that in most cases the tests work correctly.

Wine midges or Drosophila are known to everyone because of their prevalence. They got their name because they are attracted by the smell of wine that comes from rotting fruit. In the house, most often they can be seen in the kitchen, since all food is concentrated there. Having settled in the apartment, the small ubiquitous wine flies pretty annoy the residents. Behind short span time, their numbers become such that they are found: on houseplants, curtains, in a trash can, on any product not cleaned in time, in jars of honey or jam, they tend to get into your morning coffee and, apparently, consider themselves full-fledged owners on your kitchen. Because of this, many are concerned about the question - where do they come from and how to get rid of wine midges in the house?

wine midge

Description of the insect

Drosophila is also called fruit flies. These insects have long settled near humans, for the reason that humans are an inexhaustible source of food for them. Midges eat spoiled fruits, flower nectar, plant remains and juice of domestic plants. All this in in large numbers eat next to people.

Outwardly, Drosophila are very small midges. They do not live long and breed very actively, developing in a warm environment from an egg to an adult insect in just ten days. One female has the ability to lay up to 400 eggs. Therefore, wine flies in short time can populate the entire territory in which they settled. Midge eggs are laid in spoiled berries and fruits. The hatched larvae penetrate deep into the product and pupate there. Already on the second day after hatching, the female is already able to lay eggs.

Important! These insects do not bring much harm to the person himself - they do not bite, do not suck blood, and even more so are not carriers of diseases. The main harm from them is annoying flickering in the apartment and the absorption of food. Theoretically, eating food contaminated with fly larvae can only lead to intestinal upset.

Causes of Drosophila

In order to effectively deal with wine midges, you must first understand where they came from and find the sources of their reproduction.

They get into the human dwelling in various ways:

• with fruits that we bring home, on the skin of which wine flies have laid their eggs. They give preference to soft fruits, the peel of which they can easily bite through;
• they fly in through open doors and windows, attracted by the smell of rotting fruit, sometimes they are even attracted by the pungent smell of fruit freshener.

Recommendation! Often we have no idea where midges come from on freshly bought fruits in the store. The fact is that the larvae are visible only at an early stage of formation, when the midge has just laid its eggs on white color. Then they take on the color of the fruit, so we cannot see them when buying. Vegetables and fruits that you cannot store in the refrigerator should be thoroughly washed with water or even poured with boiling water, because there is a possibility that Drosophila has already laid eggs on them. As soon as the process of decay begins, adult insects will appear from the eggs.

As a rule, these insects lead their lives in the following places:

• in the kitchen among food and plant residues;
• in the trash can;
• in the bathroom when stored there wet rags, wet stale things and when the water supply is clogged;
• near cages with pets, aquariums with fish, if they are not taken care of daily;
• in pots with indoor flowers, especially if they are heavily watered;
• in vases with long standing flowers.

How to get rid of the wine midge

You need to start fighting midges as soon as you find them in the house in order to avoid their further reproduction. For this you need:

1. find breeding sources and get rid of them;
2. clean the kitchen of all spoiled food and plant residues;
3. check the condition of rags for washing floors and dishes;
4. check whether the water supply is clogged and eliminate the blockage if any;
5. fill drain special tool or sprinkle with soda, and then extinguish it with vinegar, to eliminate food residues that fruit flies love so much;
6. if there are not many midges, you can simply collect them with a vacuum cleaner;
7. after getting rid of spoiled food stocks, carefully wipe the shelves in the cabinets soapy water and then vinegar;
8. in the case when midges are wound up in domestic plants, it is necessary to reduce watering and shed the soil with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, or insecticides specially produced for the soil (Thunder, Fitoverm, Karbofos), if this does not help, then the contaminated land must be completely change;
9. insects from the house will help to expel garlic, lavender, citrus fruits, their pungent smell repels insects;
10. Drosophila can be smoked. To do this, pour crushed camphor into a frying pan and put it on the stove, when steam appears, carry the dishes through all the rooms. This procedure is safe for humans and pets.
11. in the fight against midges, predator plants will help, which digest insects that have fallen into their traps. They are easy to care for, they are harmless to humans, but they deal effectively with fruit flies and other insects. In addition, it is quite interesting to observe the process of hunting a plant and capturing prey;
12. if it is cold enough outside, then you can simply cool the room well by opening the windows and that's it. kitchen cabinets, Drosophila are sensitive to temperature and will die from hypothermia;
13. use house traps.

Homemade wine fly traps

One of effective ways The fight against midges is the use of home traps, which can be prepared in the following ways:

• Pour juice, compote or put pieces of fruit into a glass jar, make a paper funnel with a small hole at the end and insert it into the jar, carefully gluing the joints with tape. Attracted by the smell, midges can easily penetrate inside the jar, but they will not be able to crawl out.
• In a bag that does not have holes on the walls and at the bottom, place slices of fragrant fruit and leave it overnight. In the morning, quickly close it with flying flies and throw it away.
• You can also catch fruit flies by placing saucers with syrup or juice, a mixture of sugar and yeast in places of accumulation. Insects will gather over saucers and drown in the bait.
• Take a plastic cup and put a piece of fruit in it. Cover the glass with cling film and make small holes in it. Midges penetrate, but they will not be able to get back and it is possible to throw them out along with the trap.
• You can use sticky fly tape by hanging and spreading it near the places where insects accumulate.

To get rid of fruit flies not very difficult. And for this it is not at all necessary to use toxic substances - the most simple methods described in the article are also the most effective. After fruit flies leave your home, do not forget about prevention measures.

Prevention from the appearance of wine midges

In order to prevent Drosophila from appearing in your home, it is important:

• Do not leave fruits and berries in the heat for a long time on the table;
• Get rid of dampness and dirt;
• Maintain cleanliness, throw out spoiled products on time, give Special attention stocks of onions and potatoes;
• Throw out the trash often, especially during the hot season;
• Wash the trash can;
• Regularly care for cages with animals and aquariums with fish;
• Do not leave pet food for a long time, apply it a little so that it is eaten immediately;
• Pay attention to the systemic cleaning of ventilation shafts and water drains;
• It is important to constantly wash the sink and clean the drains and siphon using chemicals;
• Do not leave dirty dishes for a long time;
• Do not flood indoor plants, do not use tea leaves or coffee grounds for watering;
• Do not allow stagnation of water in the trays under the flower pots;
• Change the water in a vase of flowers in time and throw out rotting or withering bouquets in a timely manner;
• Maintain cleanliness in the room, regularly do general cleaning, carefully inspect everything and examine every corner.

By fulfilling these conditions, you can protect your home from the invasion of the wine midge.