Here’s how you can repel fruit flies from your home using wine corks

Fruit flies sometimes swarm into one’s home seemingly without rhyme or reason – and whatever method you try to get rid of the pesky bugs doesn’t seem to work. Here’s how you can use wine corks to repel the pests for good.

If you’re sick of fruit flies swarming around otherwise fresh, delicious fruit then do not sink beneath your despair, because a few simple wine corks could be enough to totally transform your fortunes. Here’s how you can repel fruit flies using wine corks.

This age-old hack essentially started as an old wives’ tale, but has started to gain traction once more due to the fact that it does actually seem to work wonders.

As Ryan Watts, sommelier with Cameron Hughes Wine, told TODAY:

“Two things attract fruit flies: sugars and moisture. This is why you most often find them around ripe fruit and in or around sinks and drains”.

“Natural cork is a perfect deterrent as the cork material absorbs moisture put off by the ripening fruit and activates a fragrance from the cork that fruit flies are none too pleased about.”

It seems as though once the moisture has been absorbed by the natural cork, the resulting scent is not so appetising to the fruit fly.

“This cork deterrent was essentially an old wives tale at one point, being traced back to a French grandmother,” Watts explained. “But as more folks tried it, it began to catch on because it actually works.”

For the hack to work properly, there are a few things you’ll need to bear in mind, though. So, if you want to repel fruit flies using wine corks:

The corks will need to be made from natural cork, as opposed to synthetic materials, and you’ll need to dry them thoroughly before placing them in your fruit bowl. After all, it stands to reason that a wet, sugary cork will only attract more of the fruit flies you’re trying to repel.

And while the hack should prove effective in the case of a few unwanted fruit flies buzzing around your fruit bowl, it wouldn’t stop a full-blown infestation, Watts says. That’s a whole different bowl of fruit.

Meanwhile, to wow your friends at a dinner party, or merely get yourself out of a bind, here are 10 alternative ways of opening a bottle of wine without a corkscrew.

H/T: TODAY.com