Local fruit fly information

Fruit Fly control in Wisconsin

Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.

Fruit Flies in Wisconsin: what to know

Around Wisconsin

Conditions vary across the state. Choose your city below, then describe what’s happening around your home or business.

What to note

Where you see fruit flies, how long it has been going on, and anything you’ve already tried are the most useful details to mention.

A useful next step

Ask about an inspection, what treatment would involve, and whether follow-up visits are included. You don’t need to identify the problem yourself before getting in touch.

Local research

Fruit Flies in Wisconsin: what the public record shows

Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which fruit flies actually live in Wisconsin, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.

The complete life cycle can be finished in eight to 10 days

Fruit fly life cycle in Wisconsin homes

A population can rebuild between one weekend and the next, so killing adults without finding the breeding site accomplishes nothing.

Wisconsin Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension

Trash can bottoms, refrigerator drain pans, recycling bottles, soiled mops and rags, broken drain traps, and leaking pipes around beverage dispensers

Breeding sites Wisconsin extension tells people to check

The refrigerator drain pan and the recycling bin are the two sources homeowners almost never check.

Wisconsin Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension

First reported in 2010; breeding populations and fruit infestations reported in 2012

Spotted wing drosophila arrival in Wisconsin

Wisconsin has had an outdoor reservoir feeding late-summer indoor fly problems for more than a decade.

Wisconsin Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension

When fruit flies are busiest in Wisconsin

Indoor populations follow the late-summer and fall produce and cranberry harvest; outdoor spotted wing drosophila builds through the berry season.

Wisconsin Horticulture is explicit that the only way to completely stop problems with fruit flies is to find and eliminate breeding sites, and recommends a jar baited with ripe banana, pear or wine under a funnel to catch the adults that remain.

For context, nationally

8 to 10 days egg to adult — Life cycle length. University of Maryland Extension
As few as 8 days — Fastest life cycle under optimum conditions. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension

Sources: Wisconsin Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension; University of Maryland Extension; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources

Explore Wisconsin cities

Appleton

Humid Continental · urban setting

Fruit Fly control in Wisconsin

Fruit Flies in Wisconsin: what to know

Around Wisconsin

What to note

A useful next step

Fruit Flies in Wisconsin: what the public record shows

When fruit flies are busiest in Wisconsin

For context, nationally

Explore Wisconsin cities

Appleton

Brookfield

Eau Claire

Fond du Lac

Green Bay

Janesville

Kenosha

La Crosse

Madison

Manitowoc

Milwaukee

Oshkosh

Racine

Sheboygan

Waukesha

Wauwatosa

West Allis

Beloit

Ask about fruit fly control in Wisconsin