Earlier than you chunk into an apple or sprinkle some berries in your cereal, you probably give the fruit rinse. In terms of bananas, nonetheless, you in all probability skip this step. In any case, their peel is nature’s model of a display screen protector—proper?

In case your banana has by no means identified the kitchen sink, you is perhaps stunned to see some TikToks encouraging folks to clean the fruit post-purchase. The movies declare that fruit flies lay eggs on high of bananas, doubtlessly inflicting that swarm in your kitchen, regardless of the season. So: Must you rinse these potassium powerhouses to maintain your kitchen tidy? We related with a number of entomologists to seek out out.

To begin with, it seems the fruit fly infestation half is legit. Whereas bananas aren’t inherently extra engaging to the bugs than different kinds of fruit, they do have a pair traits that make them notably weak, David Lowenstein, MS, PhD, a shopper horticulture educator at Michigan State College Extension, tells SELF. For one, they’re extra prone to be saved exterior of a temperature-controlled surroundings just like the fridge, making it simpler for the flies to entry them. Second, they ripen extra quickly, that means they begin to entice pests earlier as decay units in.

And people bananas aren’t only a meals supply for the bugs; additionally they function a wonderful nursery for his or her infants, which are literally on the root of the swarm downside right here. Inside round 24 hours of mating, feminine fruit flies can lay as many as 500 tiny eggs on surfaces like a banana’s peel. “You would want hand lens or a microscope” to see them, Dr. Lowenstein says.

However when these eggs hatch, they produce larvae (a.ok.a. maggots), which, in flip, develop into brown, rectangular pupae that may ultimately yield grownup flies. If this cycle completes, you possibly can have a giant downside in your palms. “When you get only a few fruit flies inside, their populations can explode actually shortly,” therefore any potential swarms, PJ Liesch, MS, the director of the College of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, tells SELF. In actual fact, he provides, “you may even get overlapping generations, the place you might need adults and eggs or larvae on the identical time.”

Earlier than you chunk into an apple or sprinkle some berries in your cereal, you probably give the fruit rinse. In terms of bananas, nonetheless, you in all probability skip this step. In any case, their peel is nature’s model of a display screen protector—proper?

In case your banana has by no means identified the kitchen sink, you is perhaps stunned to see some TikToks encouraging folks to clean the fruit post-purchase. The movies declare that fruit flies lay eggs on high of bananas, doubtlessly inflicting that swarm in your kitchen, regardless of the season. So: Must you rinse these potassium powerhouses to maintain your kitchen tidy? We related with a number of entomologists to seek out out.

To begin with, it seems the fruit fly infestation half is legit. Whereas bananas aren’t inherently extra engaging to the bugs than different kinds of fruit, they do have a pair traits that make them notably weak, David Lowenstein, MS, PhD, a shopper horticulture educator at Michigan State College Extension, tells SELF. For one, they’re extra prone to be saved exterior of a temperature-controlled surroundings just like the fridge, making it simpler for the flies to entry them. Second, they ripen extra quickly, that means they begin to entice pests earlier as decay units in.

And people bananas aren’t only a meals supply for the bugs; additionally they function a wonderful nursery for his or her infants, which are literally on the root of the swarm downside right here. Inside round 24 hours of mating, feminine fruit flies can lay as many as 500 tiny eggs on surfaces like a banana’s peel. “You would want hand lens or a microscope” to see them, Dr. Lowenstein says.

However when these eggs hatch, they produce larvae (a.ok.a. maggots), which, in flip, develop into brown, rectangular pupae that may ultimately yield grownup flies. If this cycle completes, you possibly can have a giant downside in your palms. “When you get only a few fruit flies inside, their populations can explode actually shortly,” therefore any potential swarms, PJ Liesch, MS, the director of the College of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, tells SELF. In actual fact, he provides, “you may even get overlapping generations, the place you might need adults and eggs or larvae on the identical time.”