Earlier than you chunk into an apple or sprinkle some berries in your cereal, you almost certainly give the fruit an excellent rinse. On the subject of bananas, nonetheless, you most likely skip this step. In spite of everything, their peel is nature’s model of a display protector—proper?
In case your banana has by no means recognized the kitchen sink, you may be stunned to see some TikToks encouraging individuals to scrub the fruit post-purchase. The movies declare that fruit flies lay eggs on prime 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 linked with a number of entomologists to seek out out.
To start with, it seems the fruit fly infestation half is legit. Whereas bananas aren’t inherently extra enticing to the bugs than different forms of fruit, they do have a pair traits that make them notably susceptible, David Lowenstein, MS, PhD, a shopper horticulture educator at Michigan State College Extension, tells SELF. For one, they’re extra prone to be saved outdoors of a temperature-controlled setting 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; in addition they function a superb nursery for his or her infants, which are literally on the root of the swarm drawback 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 wish an excellent 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, turn out to be brown, rectangular pupae that may ultimately yield grownup flies. If this cycle completes, you would have an enormous drawback in your fingers. “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. Actually, he provides, “you’ll be able to even get overlapping generations, the place you may need adults and eggs or larvae on the similar time.”