Rid of fruit flies using essential oil

Get rid of fruit flies using essential oil now can be done with citronella oil or lemongrass oil. The research performed at the Laboratory of Plant Pest and Disease, Hasanuddin University of Makassar, Indonesia, showed that citronella oil is a fruit flies attractant of both males and females.
Fruit flies is one of the insect pests that attack crops in the field. The species of the family Tephritidae reach 4500 species, and there are 20 species of the Bactrocera genus is an important pest on crops and vegetables in Asia. Bactrocera spp. has a pretty much host like: orange, mango, papaya, avocados, bananas, tomatoes, apples, pineapples, pears, apricots, eggplant, guava and melon.
Yield loss due to their attack in Indonesia is quite large. This is because the stadia that causing damage on plant is their larvae which attack directly on the the crops. At the chili crop, the yield losses can reach 80%. Widespread attacks estimated 4700 ha with a loss of 21.99 billion rupiahs in 2002. In tackling these pests, farmers have been controlling in nature, such as by wrapping the fruit, containment plants with plastic nets, fogging around the tree and others. This effort allows for a relatively small land area, but it is inefficient to the land of many hectares. Another control that has been done is sterilization, chemical and wear traps using attractants.
Lemongrass essential oil
Get rid of fruit flies using essential oil is based on the ability of attractant substances such as methyl eugenol in the essential oil which is dripped on cotton inside the trap. Based on the testing, some essential oil give good results as an attractant for those insects. This method is effective in reducing the population as well as restrictions on entry and development of those insects in an area. However, synthetic attractants is only able to get the attention of the male, because it is parapheromone (sex pheromone) are compounds that smell similar to a pheromone produced by female insects to get the males to come. While the main suspect actually is the female which piercing or harming the surface in order to lay eggs inside.
One of the vegetable materials that are attractants of the insects is lemongrass oil. About 20-50% concentration of lemongrass oil effectively attracts both kind of fruit flies in the laboratory and in the field. In field testing, lemongrass oil which is applied in liquid form, which is dripped on cotton that is attached to the trap is quite effective in get them. However, application of this fluid did not kill it so that the trap still needs to be added to a solution of detergent and the application is only effective up to day-to-4. Lemongrass essential oil has a distinctive aroma of lemon. The source of the scent is an aldehyde compound, namely sitral oil as the main compound.
Adding Materials Adhesives
To kill fruit flies which is going into lemongrass oil dripped on cotton, it is required other materials, such as detergent or adhesive. Addition of adhesive on lemongrass oil droplets on cotton was found to increase the effectiveness in controlling their population. Thus, get rid of fruit flies using essential oil is one of the natural and environmental friendly solution.

You might also like
How to get rid of dandruff using essential oil
The use of essential oil as feed additives
Essential oils as fleas repellent on pets
How to get rid of body odor using essential oils