Fruit flies are an annoying pest. We usually see them most often in summertime, but it’s possible to see them any time of the year. The real struggle is how to get rid of fruit flies.
You most often see fruit flies when you have fruits or vegetables out on the counter that are going bad. For me, it’s usually something out of view like the potatoes.
They sit on a cart in the corner of the kitchen, with other room temperature vegetables, like onions and garlic.
Tips and Tricks To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies
When you start researching how to get rid of fruit flies, you might quickly realize that there are several ways to go about it. You can make your own homemade traps or you can buy a ready-made trap.
- Remove Food Supply: First, the best thing you can do is get rid of their food supply. Fruit flies love fruit and vegetables that are going bad. So be sure to throw those out, or into the compost!
Bananas, potatoes, onions, and other common items you might find at room temperature are all food sources for the fruit fly.
Potatoes and onions can be stored in brown paper bags, preferably in a dark cool area. Bananas can be stored in plastic bags to slow ripening or paper bags to increase ripening.
You can also place ripened fruit in the fridge. It not only slows down the ripening production but it will help keep away the fruit flies.
Keep a lid on your garbage and compost inside your home, and take them out daily. - Eliminate Breeding Grounds: Breeding grounds for fruit flies include damp rags, like dishcloths, dirty drains, garbage, dirty dishes, and other wet gross areas.
This is big! You don’t want the fruit flies breeding, right!?!? Keeping those areas tidy can help cut down on the fruit fly problem.
How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies With Homemade Traps
I love making things myself. I make my own chap balm, laundry detergent, and even my own DIY Citrus Peel Cleaner.
When I have a fruit fly problem, I try homemade stuff first. Here’s a couple of homemade traps for you to try.
The first trap is something you can make yourself right at home.
- Pour 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar in a glass jar. You could also use wine.
- Make a cone using construction paper, printer paper, or even a paper towel.
- Use tape around the head of the jar to secure the paper cone to the jar.
- The fruit flies should be attracted to the scent of the apple cider vinegar.
- They’ll fly in, but you guessed it, they can’t seem to figure out how to get out.
This next trap is similar to the first one.
In this trap instead of using apple cider vinegar as bait, we will use something you know they can’t say NO to!
This one is great because you can use what they’ve already been feeding on, like one of those rotten potatoes. (Ew they smell so bad though.)
Smabs Sputzer [(license) No Changes]
How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies With Store-Bought Traps
These pre-filled fruit fly traps, make this a simple job. They are small enough to leave by the kitchen sink, in the windowsill or even in your produce bowl that sits on the counter.
Believe it or not this cute little pineapple is a fruit fly trap! You don’t have to have an ugly contraption on the kitchen counter. Kill fruit flies in style.
There’s also an apple fruit fly trap, and a flower trap too!
This indoor insect trap boasts that it’s safe around children, doesn’t zap bugs, and will trap even the tiniest of bugs!
I don’t have this, but wow is it on my list of wants right now. It sounds like a great gift idea! Living in Florida is no joke. It seems like we are constantly dealing with flying insects inside the home.
If you’re looking for a smaller contraption that might sit next to a sink but hold quite a few fruit flies this next one might be for you!
Sticky tape is always a winner, okay, okay maybe not always. Not when you get your hair stuck in it accidentally. It does work well though. I sometimes use sticky tape in the garden too, for garden pest control.
One of my overall favorite flying insect traps are window fly traps. If you live in a hot climate like we do, you know the insects outnumber humans.
That’s why I like traps like these. Every time we open the door, insects find their way in. From moths to wasps and everything in between.
That’s why I love the window traps, they don’t discriminate! They trap any flying insect that gets too close!
Natural Ways to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
Another all-natural way to get rid of fruit flies is by carnivorous plants! These unique plants will love to help you will your little problem.
The venus flytrap (buy the seeds here) would love to sit in your kitchen and catch fruit flies for you. I found a beautiful terrarium to display it in, and help keep the little hands away from this heinous plant.
I included another venus flytrap (get the seeds here) that is a different deeper green color, and a pitcher plant (buy the plant here). You can also buy a Sundew plant. I hear they catch fruit flies like crazy.
It May Not Be Fruit Flies
After all of this, if you’re still having issues, you may not have a fruit fly problem after all.
There are similar little flying insects that some people call drain flies.
There are also phorid flies, and sphaerocerid flies that may be confused for a fruit fly. Just like the other two, they like drains too…
The drain flies are also called moth flies, sewer flies, or filter flies. These insects are covered in hairs all over their bodies and wings. When you crush them, they leave a powder behind, like a moth would.
Keeping your drain clean is a great way to help kill off an infestation of any of these insects.
Boil a pot of water and pour it down the drain a couple times a day.
Another tip is to pour 1/2 cup of salt, 1/2 cup baking soda, and 1 cup of vinegar down the drain, and let it sit overnight. Then, follow with a pot of boiling water, in the morning.
Check out this post on Do Your Own Pest Control to learn more about these troublesome insects.
Do you have tips to share that worked well for you? Please share it with us in the comments!
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Thank you so much. I have tried many things but I bought one of the items your suggested and put it by the sink and it worked so well I bought another one. Last summer was a doozy for some reason. So many fruit flies, I though I was going to lose my mind. I tried so many different way to get rid of them but nothing seemed to work.
I so glad to hear that you’ve found some relief. Those little buggers are annoying!