How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

Last summer, we had the worst trouble with fruit flies in our kitchen! It was a wet summer, and the boys tend to leave the back door open a LOT. Fruit flies love produce, especially half bananas left over from cutting one for the baby – something that we always seem to have around the house! In desperation, I turned to the best resource for solving life’s problems: Facebook. 🙂

One friend suggested creating a trap for fruit flies out of a cup, and it WORKED! This little trick is an easy way to quickly eliminate the fruit fly population in your house.

It’s only May, and unfortunately the fruit flies are already back this year. While setting up another trap, I decided to grab some photos and pass this tip along to you!

Here’s what you need:

• A cup – I used a glass for the purpose of being able to show the fruit flies in the photos, but a disposable cup would be best so you can throw it away!
• A piece of paper
• Scissors
• Mailing tape
• A couple of banana chunks

Make a cone out of the paper with a small opening at the bottom and tape it.

The cone should sit in the glass so that the opening is above the bait (the banana). Seal the space between the paper and the glass with mailing tape. You don’t want any fruit flies to be able to escape!

Trim off the top of the cone, if necessary.

Then… wait.

It won’t take long for the fruit flies to smell the banana. They’ll follow the smell down into the tiny opening in the cup, and then they won’t be able to find their way back out!

SO GROSS! But if you have used a disposable cup, you can just seal it up in a ziploc bag and toss it in the trash! Then make a new one and catch the rest of the fruit flies.

NOTES:

• If the opening is too big, some flies may be able to find their way back out. But if it’s too small, you won’t catch very many fruit flies.
• We had also heard that you can catch fruit flies with apple cider vinegar or apple juice. We tried both, and really didn’t have much success. The banana was a total winner! I have heard that wine works well too, but we have not tried it.
• Also, make sure that you eliminate any sources of standing water in your home so that you are not giving the fruit flies an opportunity to breed. Dump out that dishpan full of water, etc.
• Organic produce definitely attracts more fruit flies!

Good luck getting rid of fruit flies!