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How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
Did the fruit flies beat you to the fruit bowl? Once they settle in, these uninvited guests know how to overstay their welcome. Here are a few quick, easy and environmentally friendly ways to rid your home of those pesky fruit flies.
[edit] StepsRemove the food source and breeding areas. Fruit flies have a life-cycle of 10 days, giving them plenty of time to punish you for leaving moist, fermenting, organic material in which they may lay eggs. Most fly trap ideas only serve to illustrate the flies' progress in taking over your home, and some will themselves provide a breeding ground. Sanitation is the only effective resolution. Address these frequent problem spots:
Wash all dishes. Clear the drains.
Launder the dishrags, or at least wash them thoroughly with soap, rinse them well and wring them dry before hanging them up (don't leave them in the sink).
Store trash in a covered bin.
Do not toss food garbage into waste-paper baskets.
Cover your fruit bowl or store fruit you wish to keep in the refrigerator. Also, raisins, dates and prunes are favorite attractants.
Discard all overripe fruit.
Clean opened containers of fruit juice, fermented or vinegar products, for example ketchup, siracha or cooking wine. Seal them well. Keep these in the refrigerator if possible.
Wipe up crumbs and spills from your cabinets, counter and floor.
Take out all trash
They love rotton bananas, so get rid of those.
Do your laundry.
Clean the seals of your refrigerator door, the top and under the fridge, especially clean the evaporation pan if it has one.
Clean under and around your dishwasher and stove.
Dump mop water, clean the pail, launder the mop rag.
Remove damp lint from the laundry room.
Take out your compost and keep your collection bin covered and food additions to your pile buried beneath yard waste.
Do not use manure, beer or rank water for fertilizer near the house.
Use screens for your doors and windows.
Make a bowl trap:
Put a piece of old skinless fruit and some wine, or some balsamic in a bowl (think like the flies: what do you want for dinner?).
Cover the bowl tightly (no wrinkles) with plastic wrap.
Poke many small holes in the plastic with a fork. The fruit flies go in and can't get out (if the holes are too big they will fly back out).
Make a plastic zip lock bag trap:
Place a few slices of an apple inside a zip lock bag
Leave an inch open to allow pests to enter. The little pests will soon be on and surrounding the apple.
Zip the bag closed and crush each one with your fingertips.
Make a funnel trap:
Make a cone out of the sheet of paper (like a funnel). Tape the outside of the cone so that it stays in place.
Check that the cone fits snugly into a glass or cup.
Cut off the tip of the cone so that you now have a funnel.
Pour a small amount of cider vinegar into the glass or cup. (Rum mixed with orange juice also works very well - additionally, a half teaspoon of baker's yeast in water can also suffice)
Insert the funnel into the glass or cup, but don't let the bottom of the funnel touch the liquid. Tape the funnel in two or three places from the outside so that there is no gap between the glass and the cone.
Place your newly created trap on a flat surface. The flies will be attracted by the smell of the fruity vinegar and fly into the cone. The flies will slip down the cone and will either land in the vinegar and drown or will be trapped and not able to get back out. If you leave the trap overnight, the trapped fruit flies will eventually fall into the vinegar and drown.
Make a soda bottle trap:
Remove the lid and label from a clean, empty plastic two-liter soda bottle.
Carefully remove the upper third of the bottle by cutting along its circumference at approximately where the top of the label used to be.
Put an attractive liquid such as orange juice or cider vinegar in the cup-shaped part of the now-severed bottle.
Turn the cone upside-down and insert it into the cup-shaped bottom part of the bottle. Seal the seam at the top of the bottle with duct tape.
Fruit flies find their way into the bottle, but they can't get back out. After most flies are trapped inside, simply seal the bottle in a plastic shopping bag and throw out.
Make an oven trap:
Remove all available food from kitchen. Clean the dishes, place open items in ziplock bags or the fridge.
Open the door of your oven and place a piece of fruit (banana or kiwi peels) in there overnight.
Wake up early the next morning and quietly close the oven door.
Turn on the oven to 400ºF/200ºC for about 10-15 minutes and majority of your fruit flies will be gone.
Clean the oven thoroughly.
Make a glass trap:
Put a piece of fruit in a glass.
Cover the glass tightly with plastic wrap and secure to the glass.
Put a small hole in the plastic. The fruit flies go in and can't get out.
Make a wine trap:
Put a small amount of sweet wine in a little bowl.
Take your finger tip and put a very tiny amount of dish soap on it, preferably diluted
Barely touch the surface of the wine at the center with your finger tip.
This breaks the surface tension of the wine. The fruit flies will be attracted by the scent of the wine and drown in it. Normally the surface tension of the wine would have protected them from drowning, but with it gone, as they touch the edge of the wine to drink, they will stick to it, fall in and drown.
Fruit Flies
Did the fruit flies beat you to the fruit bowl? Once they settle in, these uninvited guests know how to overstay their welcome. Here are a few quick, easy and environmentally friendly ways to rid your home of those pesky fruit flies.
[edit] StepsRemove the food source and breeding areas. Fruit flies have a life-cycle of 10 days, giving them plenty of time to punish you for leaving moist, fermenting, organic material in which they may lay eggs. Most fly trap ideas only serve to illustrate the flies' progress in taking over your home, and some will themselves provide a breeding ground. Sanitation is the only effective resolution. Address these frequent problem spots:
Wash all dishes. Clear the drains.
Launder the dishrags, or at least wash them thoroughly with soap, rinse them well and wring them dry before hanging them up (don't leave them in the sink).
Store trash in a covered bin.
Do not toss food garbage into waste-paper baskets.
Cover your fruit bowl or store fruit you wish to keep in the refrigerator. Also, raisins, dates and prunes are favorite attractants.
Discard all overripe fruit.
Clean opened containers of fruit juice, fermented or vinegar products, for example ketchup, siracha or cooking wine. Seal them well. Keep these in the refrigerator if possible.
Wipe up crumbs and spills from your cabinets, counter and floor.
Take out all trash
They love rotton bananas, so get rid of those.
Do your laundry.
Clean the seals of your refrigerator door, the top and under the fridge, especially clean the evaporation pan if it has one.
Clean under and around your dishwasher and stove.
Dump mop water, clean the pail, launder the mop rag.
Remove damp lint from the laundry room.
Take out your compost and keep your collection bin covered and food additions to your pile buried beneath yard waste.
Do not use manure, beer or rank water for fertilizer near the house.
Use screens for your doors and windows.
Make a bowl trap:
Put a piece of old skinless fruit and some wine, or some balsamic in a bowl (think like the flies: what do you want for dinner?).
Cover the bowl tightly (no wrinkles) with plastic wrap.
Poke many small holes in the plastic with a fork. The fruit flies go in and can't get out (if the holes are too big they will fly back out).
Make a plastic zip lock bag trap:
Place a few slices of an apple inside a zip lock bag
Leave an inch open to allow pests to enter. The little pests will soon be on and surrounding the apple.
Zip the bag closed and crush each one with your fingertips.
Make a funnel trap:
Make a cone out of the sheet of paper (like a funnel). Tape the outside of the cone so that it stays in place.
Check that the cone fits snugly into a glass or cup.
Cut off the tip of the cone so that you now have a funnel.
Pour a small amount of cider vinegar into the glass or cup. (Rum mixed with orange juice also works very well - additionally, a half teaspoon of baker's yeast in water can also suffice)
Insert the funnel into the glass or cup, but don't let the bottom of the funnel touch the liquid. Tape the funnel in two or three places from the outside so that there is no gap between the glass and the cone.
Place your newly created trap on a flat surface. The flies will be attracted by the smell of the fruity vinegar and fly into the cone. The flies will slip down the cone and will either land in the vinegar and drown or will be trapped and not able to get back out. If you leave the trap overnight, the trapped fruit flies will eventually fall into the vinegar and drown.
Make a soda bottle trap:
Remove the lid and label from a clean, empty plastic two-liter soda bottle.
Carefully remove the upper third of the bottle by cutting along its circumference at approximately where the top of the label used to be.
Put an attractive liquid such as orange juice or cider vinegar in the cup-shaped part of the now-severed bottle.
Turn the cone upside-down and insert it into the cup-shaped bottom part of the bottle. Seal the seam at the top of the bottle with duct tape.
Fruit flies find their way into the bottle, but they can't get back out. After most flies are trapped inside, simply seal the bottle in a plastic shopping bag and throw out.
Make an oven trap:
Remove all available food from kitchen. Clean the dishes, place open items in ziplock bags or the fridge.
Open the door of your oven and place a piece of fruit (banana or kiwi peels) in there overnight.
Wake up early the next morning and quietly close the oven door.
Turn on the oven to 400ºF/200ºC for about 10-15 minutes and majority of your fruit flies will be gone.
Clean the oven thoroughly.
Make a glass trap:
Put a piece of fruit in a glass.
Cover the glass tightly with plastic wrap and secure to the glass.
Put a small hole in the plastic. The fruit flies go in and can't get out.
Make a wine trap:
Put a small amount of sweet wine in a little bowl.
Take your finger tip and put a very tiny amount of dish soap on it, preferably diluted
Barely touch the surface of the wine at the center with your finger tip.
This breaks the surface tension of the wine. The fruit flies will be attracted by the scent of the wine and drown in it. Normally the surface tension of the wine would have protected them from drowning, but with it gone, as they touch the edge of the wine to drink, they will stick to it, fall in and drown.
Fruit Flies
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