How To Catch Fruit Flies

Oh man, it’s that time of year when the fruit flies start showing up, uninvited I should add. It seems like when I bring home some delicious fresh peaches, we are inundated with those pesky fruit flies. Or they may be from a tomato, who knows, but they have arrived. They show up in the bathroom sometimes, you know the one that flies around as you try to swat it. Then you think you got it and another starts flying around. They’re a nuisance, that’s for sure.

The next thing you know you can’t see where they are coming from. Are the fruit flies grazing on the peaches, the ripe apples or the plant you just purchased at the grocery store and need to get in the garden? I know never to leave any dishes in the kitchen sink and never any open food items of any kind. They love to show up and surprise us, right?

Get Rid of Fruit Flies/Gnats

What causes fruit flies?

Fruit flies love a slimy sink drain, dirty dishes in the sink, cans of soda sitting there on the counter half finished. Just keep looking around your home for wet wash rags, or a bucket of dirty water. Hopefully, you can find the source where they started.

Where do these pesky fruit flies come from in my house?

Here’s the deal, they gravitate to ripened, over-mature fruit which starts to go bad and produces a fermenting smell like alcohol, they love that!!! Good grief, they gobble up the fermented fruit and lay hundreds of eggs that hatch into larvae within a few hours. They can produce up to 500 eggs each.

What causes these fruit flies to come into my house?

They breed in kitchen drains, they thrive on ripe matured fruit and vegetables. They love empty bottles and cans, trash cans, garbage disposals, bathroom sinks, kitchen sinks and anything that is moist and fermenting like mops and buckets for cleaning. You may bring them into your home with a bag of fruit or vegetables.

How do I get rid of them?

Just giving you the heads up here, you may never find the exact place they started, but you need to act quickly to eradicate them because you will soon have many more if you don’t.

1. Grab a jar or bottle and pour a little-unfiltered apple cider vinegar in it and cover the opening with plastic wrap secured with a rubber band. Poke a few small holes in the plastic wrap and sit back and wait for those pesky fruit flies to fly in there.

2. You can fill a small jar or bowl with unfiltered apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dishwater soap. You can cover it with plastic wrap or not. If you cover it, poke holes in the cover. The soap is what kills the fruit flies.

3. If you have a very ripe banana, grab a quart jar add some unfiltered apple cider vinegar and a chunk of banana and make a cone with white paper and place in the jar. The fruit flies will be curious to find the fruit but will not be able to get out after they go down the cone.

4. Now you can buy this as well. BUY NOW: Aunt Fannie’s Fly Punch

5. Fill a bowl with some unfiltered apple cider vinegar with a tablespoon of sugar and a few drops of liquid kitchen soap. They love this stuff. It’s cheap and you probably have these items in your kitchen right now. Note that the soap is what kills the fruit flies.

Let me know if you have some tips for getting rid of fruit flies at your home. I will add them to my post. Thanks again for being prepared for the unexpected. May God bless you and your family.

How to get rid of Pantry Moths by Linda

Kay:

Fruit flies love red wine. I leave a 1/2 inch in the bottom of a glass on the counter. I don’t even cover it, somehow once they get in the wine and they don’t come out.

Sandra:

This has always worked for me: in a shallow bowl or cup put a splash of vinegar…I use white plain…dish soap & water. I set it out in the kitchen uncovered and the fruit fliers quickly start dying in it. I make it fresh as needed every day or two.

Copyright picture:

Fly/Fruit Fly: AdobeStock_118337745 by Cacocao191