Aargh, fruit flies! Those pesky little gnat-like creatures have invaded our kitchen and we've been engaged in battle ever since. Until, that is, a friend let us in on a simple home remedy learned from their exterminator. Get ready: All it takes is cider vinegar, a jar, dish soap, and plastic wrap:
Pour just enough cider vinegar to cover the bottom of the jar. Add a drop of dish soap (it will break the surface tension of the vinegar so the fruit flies can't just sit atop the liquid). Now, cover the jar with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in the top. The little guys won't be able to stay away, and you'll have your kitchen back to yourself!
Check out a similar traps over at Re-Nest and on Shelterrific . What method do you have for getting rid of fruit flies in your home?
Image: a similar trap on Shelterrific
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Wish it worked on skeeters!
I tried this when we moved into our new house a couple months ago.. No dice. They didn't even go near it. :(
Laura
this works freakishly well. I've never had to use the plastic wrap part- just apple cider vinegar & drop of dish soap in a glass.
They usually flock to it during the night when its "cooler" in the kitchen.
Try freezing fruit peels, rinds, and scraps instead of putting them in the garbage right away. Toss them in when you're ready to take out the garbage.
The best way is to locate their origin. In many cases, they breed in the garbage, so take it out daily, and in the garbage disposal in the sink. I poured some bleach down the sink (not green, I know) and it cleaned everything up for the remainder of the season.
Worked great for me! I didn't even use dish soap. I just made sure the holes in the wrap were convenient enough to get in, but not to get out. It sounds like if you added the dish soap, you could definitely be rid of the plastic wrap, like coffedrinkin confirms.
I've used a little red wine in a shallow bowl and then done the same plastic wrap and hole poking method. Seems to work well if you have a moderate amount of fruit flies.
Before I read about how to rid of fruit flies, last summer we were infested. I used the red wine method and it worked exceptionally well and we have very few flies this year. (They're all stuck under plastic wrap in the teacup of wine!)
I wish I knew this four years ago when I bought a bunch of bananas from Trader Joe's that were infested with the little buggers.
Spray wash your garbage can as well as they might have eggs in there.
A little wine in the bottom of a wine bottle (left open on the counter) also does the trick. Plus, a wine bottle looks a little nicer. I usually use leftover red wine so you can't see the floating dead flies, but white or rose also works!
Oh man I'll have to try this.
We discovered yesterday that the fruit flies had taken up residence on a loaf of zucchini bread and a nectarine, and, though we've tossed those two things (the bread went into the woods behind the apartment), some of the flies stayed behind.
I'll report back in a couple of days with my results!
This works unbelEEEvably well. In just 2 minutes it caused the demise of 5 fruit flies. Amazing!!
Tried this last year and nada. Nothing. The little buggars never went near the bowl. Left it out on the kitchen counter for two weeks to no avail.
yeah... this is the kind of thing where if you've tried it before and it worked, it may not work as well (or at all) the next time... i think that they 'learn' from the mistakes of other flies. taking the trash out and bleaching the sink drain do help.
i also put a sheet of transparent fly paper in my kitchen window and to my surprise (delight!), it has worked at attracting the little fruit flies as well as the bigger house flies that like to come in when i'm going in and out of the house. i got it at wal-mart about a year ago... there were four sheets in a slim, green box and it wasn't at all expensive.
We bought a crate of peaches that ushered an army of them into the house. I heard of some trick with tequila and a penny in a glass with plastic wrap on top & little holes in it (didn't work.) I tried half of a lime - again in glass with plastic wrap/holes, and it worked quite well. I had collected probably 50 of them in the glass before I took it outside and opened the top. I wonder if they bred in there in addition to being lured in - either way, they were trapped.
It takes a little effort but just wash all your fruit as soon as you bring it into the house. Bananas too. Sometimes the eggs are on them already at the store. Ugh.
Fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
I do a bit of a 'mix' of this idea and a couple of the commenters: vinegar (regular white will work, even) and wine together, plus the dish soap. No plastic wrap needed--the fruit flies go in and drown. I do think it helps if you stir the mixture when you first make it, though -- helps the dish soap action, as well as probably 'opens up' the aroma. Oh, and I usually just use a regular old bowl or beverage glass.
The timing of this article was perfect b/c I was fighting a nasty case of fruit flies, and now they are completely gone! It's scary how well this trick works!