Most of the time, we manage to prevent fruit flies by keeping our counter tops free of tempting produce, but all it takes is one infested fruit to cause an invasion. Whenever this has happened over the years, we have tried using different homemade traps, and this is the one we now swear by.
What You Need
Materials
Glass or jar
Sheet of paper
Tape
Vinegar or fruit (apple cider vinegar works especially well)
Instructions
1. Find a suitable glass or jar. Most standard sizes will work; just avoid using one that's too short or wide-mouthed, or you might have trouble positioning the funnel.
2. Roll a sheet of paper into a cone or funnel with a half-inch opening at the bottom.
3. Check that the funnel fits. It should fit snugly with no gaps along the rim of the glass (you don't want the flies escaping!), and there should be an inch or two of space between the bottom of funnel and the bottom of the glass. When done, secure the paper with tape.
4. Remove the funnel and pour a small amount of apple cider vinegar into the glass. Alternatively, you can use a piece of fruit like an apple, orange, or banana.
5. Replace the funnel and wait for flies. They will be attracted to the vinegar or fruit, fly into the cone, and either drown or get trapped.
Additional Notes:
• If you want to go the no-kill route, use fruit, not vinegar, and release the flies outside. Just be careful when moving the glass; one small shift of the funnel, and you may have to start the process all over again! (We speak from experience...)
• To help prevent fruit flies in the first place, keep fruit refrigerated or rinse and dry it as soon as you get home.
• We have also had good luck repelling fruit flies with rue.
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(Images: Emily Ho)
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Did something similiar to this at my parent's house with my elementary-aged siblings. We discovered that the paper cone method did not work for us but instead used an old inverted water bottle (cut off the top 1/3 and inverted it into the other portion - secured with duct tape). This worked great! All the fruit flies were gone in less than 48 hours.
*The kids are going to experiment more with this in a couple of months and do their Science Fair project on it*
I've had fruit fly families try to move in with me in a few apartments, and what works every time is the Vector 960 Fruit Fly Trap. It's a small round container with holes in the lid and a syrupy goo inside. Just put one on a high shelf where it won't get knocked down and most will be gone within a couple days.
You can even buy them on eBay if your local pest control doesn't do retail sales (or if you don't one local to you).
There is nothing more satisfying that vacuuming fruit flies up!
What a great idea. Thanks!
I've tried the cone method too, but some crafty flies always seem to figure out how to climb back out!
The method I use now is the cone method, but add 2 drops of dishwashing liquid to the vinegar. This breaks the surface tension of the water and means that if the fly lands on the vinegar, it immediately drowns instead of sitting on the surface and escaping!
I pour a little bit of red wine vinegar into a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and poke a couple of holes in the plastic wrap with a fork. The flies crawl through the holes and inexplicably can't climb back out, so the end up drowning in the vinegar. Definitely works!
My roommate and I had the great fruit fly infestation of 2008 thanks to a bowl of grapes that got shoved to the back of the counter and forgotten about for well over a month. Making traps was the only thing that really worked, cutting soda bottles in half and putting the tops top-down into the bottom to make the funnel worked great, along with apple juice and a bit of dish soap for the drowning agent. The dish soap is really important, they die much faster with it to break up the surface tension
Also, if you have a ton of them, you have to pour bleach down your drains frequently, or they'll start nesting down in there.
-Blissfully fruit fly-free since 2008
I used cider vinegar with a couple drops of dish soap to deal with the Great Forgotten Banana Infestation of '09. Just pour an inch of cider vinegar into a widemouth jar or tumbler. Add a couple drops of dish soap and swirl to mix. No funnels required--the flies are simply attracted by the fermented fruit aromas of the vinegar, only to be drowned because the dish soap disrupts the surface tension of the liquid. I'd refresh the formula every third day or so. It took a couple of weeks--we had a pretty severe infestation. But it we've been fly-free ever since.
I have used an open bottle of cheap white wine that has passed it's prime. I have a bunch of them in there. Just open and let it sit.
This is probably a MUCH better plan than I could come up with. I tried to combine maple syrup (to attract them) and bleach (to kill them) in a plastic bowl on my kitchen counter. I left for about an hour and when I came back the liquid was bubbling and my entire apartment was filled with a strong bleach odor. NOT A GOOD IDEA.
This one seems much safer.
I'm in the camp that swears by an apple cider vinegar with a few drops of dish soap to breaking the surface tension. I stretch plastic wrap over the container, rubber band it, and poke little holes in the top. Works every time. I also make sure to pour hot/boiling water down the drains since they like to breed there.
this doesn't work, its much much more effective to stretch a piece of saran wrap across the top, secure it with a rubber band, and poke a few holes with a push pin.
I had this problem when I first moved to LA. We used an empty yogurt cup (not cleaned out) and put a little bit of orange juice and dish soap in it. Then we covered it in saran wrap, secured it with a rubber band, and poked a few holes in the saran. The flies can get in not out, and the dish soap breaks the surface tension, trapping them. It worked great!
pedalpowered: actually it can and does work, as the dead pool of fruit flies has proven over and over again (the process of watching the flies go in and getting trapped is a strangely mesmerizing series to watch). But the Saran Wrap idea works well, alongside vacuuming in the flies if you're so inclined.
I also use a drop of dish soap in cider vinegar, no cone. Those dumb bastards fly right in and I have the satisfaction of prevailing upon their tiny, insidious annoyances.
I work in a genetics lab that works with fruit flies (probably a few hundred a week escape the bottles). We rely on funnel traps and sticky traps from the hardware store. For the funnel traps, which I used at home, I usually mix a bit of beer (the more yeast, the better) and leftover fruit. If you have cats, watch your litter box too. The flies infested that as well. Multiple bleach sessions later, I just bought a new one. Good tip about the sink drains too!
Amazing how well this works. I set up the trap and within 10 minutes, noticed several fruit flies buzzing around in the jar. Within a few days it caught probably over 40! Thanks for the incredible tip.