How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies Indoors (Naturally)?
All right, enough is enough. You need to find a way to get rid of fruit flies so you don’t get used to waving your hand and try catching some brown dots in the air every time you want to eat fruits.
These brown flies with their vicious little red eyes are real nemesis. They fly around your kitchen (especially near the fruit bowl), lay eggs, multiply, ruin the lovely atmosphere of the kitchen, and leave you wondering: how to get rid of fruit flies?
Scroll down and you’ll see some fruit fly traps that help you solve this problem once and for all. After covering the best and most efficient fruit fly trap DIYs, we’ll take a closer look at these creatures and tell you where do they come from, what attracts them, how much do they live, and how you can prevent them.
How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies Indoors Naturally?
Fortunately, there are several ways and traps to get rid of fruit flies that you’ll find below. Depending on your preferences and the available supplies, chose a homemade fruit fly trap and win the battle!
Jar & Funnel Fruit Fly Trap
- To make this easy yet reliably DIY fly trap, start with placing some overripe produce, or a fermented liquid (apple cider vinegar, beer, or wine) inside a glass jar as bait.
- Place a funnel (or a paper cone) over the jar opening. The spout should be pointing down so the flies can enter easy, but have a hard time getting out.
- Place this fruit fly trap where the problem is the gravest, and watch the jar fill with confused fruit flies. Wait for them to expire before emptying the jar, or put it in the freezer for a quicker result.
Bottle & Plastic Wrap DIY Fly Trap
Do you have a nearly empty bottle of vinegar, beer, or wine on hand? If so, follow these steps to get rid of fruit flies in no time:
- Cover the opening of the vinegar, beer, or wine bottle using plastic wrap securely.
- Poke a couple of holes in the plastic to create the same effect as the jar and funnel fruit fly trap.
- When the fruit flies make their way in through the holes, wait until they’re floating on the surface of the liquid, and then throw the bottle away.
- If there are still more of these flies to catch, remove the plastic wrap, empty the bottle, and set the trap once more until your kitchen is completely clear.
Bowl Fruit Fly Trap DIY
If you want to know how to get rid of fruit flies, and you’re not just bothered by a few little flies flying around in your space, you may want to consider more powerful homemade fruit fly traps like this one:
- Fill a bowl with apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap, and microwave it so the mixture becomes aromatic.
- Without covering it, leave the bowl out as bait for these unwanted creatures. The soap will reduce the surface tension, so when a fruit fly lands on the surface, it drowns. May he rest in peace as well as leave you in peace.
Tip: You can also make this fly trap using yeast. This time mix the water with a packet of activated dry yeast and a teaspoon of sugar.
Bleach Fruit Fly Killer
Do you know how to get rid of fruit flies in the house when they are in your kitchen sink? This is actually quite easy and requires no DIY traps. All you need to do is pour bleach down the drain.
This method kills some larvae and eggs, although, you should know it may not eliminate the problem entirely. Why? Because bleach passes down the drain in no time and isn’t able to do a thorough job to get rid of fruit flies.
Anti-Fruit Fly Alcohol Spray
Commercial traps and sprats are also good answers for “how to get rid of fruit flies”, but in most cases, you can make your own. Mix isopropyl alcohol and water to create a fruit fly killer that makes them perish on contact.
Deterring Herbs & Oils
Fruit flies some natural scents including peppermint, lavender, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and clove. So consider hanging dried herbs in paper tea bags or muslin sacks around your kitchen, or adding their essential oils into a diffuser. Your home will smell really pleasant after doing this, and the flies will disappear too.
How Do You Get Rid of Fruit Flies Forever?
A fruit fly trap can help you catch these insects effortlessly, but your work isn’t done there. You need to make sure that they can’t find their way into your home again. These tips will help you in achieving that:
Make Sure That You’re Dealing with Fruit Flies
Before asking “how to catch fruit flies” or “how to kill fruit flies” you actually need to confirm that you are indeed dealing with them. Most people confuse them with gnats. And since the treatment is different for each one, it’s important to distinguish fruit flies from other insects.
As a common household year-round pest (prolific in late summer and fall), the fruit fly is known for its small size (1/8″), large red eyes, and brown oval-shaped body, laying up to 500 eggs at a time. It’s not harmful on its own and poses slight health risks, but can be indicative of unsanitary household conditions as well as being super annoying.
On the other hand, a fungus gnat simply resembles a smaller version of mosquitoes. It has long legs and can’t fly very well; unlike the very quick and elusive fruit fly. Additionally, fungus gnats are usually found around the plants and windows, while fruit flies are mostly in the kitchen where there’s ripening fruit and garbage.
There are also drain flies (also known as moth flies) that look like tiny black moths with feathery antennae and fluffy dark round wings held flat on top of their body.
Keep Your Kitchen Clean
If there’s one thing that minimizes your need for DIY and homemade fruit fly traps, that would be keeping your kitchen tidy. Crumbs, cooking leftovers, dust, stains, and dishes are all among the things that you need to take care of, as they attract fruit flies and even other insects.
We also recommend changing dishcloths and sponges regularly. They are essentially food leftover magnets and are perfect for fruit flies to breed on them. So make sure to replace them weekly before finding yourself looking for DIY fly traps!
Discard Rotten Food ASAP
In order to get rid of fruit flies in the first place, discard any rotting food. Do the bananas or those apples look iffy? Throw them away and immediately take that garbage out before giving the fruit flies a chance to lay eggs.
Cover Vegetables and Fruits
As their name suggests, these flies are extremely sensitive and sense when there’s fruit and vegetables around even from afar. So always cover them with a cake dome, cloth, or plastic wrap.
Pro tip: In order to get rid of fruit flies, after buying fruits and vegetables, don’t leave them unwashed on the counter. This is basically a feast for these flies. So don’t forget to wash them with a vegetable wash and water before storing them in bowls or containers.
Did You Successfully Get Rid of Fruit Flies?
If none of these homemade fruit fly traps solved the problem as well as you expected, go for commercial options such as insect sprays or fogs (use them carefully and only after reading the safety guidelines as they may contain poisonous chemicals) or just wait.
They mostly live for about two weeks (but 40 to 50 days under good conditions), and when it gets colder, they won’t survive and drop off like the little flies that they are as the fall arrives.
How do you get rid of fruit flies? Have you had used any of these DIY fly traps? Let us know in the comment how do you prefer to get rid of these little intruders.