It never fails. Summer arrives and my kitchen is swarming with uninvited guests – fruit flies! Before long, they are multiplying around my bananas.
Of course, a clean kitchen and covered trash help to minimize the pesky critters. And my kitchen is always spotless. {ahem}
But the fastest way to get rid of them is with a trap. There are many versions of fruit fly traps, but this non-toxic, frugal version works for me within a matter of hours, every time.
You just need four supplies to make a no-fail fruit fly trap:
- apple cider vinegar (another frugal must-have item)
- dish soap
- a clean jar
- water
Combine approximately one cup of vinegar, one cup water and a tablespoon of any liquid dish soap in your jar. Before long, it will look like this:
See the little graveyard at the bottom? How about a closer look:
I know, disgusting, right? But it works and my kitchen thanks me.
I love this: “See the little graveyard at the bottom?” ROFL! In all seriousness, this tip is the BEST thing to get rid of fruit flies. It really works. In fact, it was the ONLY thing that worked when we got back from a week’s vacation to find we’d forgotten to empty the compost pail. Ahem.
I am so going to try this! I have all but given up on buying bananas in the summer! Does this work on house flies too, or just fruit flies?
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@Keri, Unfortunately this only works on fruit flies. But my bananas are safe! 🙂
Needed this tip! Thank you. 🙂
Oh goodness! I can totally sympathize with you. We get our veggies from a CSA and I regularly have fruit flies and friends buzzing around – very annoying. I will have to try this. Now, do you have anything that takes care of the fruit flies’ friends who come to join the party – caterpillars, beetles, and/or lizards? 🙂
Julie @ Pary Moppins´s last blog post ..What’s Cooking?
@Julie @ Pary Moppins, I am thinking about joining a CSA in the fall. Did not think about all those extra “guests”!
Before we moved into our current home, we had a summer of fruit flies. My husband was convinced that it was from cantelope. Though we ALWAYS had bananas laying around. I really can’t remember how we ended up getting rid of them, though I do recall my husband putting some cantelope in a bowl and covering it with plastic wrap. I think he put some holes in the wrap so the fruit flies could get in. They were supposed to be trapped in there once they got in, but would you believe that the one we saw in there, escaped! So far we haven’t had any trouble at our current house. We still have plenty of bananas on the counter and had some cantelope recently too.
Last year I had at least one week that was terrible with fruit flies. I tried the apple cider vinegar trap but they weren’t having it. They wanted to hang around the windows in the kitchen and the patio door in the living room. I resorted to spraying them with Windex and cleaning them up with paper towel. They didn’t last after that and I had clean glass! 🙂
Thank you so much for this! I hate those little things!
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When I had them last year, they wouldn’t go near the “trap”, they wanted to hang in the windows. Windex and paper towel took care of them!
For years I thought we were the only ones with a fruit fly problem. I went to others’ homes and never saw one fruit fly. This is a great tip I will definitely be using. Thank you!
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@Lynda, Too funny! You are definitely NOT this only one. 😉 Hope this works for you!
Wow that is great! I will definitely try this.
Good stuff here!
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Thanks so much for this tip! We have fruit flies all summer long! It is truly annonying. Last year I did one that required saran wrap and a bowl, this year I decided it was too much trouble, suffering is easier. But this tip sounds very easy and the idea of burying these fruit flies is as appealing to me as my fruit is to them.
Thank you! I will definitely try this. I’ve been using the fly ribbon (hanging right above our sink) which inevitably gets in my hair (LOL), gets attacked by the cat, or just doesn’t seem to get them all! (And looks ugly!) Thanks again!
Fruit flies can be so annoying! It’s great that there are traps that anyone can make to get rid of them 😀 Great tip to keep the kitchen & house fruit fly free!
THANK YOU!! I am a canner, if the fruit flies come, I cease Canning till they are all gone. If there any before Canning, I can’t even start. (Sorry for my spiel, just had to say how important it was to try this)
I’m onto trying this right now!!
love it , i have tons of fruit
Thanks for the information. I really like the way you express complex topics in lucid way. It really helps me understand it much better way.
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You don’t mention anything about putting plastic wrap on top with holes in it. Should we? Otherwise I’m not sure the flies will stay in?