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. It’s that time of year for fruit flies, so I thought I better update this post.

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.

How To Catch Fruit Flies

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?

What causes fruit flies?

Fruit flies love a slimy sink drain, dirty dishes in the sink, and 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?

I’m 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.Why You Should Be Careful Around Fire Ants

1. Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar

Grab a jar, small bowl, or bottle 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 it and sit back and wait for those pesky fruit flies to fly in there. How To Benefit From Using Apple Cider Vinegar

2. Dish Soap and Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar

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. This is the one I use. 100 Items To Store For Survival: Don’t Panic, Prepare

3. Ripe Banana and Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar

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. What Can I Do With All These Bananas?

4. Purchase A Product

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

5. Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar, Sugar, and Soap

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.45 Uses for Dawn Dish Soap

6. Vacuum Cleaner Trap

Use a handheld vacuum cleaner with a narrow attachment to suck up the fruit flies. Empty the vacuum bag or container outside immediately after capturing them. How to Use a Vacuum Cleaner for Prepping

7. Banana Peel Trap

Place a piece of ripe banana peel in a jar and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Poke a few small holes in the plastic wrap with a toothpick. The fruit flies will be attracted to the banana scent and enter the jar through the holes, but they won’t be able to find their way out.

8. Wine Bottle Trap

Pour a small amount of wine into an empty wine bottle, leaving about an inch of space at the top. Create a funnel using a piece of paper and insert it into the bottle, making sure the narrow end reaches just above the wine level. The fruit flies will be lured by the wine aroma and get trapped inside the bottle. Creative Ways to Reuse Glassware for Prepping Purposes

Don’t Forget the Garbage Disposal

You may not think of fruit flies being attracted to your garbage disposal, but they do in fact like the “stuff” in the black rubber sink ring in your sink garbage disposal. Here’s the deal, you need to turn off the garbage disposal, obviously to protect your fingers. How to Reduce Waste as a Prepper

Pull the rubber ring out and use a brush with bleach to clean the scum off the underside of the rubber ring. There are so many people who do not know that little rubber deals must be cleaned often. I clean mine at least once a month or more.

If you are wondering what that item on the left side is, it keeps some things from going down the garbage disposal. Garbage Disposal Strainer 

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Final Word

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 this World, Linda

Copyright picture: Fly/Fruit Fly: AdobeStock_118337745 by Cacocao19