Recently we’ve been swarmed with fruit flies. Even with no ripe fruit lying around the flies are still buzzing around. The neighbors are reporting the same. For whatever reason, everyone around us is experiencing extra fruit flies!

But I’ve got a few tricks on how to get rid of fruit flies in your home…

I’ve used some of these for years and they really work.

I’ll share them with you below.

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies in Your Home

What Attracts Fruit Flies?

Not only ripe fruit attracts fruit flies, kitchen waste, sweet fruit juices, and vinegar attract fruit flies.

The peak season for fruit flies tends to be the beginning of September because the breeding conditions are so good in August.

Sometimes we unknowingly bring fruit flies in on the fruit we buy as eggs and hatch a few days later. So be always sure to thoroughly clean the fruit before you enjoy it!

Although fruit flies are annoying, they are harmless! But they do spread yeast and bacteria, which leads to fruits spoiling quicker. As female fruit flies can lay up 400 eggs, you can have a swarm of these pests in no time, so it’s definitely still important to take care of them. So, below I will discuss some tricks that really help get rid of fruit flies!

Prevent Fruit Flies

Here are some tips to help prevent fruit flies from ever coming in the first place:

• Do not leave ripe fruit out – cover it or store it in the refrigerator
• Rinse any glasses containing any juices or wines immediately
• Empty the trash regularly, or especially any food residue, such as fruits.
• Thoroughly clean any fruit brought home as it may have fruit fly eggs already on it
• Fruit flies tend to be driven away with strong aromatic smells such as essential oils
• Destroy all breeding grounds, such as kitchen, bathroom, shower with liquid soap in boiling hot water
• Use close-meshed mosquito nets on windows and doors to keep the fruit flies from entering

Catching Fruit Flies Alive

A really cool trick to catch the fruit flies alive so you can release them outside is to put a banana peel in an open plastic bag. Soon the little flies are having a feast. Once you’ve got plenty of flies, you can close it and bring it outside.

Another trick is to use a funnel trap.

To create a funnel trap, grab a bottle or a vase and fill with some sweet drink, such as juice or soda, or even some beer or wine. Take a piece of paper and roll into a funnel or shape a coffee filter into a funnel and snip the bottom. Insert the self-made funnel into the bottle or vase. Let the trap sit overnight and the next morning the trap container should be full of fruit flies. You can carry the trap outside and let the flies out.

You can also find a funnel exactly for that on Amazon:

The fruit flies are attracted to the fruit or juice, but cannot find their way out.

Killing Fruit Flies

If you want to just really get rid of the little guys, you can build a fruit fly trap. I’ve had a lot of success with this method and I heard it from my partner’s grandma a few years back.

Just put a small drop of dish-washing liquid in a bowl and stir in a little fruit juice (or apple cider vinegar, or just normal vinegar!) and wait…

The soap loosens the surface of the water so that when the flies that are attracted to the scent of fruit or vinegar land, they sink and drown.

The downside of this method is that it can attract new flies.

As a last resort, you could use insecticide. If you want to get rid of fruit flies, check out this pesticide proven to help:

Green Gobbler: Fruit Fly Killer

You could also try the sticky traps also found on Amazon:

Conclusion

I hope these tips and tricks can help you get rid of fruit flies in your home!

Do you have any other proven methods to get rid of these pesky fruit flies? Share below!

Thanks for reading!
Anna