The Best DIY Fruit Fly Trap
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Are fruit flies driving you nuts? Never fear, this DIY fruit fly trap is sure to help.
I tested a bunch of ways to get rid of these pests, but this easy homemade fruit fly trap came out as the winner! Read on to find simple the end to your fruit fly woes.
If you eat a lot of veggies and fruits in your home, then likely fruit flies have been a part of your home as well. Sigh. For that very reason, this past week I had reason to work on finding the best fruit fly trap. Somehow we got inundated with them and had to find a way to get rid of them. Fast.
Those little buggers multiply fast and they were well — driving me buggers!
I scoured the internet to figure out the best way to nab these little pests – but one fruit fly trap worked much better than the others.
First however, I'm going to share with you some annoying and almost terrifying fruit fly facts:
Facts About Fruit Flies
Did you know these?
– Mother fruit flies can lay about 500 eggs at a time
– The most likely place for a mother fruit fly to lay her eggs is in a piece of fermenting food.
– As soon as the babies hatch, they start reproducing very rapidly
– From the time the mother fruit fly lays her eggs until you see the fruit flies buzzing around is about 7-13 days. Yikes! – instead of saying how things “multiply like rabbits”—should we change the saying to “multiply like fruit flies”? (source)
See why it's so important to get rid of these pesky critters right away? If you don't, you could have hundreds in a very short amount of time.
Well, this past week we tried 3 different methods to get rid of these flies and I think we've found the winner.
DIY Fruit Fly Traps We Tested
Trap #1 – Hands
Yes, I'm not kidding. This is the way I've always caught fruit flies and we've always been successful in the past. But this time, the flies were getting the best of us. I'm guessing that you all probably have used this method too, right?
I'm sure you can imagine myself and my two sons standing the kitchen, climbing on step stools, clapping our hands together and slapping cabinets, trying to get rid of every last one.
(I can't believe how smart these little buggers seem to be. They really seemed to know that they blended well into our dark kitchen cabinets and hid there almost completely invisible. Almost.)
We all thought this was fun (kind of) for awhile, but it got old after awhile.
And standing on a step stool trying to catch fruit flies is an accident waiting to happen.
It was time to find a new way.
Trap #2 – Apple Cider Vinegar and Dish Soap
This method is supposed to work by putting some apple cider vinegar in a bowl or jar and then adding a drop or so of dish soap. The dish soap is supposed to create tension across the top of the apple cider vinegar. The vinegar attracts the flies. They fly in and the soap traps them there.
Tried this for about 5 days.
The result?
Only 2 flies dead. Not anywhere near enough to make a dent in our burgeoning fruit fly colony.
Trap #3 – Inverted Cone
With this method, you put something attractive to the fruit flies in a container and invert a cone (paper is fine) so that it extends to the rim of the container.
The flies travel down the cone but can't get back up.
Never tried this because Number 4, the winner, worked so well. I don't think I'd bother with this because the other is much easier and a little nicer to look at. And once you see The Winner you'll see another reason why.
Trap #4 – The Winner!
I know – it's an icky photo. It's just stuff from my compost bowl with plastic wrap on top with a few tiny holes poked in it.
Perfect for attracting fruit flies, but not great for making pretty photos.
I love this fruit fly trap.
Why?
Why We Love This Trap
- First of all, it worked! At the height of our fruit fly troubles, I would catch 5, 10 or more flies in there and would take them out on our deck to let them all go.
- Secondly, it's cheap! (Basically, I just put plastic wrap on top of my compost bowl.) On Amazon, the fruit fly trap I looked at was more than $7. So you can save a bunch of money with this and get rid of your fruit flies effectively – and you don't need to wait for the trap to arrive in the mail!
It's also cheaper than using my high quality apple cider vinegar which I love and really don't wish to waste on fruit flies. - Third, I didn't have to put another thing on my countertop since I could just use my compost bowl. Who needs something else on the whole foods countertop, right?
Important Notes
The original post instructed people to let the fruit flies out of the trap outdoors, after catching them, but some readers pointed out that this would only serve to make the fruit fly problem worse. After doing some research, I realized what a huge problem the fruit fly population is and so I changed the post.
Now you simply let the flies die in with the fruit.
Or better yet, you kill the flies while they're in the bowl just to make sure that they don't escape.
They tend to go to the edge of the bowl to try to get out, so you can just squash them there so that there's simply no escape!
Here's how to to make your Fruit Fly Trap.
The Best DIY Fruit Fly Trap
Ingredients
- bowl
- fruit or food items
- plastic wrap
- toothpick or other sharp item
- dish soap
Instructions
- Place some fruit or other food items in a bowl.
- Add a drop or two of dish soap.
- Secure a plastic wrap over the top and secure, if necessary, with a rubber band.
- Poke small holes in the top of the plastic wrap (with a toothpick, the sharp end of a knife, or something like that).
Notes
More DIY Healthier Household Ideas
– Amazing No Streak Glass Cleaner
– DIY Plastic Wrap Substitute
– DIY Foaming Soap
– DIY Facial Oil Wash
– Natural Dishwasher Rinse Aid (3 Ways!)
– Homemade Laundry Detergent
– Best Eye Makeup Remover
Have you every tried a DIY fruit fly trap?
Have another pest problem you are battling?
I am amazed!
I think I might try a version of this. I’m going to take a paper coffee cup and put food waste in it and cut a piece of a compost bag tied with cotton string. (With holes poked in the top) That way I can throw the whole thing In The compost can and I’m not releasing the flies to come back into the kitchen through the window screen.
Thank you for this! I have been looking for a quick, efficent, and inexpensive way to produce fruit flies for my praying mantis nymphs. The one that you suggested here that worked the best was the bowl of spoiled fruit with the siran wrap over it. I was able to to produce thousands to feed my babies to sustain my population plus pass omtp my friends who also raise and breed praying mantises. Thank you!
You are so welcome!!
I found the vacum cleaner really effective and even made sport of catching the more elusive fruit flies.
i love the preying mantis, and monarch butterflies. i have a few plants here, if i see one i’ll bring it in. do they damage banana trees? just wondering.
vinegar did not work for me They ignore it I also have a bottle of vinegar with a cone No flies They seem to know what it is. ??? I have been spraying them in the air with orange cleaner and when they fall – smash – they are history
Ugh – so did you try the version that I posted?
What is working great for me this time is the apple cider vinegar and dish soap tip. After less than 5 minutes I had 11 dead flies in one bowl and 5 in another. I’ve put out 4 more bowls since then and they’re all working great. I also kill them with one hand!
I hate the fruit flys
Hey. I know you said the apple cider vinegar trap didn’t work, but I tried it and it worked great for me. The trick is to only put a tiny bit of soap in the bowl to break the surface tension (flies can’t swim). Too much soap, and they will smell it and not be attracted to it. I put out a single bowl, and within 30 minutes I had about 30 dead flies.
it worked for me at first also, trapped like 50 of them. But the traps aren’t eliminating the problem they keep getting worse. There’s no food in the building, super confused about where they’re coming from. Tried bleach down the drains & cleaning the place. Starting to think they’re not fruit flies, but they look exactly like the black eyed species :/
Fungus gnats look like fruit flies. Both are usually found close to their food source, so see if you can spot them while they’re landed, and look around that area. Houseplants can host fungus gnats.
They also like damp places and insufficient soil (I’ve read…not sure what insufficient means). So they can show up even when there is no food.
Also, cover tight with plastic saran wrap, secure with a rubber band or tape, and poke holes in the top.
Great info! Looking forward to trying the compost bowl method. A side note for the apple cider vinegar method – the dish soap actually breaks the surface tension of the vinegar (it does not create tension as written in the description), that way the flies drown rather than being able to land on the surface and fly away. Thanks!
Good post – love the info on fruit flies themselves. I hate flies with a passion after letting one walk over a prepared Petri dish and seeing the results a few days later – GRAPHIC!
However you don’t need a big bowl like you have. Something as small as a yogurt container catches a whole flock of them. You can have more than one since they don’t take up much space and you can throw them in the recycle after you’ve recharged them several times. I have suggested an improved version elsewhere on this subject.
Now I’m trying another approach as well. My wife bought a very small Venus fly trap. It’s a nice looking house plant and might just earn it’s keep by trapping and disposing of the flies. It’s only a bout 3″ tall but the traps (leaves with teeth) look ideal for fruit flies. I’ll let you know how it works. It might be a while as we are just heading into winter but we are hoping it will work.
Yes, any size bowl will work. But I do like one that looks nice on the counter :). Would love to hear how the Venus Fly Trap works!
PPS others have mentioned the hand method, well that sucks, but what doesnt suck if you only have a few is the vacuum hose of your vacuum cleaner, just move it slowly us to the flys and when they lift off to fly it pulls them in. But this is really for minor, very minor infestations.
The other mentioned is the sticky fly trap, that is quite effective over a piece of old fruit, set it up , come back the next day and the fly trap will be loaded, The fly trap I am talking about is the one that comes in a tube and when you pull it out it makes a long spiral. Again this for minor infestations