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’ve used the cone trap using cider vinegar with a couple pieces of a soft banana and have had great success in winning the fruit fly war. This year I decided to try the plastic wrap trap just because of the positive reviews. I’m unsure if the holes are large enough for the big flies. I used a bead hole enlarger, one of my jewelry making tools. The diameter of the holes are about the same size as a toothpick hole. It will be interesting to see what happens.
After noticing a swarm of fruit flies in the house, I tried setting traps of cider vineger, rotting fruit, wine, and a soapy mix of vinegar-water (add the soap to the water first or you will fail hard; vinegar denatures soap) and all got moderate success: about 8 per day. There must have been a hundred or more in the house, so this ‘most effective DIY trap’ was leaving me pessimistic.
Tonight I baked some bread from scratch and the little devils were swarming. I got to thinking, and placed a spoonful each of sugar and yeast into a cup of warm water. I sealed the top of the cup with plastic wrap, poked some holes, and left it in the kitchen. It has been two hours since then, and there are at least twenty flies inside this yeasty trap.
It makes so much sense now…
I have used the apple cider vinegar with dish soap for several years & it really works great, no more fruit flies.
These are not Fruit Flies as such, the real fruit flies are on trees bearing fruit outdoors, eg citrus, stone fruits etc.
Hi, thanks for the advice but unfortunately it didn’t work for me. Maybe the holes I poked were too big? I used a toothpick to poke holes in the plastic wrap but the fruit flies seem to just fly back out. If they can climb in they can climb back out as well.
I would love to try your winning choice, however, all I see is a white blank space under he’s how to do it.
Hi there.Keep scrolling – that’s just the photo taking some time to load. The info is a bit farther down.
Very surprised the apple cider vinegar didn’t work for you. I work in a craft brewery and we can definitely get real fruitfly issues from time to time from beer and wort on the floor or in the drains. Apple cider vinegar with half a pump of handsoap will kill literally hundreds in a couple days. I’ve seen pint glass traps with a solid inch of dead fruit flies after a week.
Also for the record, the soap isn’t creating the tension. Apple cider vinegar normally has “surface tension”. This like a film that forms on the surface of many liquids. It’s why a bellyflop hurts, and why “water strider” bugs can skate along the top of water. Soap gets rid of the surface tension. So the flies attempt to land on the apple cider vinegar, but instead fall in and die.
I’ve also worked in restaurants for about 10 years, and this is the best method for killing fruit flies I’ve found, and I’ve tried a lot of methods.
i’ve noticed beer is their number one preference.as i am a drinker, the soap is a question. should you shake it ,or just add it?
just add a drop and your good.
Trap #4 would allow the fruit flies pests to come back into the kitchen straight away unless you kill them.
Best method is to use a small empty open can like a small baked beans tin with approximately 2 inch diameter or so.
Put about 1/4? to 1/2? layer of fresh pawpaw or papaya seeds (usually black colored) in the bottom of the can & maybe allow a bit of the yellow or red flesh (variety dependent) of the pawpaw fruit mixed amongst the seeds to attract the fruit flies to the bottom of the small can. Let the can sit for a while to attract all the fruit flies in the kitchen or room. Then later come back and put your hand over the opening of the can to trap all the collected fruit flies. Then vigorously shake the can with the pawpaw seeds plus the trapped fruit flies up & down so that the delicate fruit flies are killed by the impact of all the pawpaw seeds in the can. Put the can back on the bench again to collect more fruit flies & repeat the capture/kill process until all the fruit flies are destroyed. Worked for us & we had a plague of fruit flies, now all gone.
I like the sound of 4th method. I tried the inverted cone with some water and overripe fruit in the bottom of a vase. I caught a couple of flies but didn’t like the thought of them getting exhausted swimming round and round unable to escape, before finally drowning. I don’t mind drowning them but wanted it to be quick.
Anne
I am amazed! This works far better than anything I’ve ever tried.. Add a piece of decaying fruit an a tsp of apple cider vinegar and say goodbye fruit flies.