Fruit flies were swarming our kitchen, so I got to work figuring out how to get rid of them. Here are all of my DIY fruit fly traps, along with a few items I bought to banish them from my home.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Lowe’s Home Improvement.
Last month, I noticed many fruit flies in our kitchen, mostly around our fruit bowl and kitchen sink. These little buggers were so annoying and I was constantly swatting them away from our food. At first, I figured we were leaving the door open too much, with the kids going in and out of the backyard during these warm summer days. But no matter what I did, the swarm of fruit flies would not go away!
Asking My Community For Advice
That’s when I turned to my amazing Instagram community to ask for your help on how the heck to banish these pests from our home. I was bombarded with hundreds of messages advising me how, exactly, to kill these little insects. Some encouraged leaving whiskey on the kitchen counter, others described how to create the perfect apple cider vinegar trap, and many included links to products that promised to zap those bugs into oblivion.
I wrote down all of the most popular recommendations and got to work trying them all out in my home. But before we get to those solutions, let’s back up a bit.
What Are Fruit Flies?
Fruit flies (drosophila melanogaster) look like tiny specks with red eyes flying through the air. They don’t bite (thank goodness), but they do carry bacteria and reproduce quickly. Female fruit flies can lay up to 50 eggs per day! That’s why it can be so tricky to get rid of them once they’re in your home.
I assumed our fruit flies got in through an open back door, but after doing my research, I learned that they usually enter your home through the fruit you bring in from the grocery store. Considering we often make three runs to the grocery store per week for more produce (Those kids eat so many dang bananas!), this was a much more likely scenario for our fruit fly infestation. Plus, they are usually most active during late summer and early fall.
Side Note: The gnats flying around your home, might not be fruit flies. Fungus gnats and drain flies are often confused with fruit flies. Fungus gnats are usually found around the soil of houseplants where they lay eggs. Drain flies are found around sink drains and garbage disposals. They have larger wings and can look like teeny moths. Luckily, the same types of traps that we’ll discuss below will work on these buggers too!
First, Toss Your Infested Produce
We often keep all of our fruit out on the counter in a wood tray or this marble fruit stand. Once the pesky little flies started hovering, I immediately got rid of anything that had been sitting on the counter, especially any rotten fruit.
Any new produce that was brought into our home was put into the fridge instead. I also wiped down our countertops and trash can because any spills or residue can feed the fruit flies.
Don’t Forget Your Drain
If the pesky little bugs are swarming near your kitchen sink, like mine were, then they may have laid eggs in your drain. It’s a moist environment with rotten food waste, so it’s the perfect breeding ground. In that case, you’ll want to give your garbage disposal a good clean. I walk you through all of the steps to remove the gunk from your garbage disposal over in this blog post.
If you’re worried that fruit flies may have laid eggs in your kitchen drain, many readers recommended using this product from Lowe’s. You pour it down the sink and it coats the inside of your pipes to clean everything out of there. It certainly seems like a worthwhile product to keep under your kitchen sink.
DIY Fruit Fly Traps
Now that we’ve worked to control the infestation and remove the breeding site, let’s talk about how to trap the fruit flies that are still swarming around. Here are some of the homemade fruit fly remedies that flooded my inbox.
Try Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple cider vinegar (or ACV as many people call it) has the perfect amount of sweetness to lure the tiny pests in. But you need to mix it with a few drops of dish soap to change the surface tension of the liquid. This causes them to get close to the mixture and drown. I got a lot of conflicting tips on how, exactly, to set out these DIY traps, so I ended up trying all three of these setups to see what worked for me.
- Place ACV and dish soap in a small bowl filled to the brim. Leave out near your fruit or sink.
- Place ACV and dish soap in a small bowl and cover it with saran wrap and a rubber band. Poke a few small holes into the plastic wrap. That way the flies can get in, but can’t get out.
- Place ACV and dish soap in a glass jar with a funnel or paper cone. The flies will fly into the mixture, but won’t be able to get out of the narrow opening.
To be honest, none of these homemade traps were super successful for me. I captured a handful of fruit flies, but I woke up every morning expecting to see a boatload floating around and that didn’t happen. I have heard good things about the ACV method, so it’s worth a shot!
Another Tip: A common recommendation was to leave a bit of white wine or whiskey out in a glass overnight to entice the fruit flies. Someone even mentioned beer cans with a small amount of beer left to trap fruit flies. It seems like I need to have a big party and leave the cleanup until the next morning and I’ll suddenly have them all trapped!
Try Bug Traps
After my homemade remedies failed, I ended up driving over to my local Lowe’s to stock up on more supplies to get rid of these bugs. I perused the aisles and left with an armful of items. I was determined to purge the pests and figure out the best way to keep them away!
I laid out a few of these Terro fruit fly traps around the kitchen. They’re super easy to use. You just set them out and the scent lures in the bugs and captures them. This worked well for me. I ended up capturing a lot of pesky flies with this handy gadget. They last for 45 days too, so I think I may always keep one of these out in my kitchen.
UV Light Traps
I also picked up this Zevo insect trap. You plug it into an outlet and a blue and UV light attracts all flying insects, like flies, gnats, and fruit flies. Since we also have a fly problem during the summer (Again, that back door is always open with these kids!), I figured it would kill two birds with one stone. The light attracts the bugs and a sticky surface traps them.
I kid you not, my daughter found this to be the most fascinating new house gadget. Every morning, she would gleefully run to our kitchen to see how many bugs we captured overnight. Can you tell she likes science? Even if it never captured one bug, it would be worth it just to see the joy that this gadget brought her! But, lucky for me, it has captured lots of mosquitoes, house flies, AND fruit flies! Yes!
Because it worked so well, I even ordered this larger Zevo product. It’s twice as large as the other product and comes with a cord. I plan to place that in the center of our home to capture any critters flying about!
What To Buy To Keep Bugs At Bay
Here’s a roundup of all of the items I found at Lowe’s for this project.
Labor Day Deals at Lowe’s
While shopping at Lowe’s, I also noticed some amazing deals for the upcoming Labor Day holiday. This matte black ceiling fan is on sale for $119. If you want to get your garage organized before heading into fall, these heavy-duty totes would work well on this metal shelving unit. Plus, this black faucet is only $69 if you have any bathroom refresh plans on your calendar.
Here are a few more summer sales that caught my eye…
Prevention Tips
I’m happy to announce that after all of my traps and methods, we no longer have fruit flies buzzing about! And to prevent future infestations, I’ll now be following these preventive tips.
- Wash all produce that comes into our home. I love this fruit and veggie wash.
- Keep fruit and vegetables in the refrigerator when possible (Fruit flies can’t survive in cold temperatures.)
- Throw away overripe fruit immediately
- Regularly clean our garbage disposal
- Keep our trash cans clean
- Place wine corks near our bowl of fruit (They don’t like the smell of cork.)
- Place cinnamon sticks near our fruit bowl (They don’t like the smell of cinnamon.)
Fruit Fly Problem, Begone!
I hope you learned a thing or two about how to get rid of fruit flies in your home. I would love to know which method worked best for you. Let me know in the comments below.
Need more help maintaining your home? Check out my digital guide, Your Home Playbook.
