How do I get rid of fruit flies?

Charlene Decato
by Charlene Decato
  6 answers
  • Linda Sikut Linda Sikut on Jul 16, 2019

    Hi Charlene,

    Put some wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar in a small cup near your fruit. Stretch a piece of plastic over the top (you can secure it with a rubber band) and poke a few holes in the plastic. The fruit flies will go into the cup and not be able to get out. My local fruit market uses this method to keep their fruits bug free. Wishing you the best.

  • Bernice H Bernice H on Jul 16, 2019

    Yup I agree..Apple cider vinegar..a drop of detergent as a surfactant..I have not needed plastic wrap,my guys are so greedy they just think about it for a while then go in headlong. I think the drop or two of detergent is the bonus here,because it softens?

    thesurface and in they go. You don’t need much..a couple of inches..small glass. The thing is...do wash your fruit because there are probably eggs on the fruit,so if the parents go for a dive..you could have another generation in a few days...

    i don’t know why more markets don’t have this near their fruit. GrrrrrđŸ˜–

  • DesertRose DesertRose on Jul 16, 2019

    Simple Green kills them. some people put out a dish with vinegar in it and a lid with holes like plastic wrap or something and they go in and cannot get out and die. I find they are still around and multiply again. Put away all fruit in fridge or for bananas I put them under glass like my cake holder. Then spray every drain in the house with Simple Green 6 or 7 squirts each and repeat for a week to ten days. That means every sink, tub, shower, everything. Then once a week repeat because you will get them next time you bring home produce from the market again. I do it once a week as part of my weekly cleaning. I never have them anymore. They live in the drains if there is no fruit out. If you just spray the kitchen sink you will find them in other areas of the house with drains, I did .

  • Cynthia H Cynthia H on Jul 16, 2019

    I put mine in an open bowl near the activity. Remove what is attracting them, and clean your drain also.

  • Bushra Bushra on Jul 16, 2019

    Here is good video about it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcQsX7g0Scg


    Hope it helps! Bushra

  • Chloe Crabtree Chloe Crabtree on Apr 17, 2023

    Fill a microwave-safe bowl with apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap. Microwave the bowl so the mixture becomes even more aromatic. Leave the bowl out uncovered as fruit fly bait. The soap will reduce the surface tension, causing any fruit fly that lands on the surface to drown. Now, if what you have might be drain flies...if that is what you have try this: Boil some water on the stove and pour down your drain several times a day for about a week or Mix 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar and then pour the mixture down the drain, leaving it overnight. In the morning, pour boiling hot water down the drain.

    If a drain fly infestation lasts longer than 20 days despite different approaches to get rid of them, then it’s time to call a professional exterminator.