How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies With Household Items

Colette
by Colette

I don't know about you, but this time of year the fruit flies are out in full force at our house. To me they are one of the most annoying bugs, and they seem to multiply like bunnies! Apparently female fruit flies can lay up to 500 eggs at a time and their life spans are 40-50 days, during which time they can lay several 500-egg batches. No wonder they are so hard to get rid of!

But there is hope to control them!!

Try to prevent them from coming in the first place and/or eff up their homes once they arrive using these simple tips for how to get rid of fruit flies:

1. Keep your sink clean. Fruit flies like to procreate in drains, so make sure to keep all food out of your sink and drains.

2. Rinse out your recyclables before throwing them away and take our your trash often. It also helps to have a trashcan with a lid and keep it closed at all times.

3. Periodically pour boiling water down the drain. You can easily kill budding fruit flies by clearing out the drains with boiling water.

4. Set homemade traps. We have tried all different kinds of traps, but we have found the wine and saran wrap option to be the most successful. Just pour a little bit of wine into a glass, cover tightly with saran wrap, then use a toothpick to poke a few holes in it. Apparently the flies can get in through the holes, but then can't figure out how to get out. I put one near our sink and one near our trashcan and they really work!!

Colette
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Joanne Joanne on Apr 09, 2017

    Could you use any fruit juice instead of wine?

  • Carol Carol on May 15, 2017

    Now...... I wonder how we can get rid of those flour bugs that fly around and lay eggs in our rice, quinua, flour, and dried beans!

  • Cindi Cindi on Apr 21, 2019

    Would cranberry apple juice work? Or does it have to be wine?

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  • Melony Lewis Melony Lewis on Nov 13, 2019

    I mix couple drops of blue dawn and apple cider vinegar together in a small dish. I use a shot glass and set behind my sink for fruit flies. You definitely have to change it often because they don't make it far once having a drink

  • Linda Dunigan Linda Dunigan on Jul 17, 2020

    Thanks for everyone’s ideas.

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