How Do You Get Rid of Fruit Flies?

Fruit flies – those pesky little flies that seem to come from nowhere to infest our kitchens. Little flies with red eyes that, once they arrive, prove very difficult to eliminate.

Probably nobody cares where they come from, just as long as they go away! Traditional remedies such as swatting them, spraying them with insecticide often prove unproductive (you can never swat them all), unsavory (who wants to spray insecticide over food?) or ineffective (already insecticides dont seem to get them all).

So what is the solution? Trap them. Trapping fruit flies is surprisingly effective especially when the trap also kills the flies. Over the time of a few hours, and certainly a few days, the flies can be deleted. With a little good housekeeping, the problem can be controlled and re-infestations prevented.

There are a number of ways to set fruit fly traps that are effective. The following factors are meaningful:

Bait – what will attract them. Fruit flies truly crave the smell from fruit as it begins to decay and they come in from outside the house when they smell it. Alternatively they come in on fruit as eggs and then hatch to repeat the cycle. Many things can work as bait including decaying fruit itself. However Balsamic or cider vinegar seems to have the best effect and the strongest allurement Trap vs. kill – do you want to trap them and kill them or release them when caught? Getting rid of fruit flies quickly and permanently probably requires they be killed. Again, the vinegar is good for this as they will get caught in the liquid Ensure they stay caught – adding a little washing up detergent to the balsamic vinegar will lower the surface tension and the flies will sink into the liquid Trap design – use a reasonably large jar or pot and cover the lid with stretch film with small holes punched into it. The flies will be able to go into but not leave Placement – put the traps where you have seen the most flies. Use several if necessary but fruit flies will be drawn to the trap already if you only use one.

Once you have deleted the infestation make sure that you are not setting yourself up for them to return. Take care to remove fruit from the room especially if it is starting to over-ripen. Keep it in the refrigerator if necessary.

Clean up fruit spills, clean the garbage container to make sure there are no possible breeding grounds left. It takes a little bit of time but it is worth it. And if they do come back, be sure to set the trap up again to catch them before they get out of hand again!