Setting traps is the most effective method for catching and eliminating fruit flies. Read our guide to discover which traps work the best.

You may notice more fruit flies in your bathrooms, kitchen, dining room, and outdoor living space as summer approaches. A couple of active flies may not seem like a big deal, but they can quickly become full-blown infestations. In this guide, we’ll explain how to catch fruit flies and offer preventive methods to keep them from returning.

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What Are Fruit Flies?

Fruit flies are devastating in agricultural zones, but they’re annoying gnat-like pests in residences. They’re active during the summer and fall, but they can remain present year-round in warm climates. Fruit flies come into your home looking for water and food and flock to overripe fruit, rotting food, remnants of food caught in your sink drain, and fermented products such as wine, apple cider vinegar, and honey. Some flies will even buzz around skincare and haircare products that have fruit extracts.

A female adult fruit fly can lay up to 500 eggs at a time when she finds a warm and protected area with access to food. These eggs will hatch into adult fruit flies in a short period—two weeks or less—and live up to 50 days. Therefore, fruit flies can infest your home and multiply into a frustrating swarm within a couple of weeks.

Fruit flies gravitate toward sweet and rotting scents, so you can use smell to both deter and trap them. For example, you can clean areas with these attractants—around your fruit bowl, inside your kitchen drain, and in your trash bin—and use fruity-smelling liquids as bait in traps.

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How To Trap And Kill Fruit Flies

The most effective method for getting rid of a fruit fly infestation is to set out traps that kill the fruit flies. You can use do-it-yourself (DIY) or commercial fruit fly traps to get rid of these pests. Place several traps around infested areas to reduce the number of active adults and stop them from laying more eggs.

DIY Fruit Fly Traps

Homeowners can create their own DIY fruit fly traps by placing fruity-smelling bait, such as red wine or honey, in a container that fruit flies can’t escape. This traps and kills the fruit flies, allowing you to dispose of them later. The four most common DIY traps are paper cones, plastic wrap traps, vinegar and fruit traps, and vinegar and dish soap traps.

Paper Cones

To create a paper cone trap, pour half a cup of apple cider vinegar into a jar or cup. Then, roll a piece of paper into a cone. Place the cone in the jar with the tip pointed downward. Fruit flies will fly or crawl through the cone and remain stuck in the jar.

Plastic Wrap Trap

Make an improvised trap by poking small holes in plastic wrap with a toothpick. Add half a cup of apple cider vinegar in a mason jar. Cover the mason jar with plastic wrap (the holes will allow fruit flies to enter the container). The vinegar will attract the flies, trapping them in the jar.

Vinegar and Fruit

If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, you can create your own bait by mixing fruit and standard white vinegar. This mixture will have fruity and slightly fermented notes that attract fruit flies. You can put the mixture in a paper cone trap or plastic wrap and rubber band trap, or you can make your own plastic bottle trap.

Vinegar and Dish Soap

You can trap and kill fruit flies using shallow dishes and bowls. Pour half an inch of apple cider vinegar into a small bowl or dish with a lip and mix in a couple of drops of liquid dish soap. The vinegar will attract the fruit flies and cause them to land on the liquid. The dish soap breaks the surface tension of the vinegar, causing the flies to drown in the liquid.

Commercial Fruit Fly Traps

If natural methods don’t work, you can purchase fruit fly traps from your local home improvement store, big-box store, or online retailer. Below are a couple of popular commercial fruit fly trap options.

Aunt Fannie’s FlyPunch

Aunt Fannie’s FlyPunch! Fruit Fly Trap is a convenient commercial fruit fly trap that doesn’t contain petrochemicals or harsh ingredients but is instead powered by a specialized vinegar and ferment solution. It’s safe to use near food and food prep areas, making it a convenient option for kitchens. It’s available on Amazon.

Terro Fruit Fly Trap

Terro Fruit Fly Traps are small apple-shaped containers with bait that can last up to 45 days. Most packages include at least two traps to place, one near your sink and one in your fruit bowl. You can purchase this product on Amazon.

Commercially available fruit fly traps are convenient, more discrete, and aesthetically pleasing than homemade traps. However, if you’re worried about the ingredients in chemical traps, homemade traps are fast, effective, and entirely within your control.

Other Methods

In addition to natural and commercial elimination, there are a few other ways to catch fruit flies in your home.

Spray Flies With Alcohol or a Cleaning Solution

One strategy for eliminating a fruit fly infestation is to kill the fruit flies when you see them. Swatting fruit flies is difficult because they have a wide field of vision and fly quickly, but you can spray them with an alcohol spray or cleaning solution to knock them out of the air.

If fruit flies are on your sink or countertop, spray them with a gentle household cleaner such as Windex to kill them. You can also use the cleaning agent to remove whatever spill may have attracted their attention.

We recommend staying away from alcohol-based cleaners and bleach. These are dangerous if ingested by humans and animals, and bleach reacts negatively when mixed with other active ingredients such as acids, ammonia, and other cleaners.

Pour Boiling Water Down Your Drain

If you notice fruit flies in and around your sink drain, pour boiling water down the drain and scrub the rubber flaps covering the drain. This effective solution kills the eggs and adults of both fruit flies and drain flies.

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What Causes Indoor Fruit Fly Infestations?

Identifying why fruit flies are in your home can help you employ intentional removal strategies and keep your home safe from fruit flies in the future.

Here are a few common causes of fruit fly infestations:

• Food spills: A couple of drops of soda, fruit juice, or sweetened food can attract fruit flies in your home. Spilling personal care and cosmetic products with fruit ingredients can attract nearby flies.
• Open trash bin: An overflowing trash bin without a tight-fitting lid can attract fruit flies. Don’t overstuff your bins, and close the lid tightly to prevent fruit flies from congregating around your trash. 
• Outdoor sources: Fruit flies may gravitate toward fruit and flowers in your yard or outdoor living space. If they fly near doors or windows, a few may enter your home to find new food sources.
• Overripe fruit: Fruit flies love to eat and lay eggs in overripe fruit, which can cause an infestation. Throw away any overripe fruit on your counters to avoid attracting these flies.
• Rotting food: Food scraps caught in your kitchen sink drain and the underside of the rubber flaps near your garbage disposal can attract fruit flies.
• Warm temperatures: Warm temperatures alone don’t cause fruit fly infestations but can increase the chances of one occurring. Fruit flies thrive in warm temperatures and are much more active during warm seasons.

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What Preventive Measures Can You Take Against Fruit Fly Infestations?

The best way to eliminate fruit fly infestations is to stop them before they happen. By learning about fruit flies, what attracts them, and what you can do to get rid of them, you’ll be in a good position to stop fruit flies from multiplying. Below are a few tactics to prevent fruit flies from infesting your home.

Clean Regularly

Routinely scrub surfaces in your kitchen and bathrooms, including your countertops, sinks, and drains. We also recommend cleaning the outside and inside of your trash can with a disinfectant cleaner to remove any sticky residue and food spills. This is also a good preventive measure for any type of fly infestation.

Close Your Trash Can

Fruit flies flock to food trash, especially if it sits overnight. Take your trash out when it’s full, and keep the can tightly closed when you’re not using it.

Store Food Properly

Wash your fruit and store it in your refrigerator’s produce drawers to prevent flies from smelling it or easily accessing it. This can also help the fruit last longer before overripening or rotting. If you prefer to store your fruit at room temperature, we recommend refrigerating it while you’re getting rid of a current infestation.

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Our Conclusion

Fruit flies are an annoying nuisance that can quickly multiply and turn into an infestation if left untreated. To get rid of fruit flies in your home, consider using DIY fruit fly traps, such as paper cones or vinegar solutions, or purchase a commercial cleaner to eliminate infestations. One of the best ways to prevent fruit flies is by taking proactive steps to keep your home clean, such as wiping spills as soon as they happen and storing food in airtight containers.

If DIY solutions don’t work against a full-blown infestation, consider hiring a professional pest control company to eliminate the fruit flies. A pest control provider can offer customized solutions and recurring treatments to eliminate the problem.

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FAQ About Catching Fruit Flies

What is the fastest way to get rid of fruit flies?

The fastest way to get rid of fruit flies is to trap them. You can create several DIY traps or purchase traps and set them near areas with the most fruit fly activity. The flies will enter the traps and drown or get stuck. Depending on the severity of the infestation, it can take between two days and two weeks to eliminate them.

What is the best homemade fruit fly trap?

The best homemade fruit fly trap is an apple cider vinegar trap. Add half a cup of apple cider vinegar to a jar and cover the jar with plastic wrap. Poke holes in the plastic so the fruit flies can crawl inside but can’t fly back out.

Why do I keep having fruit flies in my house?

You may notice fruit flies in your house because they find sufficient food sources to stay. Overripe fruit, food stuck in your sink drain, and scraps of food in your trash can attract fruit flies looking for soft, rotten fruit to eat and lay eggs in.

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