Clean your counters at least once a day, so they don’t turn into a snack bar for the pests. Keep Counters Cleanįruit flies will feast on spilled food, crumbs, spilled juice - just about anything. Once you’ve done the work to kill fruit flies, keep them from coming back with these preventative measures.
HOW TO GET RID OF FRUIT FLIES HOW TO
(Here are more ways to clean stinky drains where pests like to breed.) How to Keep Fruit Flies Away Instead, pour a 50-50 mixture of hot water and white vinegar down drains to kill drain flies and fruit fly eggs they’ve laid. It’s not convenient to place a trap in these. The light’s reflection on the water lures them in but the soap creates a surface tension that keeps them from flying away. (The light over your stove is perfect for this.) Soapy Water Fruit Fly TrapĪ bowl of water with just a drop of dish soap left under a light at night attracts fruit flies, gnats, and mosquitoes that have found their way into your home. Use a kitchen funnel or roll a piece of paper to form one and insert the narrow end into the bottle. Red Wine Fruit Fly TrapĪ bottle with an inch or so of red wine or beer is practically a magnet for fruit flies.Īdd a paper funnel at the top so they fly in but can’t easily get out. The flies will go in, but they won’t come back out. Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap (or a lid) in which you’ve poked a few small holes with a toothpick. Apple Cider Vinegar Fruit Fly TrapĪ shallow bowl of apple cider vinegar left on the kitchen counter attracts fruit flies with its scent. If you prefer a “set it and forget it” approach, many readers report having success with commercial fruit fly traps. With new fruit fly eggs hatching daily, you’ll need to keep the traps clean and in place for a couple of weeks. Here are the three I’ve found most successful to get an infestation quickly under control. I’ve used several different kinds of such traps. One of the easiest ways to kill fruit flies is to drown them into a bowl filled with liquid. So, read through these steps and follow them diligently. How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies for GoodĪs with any attempts to get rid of household pests, a lazy approach won’t work. If that sounds unappealing to you, then read on for ways to stop a fruit fly infestation and keep them from coming back. Those fruit fly eggs quickly grow into microscopic larvae (maggots).Īnd what happens to those larvae? You eat them. Guess where fruit flies most love to breed? Your fruit, vegetables, or any other food left on the counter. You’ll find them near the bathroom and kitchen drain, too, as well as around toilets and other sources of water. If you have a cat litter box in your home, you’ve probably seen a few flitting about when you’ve gone to scoop kitty’s business. They Carry Diseaseįruit flies don’t just eat your food - they also carry disease. And there are good reasons why you should kill them quickly. So, when it comes to getting rid of a fruit fly infestation, you can’t really wait for them to die. At 100 fruit fly eggs per day, you’ll have thousands of flies in your home in a week. Imagine you have a suitable breeding ground for just four females in your kitchen.
After another 5 days or so, the larvae reach adulthood and are ready to get busy with other fruit flies.Īnd then they live another 50 or so days! Some species even live for several months. Within 48 hours, those eggs turn into larvae - also known as maggots - that start feeding right away. They begin life as tiny eggs laid on the surface of fruits, buried within rotting fruit, or inside poorly sealed containers. It turns out, their life cycle can be over two weeks. There’s a myth that fruit flies live and die in 24 hours. Some Facts About Fruit Flies They Live Longer than You Think Though it does take consistency and effort, you can get a fruit fly infestation under control and keep them away for good. Then, keep fruit flies from coming back with some easy, practical steps.
Follow these steps to get rid of fruit flies naturally by eliminating their breeding grounds and using homemade traps to kill them.