I love seeing my kitchen so full of fresh fruit and vegetables when I get back from shopping. Today my counter is a beautiful rainbow of peaches, mangos, avocado, pineapple, tomatoes, kiwi and bananas. However what often comes with these delicious delicacies is fruit flies. In a matter of hours or a day or two my kitchen can be overrun with the pesky bugs.
What to do? I have found that a simple fruit fly trap helps to keep the bugs under control. Here is how to do it.
- Take one or two empty bottles and wash them out. Discard the lids. I prefer to use smallish bottle no more than six inches tall.
- I also remove the label so I can see what I catch!
- Pour 2-4 TBL of apple cider vinegar into the bottles.
- Add a squirt of liquid dish washing soap.
- Fill bottle 1/2 to 2/3 full of water.
- Put your hand over the bottle opening and shake it until there are bubbles up to the top.
- Set the bottle on your counter near where you see most of the fruit flies.
- Before too long you will see fruit flies stuck in the bubble. Or maybe they will be floating in the vinegar water. The vinegar attracts the fruit flies, and the bubbles trap them.
- Shake the bottle again from time to time to keep it full of bubbles.
- Empty and refill the bottle when the fruit flies stop being attracted to it.
That’s my trick. Do you have other ways of dealing with fruit flies in your kitchen? Share your methods in the comments.
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I try not to kill living things unless it’s absolutely necessary, like cockroaches. For fruit flies you can take a piece of paper, make it into a cone, put it into a jar that has old fruit in it with the tiny opening of the cone down in the jar – but not touching the bottom. Then tape the cone in place to the edge of the jar. The flies go in and they don’t know how to get back out, then you can just take the jar outside after a day and release them.
Deon, that sounds like a great way to catch them too. Thanks for sharing.
No I don’t cover the bowl. I just change it every few days or daily.I never have bottle handy!
Helpful post! The fruit flies have been invading us a lot this year. lol
We use the same method but I have a small glass dish that seem to work pretty well. 🙂
Thanks fellow Vegan MoFo-er 🙂 I am enjoying your blog too.
I do all of the above but put it in a bowl with a few slices of f fruit ( this week lime Or lemons slices or the leftover lime or lemons have been squeezed of their juice for other uses) in 1-3 days tons of fruit flies. Can’t believe I paid $ 9.99 at whole foods for some contraption!
Thanks Linda. Do you cover the bowl at all?
So glad you addressed this. I know raw foodists always talk about buying tons of fruit and having it on hand, but I always worried about the problem of fruit flies with ripening fruit. They are difficult to get rid of. Your solution is easy. I will try it.
Wendy Williams had a similar problem at the start of her show several years ago. She had fruit flies every where in her studio. Her staff put out uncovered bottles with ACV to attract & trapped the flies. That did the trick. I also heard of using Lemon Joy and white wine to get rid of them, too. LOL!
Wanda, I have seen and tried other things in my bottle but the ACV seems to work the best for me. Never tried the Lemon Joy and wine. Let us know if you try something else that works.