How to Make a Homemade Fruit Fly Trap

One of the great things about summer is enjoying all the glorious fresh fruit the season brings. Unfortunately, those pesky fruit flies enjoy it, too.

If you've ever had an experience with an infestation of fruit flies, then you know that they are challenging to get under control. A single fruit fly can lay 500 eggs, so when you have one, then it's only a short amount of time before you've got a kitchen full of uninvited buzzing guests.

However, there is a super-easy DIY way to make a homemade fruit fly trap with a few items you already have around the house. This fruit fly trap will rid any space of those bug burdens quickly, efficiently, and without any poisonous chemicals.

How to Make a Fruit Fly Trap

What You'll Need

• Apple cider vinegar or one piece of overripe fruit
• Liquid dish soap
• Small glass or jar
• Plastic wrap
• String
• Toothpick

Directions

1. Place the overripe fruit or pour about an inch of apple cider vinegar into the jar. Add a drop of liquid dish soap.
2. Cover the top of the jar with a small square of plastic wrap, and tie it closed with string. Poke several holes into the plastic wrap, just large enough for a fruit fly to get through.
3. Place the jar in your kitchen where the fruit flies like to congregate, and wait for them to be attracted to the trap. Once the container fills, rinse and repeat if needed.

How Does It Work?

Fruit flies are irresistibly drawn to the smell of fermenting fruit. That's where the apple cider vinegar comes in: The aroma entices them to enter the jar through the holes in the plastic covering. And once they check-in, they can't check out. When they land on the vinegar, they can't float on the surface because the dish soap breaks the surface tension, and they drown.

How To Prevent Fruit Flies

• Since the one thing fruit flies love the most is fruit, try to make sure to eat or refrigerate any produce you bring home from the market before they start to go bad. Also, when shopping, avoid those foods that have evidence of fruit flies since that could mean it they had the chance to lay eggs.
  
• Fruit flies are attracted to even the smallest amount of fermentation, so a great way to keep them away is to regularly dispose of any garbage and recyclables. Also, if anything spills in the bin, try to get to it before they do.
  
• Use your homemade fruit fly trap to prevent an infestation or keep them from coming back. You can leave your trap in a discrete location of your kitchen and clean out the jar and pour in fresh vinegar (and a drop of liquid soap) from time to time, and enjoy your fruit fly-free kitchen for the rest of the summer.

Related

• Now that you've got the fruit flies under control, enjoy all the fresh fruit recipes your heart desires.
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