It’s one thing to know how to kill fruit flies quickly, but what’s even more important is knowing how to prevent fruit flies from infesting your house in the first place. Today, I’m going to tell you how to do both — naturally.
THEY LIVE LONGER THAN YOU THINK
If you’ve ever had fruit flies in your kitchen, you know they breed at unbelievable speed. There’s a myth that they live and die in 24 hours. It turns out, the life cycle of a fruit fly can be over two weeks. Some species live several months. During that time, each female can lay over 100 eggs per day!
THEY BREED LIKE CRAZY
Now, imagine you have a suitable breeding ground for just four females in your kitchen. At 100 eggs per day after they’re old enough to breed — usually when they’re three days old — you’re looking at thousands of fruit flies in your home — within days!
THEY CARRY DISEASE
Fruit flies don’t just eat your food — they also carry disease. 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. You’ll find them near bathroom and kitchen drains, too, as well as around toilets and other sources of water.
Guess where they’ll head next? To your food! Females love to burrow into fruit, vegetables or any other food left on the counter. Once cozy, they lay their eggs and guess where those eggs are going to end up? That’s right: you’ll eat them.
If that sounds unappealing to you, then you need to take action the instant you spy a fruit fly flitting around your house.
How to Kill Fruit Flies
Consistency is Key
As with any attempts to get rid of household pests, a lazy approach won’t work. Sure, you might see fewer fruit flies for a couple of days but, if you don’t follow through, they’ll just come back again and again. So, read through these steps then follow them.
Bait and kill fruit flies with traps
One of the more natural ways to kill fruit flies is to bait them into a bowl filled with liquid. I’ve used several different kinds of such traps. Here are the three I’ve found most successful:
1. A shallow dish of apple cider vinegar left near their favorite breeding grounds attracts fruit flies with its scent. Cover it with a piece of plastic wrap (or a lid) in which you’ve poked a few holes with a toothpick. The flies will go in, but they won’t come back out. Change the vinegar daily.
2. A bottle with a paper funnel will entice them to fly in, but they won’t easily get out. A half-empty beer or wine bottle works particularly well for this since fruit flies are attracted to those scents. Use a kitchen funnel or roll a piece of paper to form one and insert the narrow end into the bottle. Tape it in place if needed. Change daily.
3. A bowl of water with just a couple drops of liquid soap left under a light at night (the bulb over your stove is perfect for this) will trap both fruit flies and mosquitoes that have found their way into your home. The light’s reflection on the water attracts them, but the soap will create a surface tension that prevents them from flying away. Change every morning.
NOTE: With new eggs hatching daily, you’ll need to keep the traps going and your prevention measures in place for a couple of weeks.
Kill fruit flies in drains
Some fruit flies make their home in areas where it’s just not practical to place a trap. Examples include shower drains, bathroom sink drains, toilets, etc. To get rid of fruit flies in these areas, pour boiling water (or boiling white vinegar) down drains and toilets.
Also, make sure your drains are clear of hair and other debris that create ideal breeding grounds for these pests. (See How To Clean Stinky Drains.)
Keep fruit flies from returning
Once you’ve done the work to kill fruit flies, keep them from coming back with these preventative measures.
1. Counter patrol. Fruit flies don’t just like to eat fruit. They’ll feast on spilled food, crumbs, spilled juice — just about anything. Wipe your counters at least once a day with a microfiber cloth and homemade all-purpose spray, so they don’t turn into a snack bar for the pests.
3. Clean produce. Fruit flies piggyback their way into our homes on bananas and melons more than any other fruits. Wash produce you plan to leave on the counter in homemade fruit and vegetable wash as soon as you get back from the store to get rid of flies and their eggs.
3. Cover up. A fruit bowl on the counter is a great way to encourage your family to eat healthy snacks. If left uncovered, though, it turns into a single’s bar for fruit flies. If you must leave it on the counter, cover it with a cake dome, an upturned bowl, or even plastic wrap to keep fruit flies from it.
4. Deal with odors immediately. If it stinks, chances are it attracts fruit flies, too. Clean drains, garbage cans, pet bedding, litter boxes and similar things as part of your regular cleaning routine. (See How To Deodorize Your Home Naturally.)
Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Remember how female fruit flies lay 100 eggs or more per day? With new eggs hatching every day, you’ll need to be diligent for a couple of weeks about using traps, depriving them of food, and keeping them from favorite breeding places.
More How-Tos:
How To Get Rid Of Cockroaches (and DIY Cockroach Killer)
How To Get Rid of Spiders In Your Home
Daily Cleaning Routine Checklist
Pin How to Kill Fruit Flies
Many thanks for useful tips.
Kind regards.
You’re quite welcome!
I’ve tried everything but there in my bedroom and in the kitchen and they won’t leave. Please tell me how I can get rid of them fast
To get fruit flies quick. I use my Kirby vacuum hose attachment. They aren’t very fast. I can get an entire colony in about 15-20 minutes. If u have plenty of light and light colored walls they are easy to see and easy to catch even mid flight.
This is a great idea; the only other thing I would add is to be SURE to EMPTY the machine immediately after doing this, outside. When I used to have a flea problem, I would put a cut up flea collar inside my vacuum, then let the vacuum do its work. IMMEDIATELY dump the vacuum or change the bag, adding another part of the cut up flea collar. If your machine uses bags, yes, this can be expensive, but it works. Make sure your animals are also treated at the same time, using the same tips you can find elsewhere. I think I’ll go vacuum some fruit flies and then some of the other ideas here.
Ketchup is a great bait too! Putting the traps in the freezer (after plugging the holes) kills them very quickly and you can reset your trap again without taking it apart. Fruit flies don’t do well in the cold, so we are lucky that we have a cool winter to kill them off here. I feel for you people who live in year round warm weather having to deal with them! Yuck.
Thank you for the tipes it help me and my family I hope it works for other people
Hi
I have done everything I can find to get rid of fruit flies and they still come back. They are coming in from outside Im sure, but I cant live with windows sealed shut all year long. I dont have fruit, I am ocd with cleaning, and yet they keep appearing. Everytime I ask how to stop them returning the answers dont help, they just say how to catch them and be thorough to stop them breeding. If they are coming in from outside what the heck do I do?
If you can offer any advice Id love to hear. Thank you
If you’re certain they’re coming in from outside, try this: first, clean your window screens and sill, then wash your windows using my homemade window cleaner. Add 5 drops of lemongrass, cedarwood or basil essential oil to that mix when you clean.
Then, combine 1 cup water and 15 drops of lemongrass, cedarwood, or basil essential oil in a spray bottle. Spray your windowsills, both inside and out, daily with this mixture. Fruit flies do not like these essential oils, so using them regularly on your sills, and when cleaning your windows, should help keep them away.
Best of luck!
What if this doesn’t work? We have tried EVERY single remedy we could find and they aren’t falling for any of them. Now we have a full on infestation in our house and there seems to be more every single day. We’re freaking out!
Have you gone through cleaning every one the things mentioned above, including cleaning the drains and been diligent about doing those daily for at least a week?
Other culprits might include onions if you store them in your kitchen. At the store yesterday, a swarm of the things went flying when I reached for an onion. The potatoes were just as bad. (I wound up going to the green grocery for mine instead.) So check yours.
Dirty garbage cans also give them great homes. Be sure the trash goes out daily, and give your kitchen can a thorough washing.
Anyone else have ideas?
Yeah, we’ve done all that. I discovered this cleaner (Awesome from Dollar Tree) that stops them in their tracks. We spent HOURS spraying them yesterday. We cleaned the entire house, dried everything so there was no standing water, poured bleach down all the drains, removed every piece of food and stuck it in the fridge. They seem a LITTLE better today but I still think it’s going to be quite the journey to get them out. We think there might also be something we’re missing. Our basement leaks when it rains and our landlord refuses to fix it, so that could be the problem, and there’s nothing we can really do about it. :/
I know this is old, but we discovered that flypaper works wonderfully when placed near a small dish of apple cider vinegar. It really helped while we dealt with the culprits (fruit bowl and trash can, for us).
That’s an excellent tip. Thank you!
Good tips, also use the two ( apple cider vinegar and dish soap) at the same time. This attacks and breaks surface tension.
Another issue if you live in the Southern portion of the United States is “no see em’s or Punkies. These are super small black, or brown or grey files, that bite, and can get through almost any screen, and will go through any home screen.
They love water, shade and wet damp soil. Like Fruit Flies they lay 100’s of eggs a day, and are super hard to get rid of.
Here are some tips for your readers.
1. Like the above Fruit Fly traps do the same. Use the stove light, Apple Cider Vinegar and one drop of soap, in a bowl. But add fruit to it, (old berries work great) and give it about 3 days, and leave about half the fruit exposed out of the Apple Cider in the bowl.
IMPORTANT: Use plastic wrap or paper, and poke tinny holes in the paper, and secure tightly to the bowl, with tape if you have too. The holes should be done with a needle and make about 25 to 30 holes. And do not touch or hit the bowl until you are ready to throw out the contents of the bowl.
WHEN YOU GO TO THROW IT OUT: When you go to throw away the bowl contents it will look like nothing is in there, but they are there, ( if you have the bowl on a dark surface you might see white or grey salt specks of the dead “no see em’s”). Before you touch the bowl or hit the table its on, DRIP OIL over the holes, VERY IMPORTANT. This will clog the holes and when you pick up the bowl, any live ones that try to run will get caught in the oil. If you do not do this, some will escape and you will have to start all over again. I learned this the hard way.
When you throw them out, do so at least 100 ft away from your house, or they will come right back to you.
For huge infestations, you must get a carbon dioxide trap, and they are expensive, ($300 to $500 USD).
Use the above traps and give it about 2 to 3 weeks, they work wonders, at least it did for me.
Oh, No See Ems are the worst!
We had a lot of fruit fly problem at home and I use apple cider vinegar…works like a charm.
Thanks for the tips 🙂
You’re welcome!
Dearest Katie,
As always, very to the point and practical tips for living and eating healthy!
Thanks for these tips.
Hugs,
Mariette
Thank you, Mariette! Hugs to you, too. 🙂