It’s one thing to know how to get rid of fruit flies, but what’s even more important is knowing how to keep fruit flies out of your home in the first place.
Today, I’m going to tell you how to do both — naturally.
Why You Need to Kill Fruit Flies
Fruit Flies Live Longer than You Think
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. They begin life as tiny eggs laid on the surface of fruits or within poorly sealed containers.
Within 48 hours, those eggs turn into larvae — also known as maggots — that start feeding right away. After another 5 days or so, fruit fly larvae reach adulthood and are ready to get busy with other fruit flies.
And then they live another 50 or so days! Some species even live for several months.
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, you’re looking at thousands of fruit flies in your home — within days!
So, when it comes to getting rid of fruit flies, you can’t really wait them out. And there are good reasons why you should know how to kill fruit flies quickly.
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 the bathroom and kitchen drain, too, as well as around toilets and other sources of water.
Every time they land, they’re not just carrying germs from their latest nasty resting spot. Fruit flies breed by inserting their eggs into your food — along with any other bacteria or germs they’re carrying around.
They Contaminate Your Food
Guess where fruit flies most love to breed? Your food! Females burrow into fruit, vegetables or any other food left on the counter. Once cozy, they lay their eggs, which turn into microscopic larvae (maggots).
And what happens to those larvae? You eat them.
If that sounds unappealing to you, then you need to know how to get rid of fruit flies quickly and keep them from coming back.
How to Get Rid of 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 and follow them diligently.
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.
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.
Apple Cider Vinegar Fruit Fly Trap
lA shallow bowl of apple cider vinegar left on the kitchen counter attracts fruit flies with its scent. Cover the bowl 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.
Bottle and Funnel Fruit Fly Trap
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.
Soapy Water Fruit Fly Trap
A bowl of water with just a couple drops of liquid soap left under a light at night will trap both fruit flies and mosquitoes that have found their way into your home. (The light over your stove is perfect for this.)
The light’s reflection on the water will attract fruit flies, but the soap will create a surface tension that prevents them from flying away. Change every morning.
How to 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. Do this daily until you don’t see any more fruit flies in the area, then continue for another day or two.
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.)
How to Keep Fruit Flies Away for Good
Once you’ve done the work to kill fruit flies, keep them from coming back with these preventative measures.
Counter Patrol
Fruit flies will 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.
Wash Fruit Right Away
Fruit flies piggyback their way into our homes on bananas and melons more than any other fruits. Wash any produce that 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.
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 do leave a bowl of fruit on the counter, cover it with a cake dome, an upturned bowl, or even plastic wrap to keep fruit flies from it.
Deal with Odors Immediately
If it stinks, it attracts fruit flies. Clean your drains, garbage cans, pet bedding, litter boxes, and toilets regularly. Not sure if you’ve gone nose blind? Check out this list of 48 places in your home that can stink.
Repeat Until They’re Gone… And Again.
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.
Once you’ve stopped seeing fruit flies, keep using your traps and cleaning likely surfaces for another week to make sure there are no larvae waiting to hatch.
More How-Tos:
How To Get Rid of Spiders In Your Home
Note: This article first appeared July 2013. It has been revised and updated for republication.
Pin How to Kill Fruit Flies
Satish Dutt says
September 5, 2015 at 5:46 AMMany thanks for useful tips.
Kind regards.
Katie Berry says
September 6, 2015 at 10:40 AMYou’re quite welcome!
Ana says
June 1, 2015 at 4:22 PMI’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
Luis says
May 21, 2015 at 11:15 PMTo 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.
Tere says
August 31, 2015 at 11:06 AMThis 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.
huckaday says
November 13, 2014 at 3:09 AMKetchup 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.
Lnor2101 says
November 10, 2014 at 7:38 PMThank you for the tipes it help me and my family I hope it works for other people
ShadowAmanda Armstrong says
October 4, 2014 at 4:51 PMHi
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
Katie B of HousewifeHowTos.com says
October 16, 2014 at 10:00 AMIf 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!
Nicole says
March 26, 2019 at 8:57 PMHave you been flushing your drains with boiling water? If not that could be the issue.
Canna Miss says
August 22, 2014 at 12:36 PMWhat 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!
Katie B of HousewifeHowTos.com says
August 22, 2014 at 1:42 PMHave 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?
Canna Miss says
August 23, 2014 at 10:26 AMYeah, 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. :/
MommaCat says
June 13, 2017 at 5:20 PMI 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).
Katie Berry says
June 15, 2017 at 1:04 PMThat’s an excellent tip. Thank you!
matt brafford says
January 2, 2014 at 3:13 AMGood 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.
Katie Berry says
January 2, 2014 at 12:31 PMOh, No See Ems are the worst!
Zadi Ankit says
August 18, 2013 at 10:39 AMWe had a lot of fruit fly problem at home and I use apple cider vinegar…works like a charm.
Thanks for the tips 🙂
Katie Berry says
August 18, 2013 at 10:53 AMYou’re welcome!
Mariette's Back to Basics says
July 25, 2013 at 11:59 AMDearest Katie,
As always, very to the point and practical tips for living and eating healthy!
Thanks for these tips.
Hugs,
Mariette
Katie B. says
July 25, 2013 at 12:49 PMThank you, Mariette! Hugs to you, too. 🙂