DIY Methods – How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
Ever run circles around your kitchen with your fly swatter chasing a super fast bug? Chances are it was a fruit fly, and you were right to want to rid of it from your home. The trick is, kill it before it can reproduce or has the chance to infect someone or something. The process for how to get rid of fruit flies starts with trapping or killing them, then preventing their return.
Fruit flies can be seen flying around in our surroundings. If we observe, we will see them sitting here and there, especially near sweet items, rotten fruits, and big trash cans. When flies that pass over trash reach the food at your table, there are great chances that they will contaminate your food. The germs that they carried from the trash can result in infecting you. That is why it is very important to keep flies away from the food.
So you may be thinking, “How do I get rid of fruit flies?” Since they are very fast and agile, it can be very difficult to capture or kill them. Mostly, you will need to set up a trap to keep these buzzing insects away from your kitchen table. Thus, this article will be revolving around simple household methods to get rid of fruit flies.
Methods for How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies:
We will be mentioning five different methods to balk the fruit flies reaching your precious food and spoiling it.
1. Trapping Them With Funnel Paper
- First, you will need a bottle, jar or a vase to be selected as a base of your trap. When selecting one as your trap, make sure that it is long. Some examples are a bottle of wine, beer bottle, or any fizzy drink.
- Next, you need to choose something sweet to be placed inside the bottle. For this purpose, you can use any fruit or sugary liquid, like honey. Next, you will pour the liquid or the cut up fruit and place it inside the bottle.
- Now you need to grab a piece of paper and roll it to make a funnel. Furthermore, you need to tape the paper so the paper will not lose its shape. Next, place this funnel-shaped paper inside the bottle in a way that the narrow side is pointing downside. Remember, the hole at the bottom must be sufficient enough to let the fly pass through.
- The trap has been prepared and ready to use. Place the trap in the location where the most flies are seen. You will soon see the flies attracted to the trap.
- Once the flies have been trapped, create a warm soapy water mixture. The soap will disturb the surface tension which causes the flies to drown. Later on, you can wash the bottle to get rid of the dead bodies.
- The life cycle of a fruit fly is only eight days. There is a possibility that you may need to repeat the process multiple times in order to completely evacuate the kitchen.
2. Trapping Fruit Flies With Bowl Traps
- First, select a clean medium sized bowl.
- Similar to the previous method, you need to add something sweet to the bowl in order to attract the flies. You can select any fruit like banana, apple or a sugary liquid like maple syrup or honey. Once you select, place it in the bowl.
- You will need plastic wrapping sheet. Now, wrap the sheet around the bowl very tightly making sure it covers the entire bowl.
- Next, you will need to make small holes in the plastic. The holes should be sufficient enough to let the flies pass through them.
- Place the bowl in the location where most files are seen. After one day, you will see the bowl full of flies. If not, then you need to check if the holes are big enough for flies to pass through. You also need to make sure that the holes are not large enough for the flies to escape.
- Dispose of the bowl.
- Note: This method is not as effective as trapping with funnel paper.
3. Killing Flies with Sprays and Other Products
- Rubbing alcohol is the easiest insecticide of which you can make at home.
- Important: Make sure you are wearing a mask and gloves while spraying.
- First, grab a mist spray bottle and fill it with 71% solution of rubbing alcohol. Now spray it on the infested area. It will kill almost every flying fruit fly. If you use the 91% solution of rubbing alcohol, it will not only kill the flies but the eggs as well.
- Another insecticide is called Pyrethrin Spray. Do not spray near food. It will effectively kill the fruit flies from the infested area of your home.
- Note: Using insecticides will help control the growth of fruit flies and getting rid of the problem.
4. Getting Rid of the Eggs
- First, you need to locate where the flies could lay their eggs. Generally, they prefer a damp place where they can provide the required nutrients. This may include trash cans, sinks of the kitchen, etc.
- You can use different insecticides, like the ones mentioned in section three to kill the eggs.
- After spraying the egg infested area, you just need to clean it properly to make sure that spray constituents have been washed away.
- In addition, you need to store your food in a proper way. It must be entirely covered or placed in the refrigerator until the flies are completely gone.
- Lastly, you need to analyze and try to throw away the potential breeding sources of fruit flies’ eggs.
5. Keeping Fruit Flies from Returning
It is important to follow the following steps to prevent fruit flies from returning.
- You need to inspect all fruit before buying as well as any fruit currently in your home. Any rotten or inedible food, you need to discard immediately.
- Next, you need to set up various traps like mentioned in the Method 1 and 2. It is essential to set up such traps in your kitchen so that if flies come, they won’t be able to escape.
- Fruit flies also love food outside of your kitchen. Since flies are attracted to sweet things, use an artificial liquid sweetener and apply a layer on the outer side of the window or any other entry point of the kitchen. This will be helpful in keeping them outside.
- Last but not the least, you can use certain essential oils. These essential oils deter the fruit flies. These oils might be pleasant for human beings, but they deter the fruit flies and keep them away from your kitchen and home.
Calling an Exterminator to Get Rid of Fruit Flies
If you can’t seem to defeat the fruit fly infestation yourself, you should contact a local exterminator near you. If you need help finding an exterminator in your area, let us connect you to one by entering your zip code on our home page. A fruit fly infestation is a no fun for anybody, don’t let the problem go untreated and get worse.