How Do I Get Rid of Fruit Flies????

Updated on November 12, 2008
J.H. asks from Dublin, OH
27 answers

I purchased a bushel of apples from a farmers market a few weeks ago. A few days after I brought the apples home, I started noticing fruit flies in the kitchen. I can't seem to get rid of them and they are making us all crazy! I have 4 children, the youngest being 1 year old, so we have lots of fruit in the house. I know I need to get that off the counters. I have tried cleaning the drain but what else can I do to get rid of them?? ANY help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!!

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B.N.

answers from Columbus on

Mix in a small jar or cup - apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish soap. It will attract them like flies :) It takes a couple of days, but you will have a bunch of little fly bodies floating I promise!

1 mom found this helpful
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J.S.

answers from Terre Haute on

Got a trick for you (use apple vinegar in a baby jar (empty one) and put it behind some place where they are mostly about) But first put plastic wrap on top (sealed tightly), take a toothpick and poke holes. They manage to find their way in, but cannot get out!

1 mom found this helpful
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A.J.

answers from Cincinnati on

One thing I have tried is putting a small bowl of sugar water out for them. It seemed to work. That way I can just dump the dead flies into the sink and start over if need be. Good Luck! They are very annoying!

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K.

answers from Indianapolis on

Clean EVERYTHING! Your sink, drain, counters, fridge, inside the microwave. Make sure you run the disposal in the sink. Then you can go online and buy a fruit fly trap, make one yourself, or wait for them to go away on their own. It takes a little while but they do give up and go away as long as you keep all your fruit sealed where they can't get to it. Google fruit fly traps and take your pick but these little ones worked for us http://www.improvementscatalog.com/product/getting-rid-of...

1 mom found this helpful
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L.G.

answers from Dayton on

OMGosh! We had fruit flies so bad a few years ago and it took forever to get rid of them. Here's what we learned.

Bananas draw them. Throw them out, and don't buy any more for a few weeks or refrigerate them and deal with the kids complaining about cold, black bananas (that's what mine did). Any potatoes/onions need to be moved out of the house (maybe an attached garage? or whatever but get them out of the house). They lay eggs inside the fruit so as long as you have it out your never going to get rid of them all.....

Bleach down the kitchen. Half water/ half bleach. Remove everything from the counters to ensure that all surfaces are wiped down. Toaster...wipe it down with bleach, coffee pot, microwave, etc. Everything. Refrig, oven, everything on the outside. It may take three days or so for them to be completly gone but you will notice a difference the 24 hours.

1 mom found this helpful
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S.F.

answers from Fort Wayne on

I believe if you put a tablespoon of white vinegar in a cup, they will go into it and drown.

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N.

answers from Indianapolis on

I bought those long fly strips that you hang from the ceiling at the dollar general and hung them around plus I kept cleaning everything with pinesol. Keep changing the fly strips. It took me a couple of months, but they finally went away.

N.
http://internetsbestfreebies.blogspot.com/

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D.H.

answers from Toledo on

With a can of spray from raid, marked for fying insects.(Its Blue) I have canned tomatoes for years and I use it regularly. When you are done canning, get the spray out. I was recently told by someone that draino worked but after to applications to every drain in the house,sigh, its back to the raid.

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D.H.

answers from Cincinnati on

pour a small amount of red wine or apple cider vinegar (or even a slice of an apple) in a cup, cover w/plastic wrap and poke holes in the top. The fruit flies go in but can't get out.

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C.L.

answers from Indianapolis on

You need 2 bowls a medium size shallow bowl and a small bowl like the size you would use for dipping sauce. In the small bowl put some balsamic vinegar sit it in the bigger bowl add hot soapy water up to the line of the bowl that contains the vinegar. There is something about the balsamic vinegar that draws them to it, when they go to it they get caught up in the bubbles. The only bad thing is you have to replace the water as the bubbles go away. It also draws flies as well. It worked great for me and still does. Hope this helps.

C.

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R.

answers from Cleveland on

refrigerate your fruit.

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C.K.

answers from Cleveland on

We had a lot of fruit this year from our trees. All the ideas sound good, we also used our vacuum cleaner hose to suck them out of the air.

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M.G.

answers from Cleveland on

This seems to be a big deal this year. I also had tons of fruit flies in my home recently. I tried all the tricks, the vinegar/cider/apple/dish soap thing, the holes in foil/saran wrap thing, ect... nothhing worked for me until finally I bought fly strips. Yeah they were ungly and I didn't want people to come over and see them, but it did the job when nothing else would. You of course have to be sure your home is clear of things for them to feed on or they will just keep coming back. I recycle and noticed they liked to hang around that can. I began to make sure it was alwayscovered and hung a fly strip above it. My problem has gone away now.

Good Luck!

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M.M.

answers from Cleveland on

Put a open bottle of red wine out. They like. They will fly in there. My neighbor told me about it. It works.

M.

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K.I.

answers from Indianapolis on

One time I called Cornell Cooperative Extension about this problem *they are supposedly experts* and they told me to take a cup (disposable if you can) Mash some banana into the bottom, sprinkle it with a little baker's yeast, then cover the top with a coffee filter with a rubber band around the rim and poke a hole in the center with a toothpick. Then they can smell it easily and get in, but can't get back out. :)

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T.C.

answers from Fort Wayne on

Lay bay leafs (spice) around your sink and on counter tops for a couple days. I use to have the same problem. The smell of the bay leafs makes them go away!

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S.F.

answers from Cleveland on

We spray them with hairspray. It kills them - and it can be washed off of the fruit and cabinets. Other methods are good to get rid of the majority of them, but the hairspray works great to get rid of the last pesky ones. My brother is an exterminator and the advice about the drains is correct - they will also move to a drain in the bathroom, especially if it is close to the kitchen - bleach them (the drains).

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R.B.

answers from Toledo on

We have the same problem during the entire growing season! The flies seem more attracted to rotting fruit, so get it out of the house, keeping only the fresh stuff around. Just put your fruit in the refrigerator if it's that bad. If you compost, keep a lid on the container or put it outside.

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B.W.

answers from Indianapolis on

I was told my g-ma to take a cup and fill it about half way with apple cider vinegar and put a couple drops of dawn dish soap in it, put something to cover the top and put some small holes in it. they will attract in it and hopefully die.
another thing is to put bleach down ALL of your drains..

hopefully this helps you out...

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L.K.

answers from Elkhart on

Hi J.,
fill a small glass 1/2 full with apple cider vinegar & add 2 drops of dish soap. Set it in an out of the way place so that it won't get spilled or tipped over.
no pest strips work well too, but are kind of unsightly.

Good luck!!
L.

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K.W.

answers from Cleveland on

When I had this problem, I put a bowl of red wine vinegar on the counter with a couple drops of dish soap in it. The flies get in and drown. I caught bowlfuls. Good luck.

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D.G.

answers from Columbus on

Put a small amount of wine or juice in a bottle and leave it set, they will go down the neck of it and drown because they can't get back out.Or they sell fly paper that hangs from the ceiling it kind of spirals, looks bad but when they land on it they are stuck and die.Keep your sink and counters as clean as possible and dry.

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B.B.

answers from Indianapolis on

We've used plastic cups with CIDER VINEGAR and a squirt of dish soap. (The cider vinegar attracks the fruit flies, and the soap traps them.) Then we'd take the cup (and there'd usually be a few flying around it still), and put it in a large zip lock bag and throw it in the trash. It took us about 2 weeks of doing this to get rid of them.

(Some websites say to put plastic wrap over the top of the cup and poke a few holes in it to help "trap" the fruit flies - we found that to be a complete waste of time.)

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A.K.

answers from Columbus on

I think that I read someplace that vinegar helps with fruit flies.

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M.T.

answers from Fort Wayne on

Hi J.!
I learned this trick from a friend and it has NEVER failed me. Take a bowl. Put inside the bowl something the flies like- a slice of apple, some banana, tomato. They seem to like stuff that is little "not so fresh" the best! Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Secure the wrap around the top of the bowl with a rubber band so there are no big gaps for escape. Then take a toothpick and poke holes in the top of the plastic big enough for the flies to get in to get at their snack. The flies are smart enough to get in but not smart enough to get out. Leave this out for a couple of days until you catch quite a few & dispose of it outside. If need be, start over to catch more. Most of the time, I get all of mine the first time. Just make sure that when you do this that there is nothing else available in your kitchen for the flies to get at. If there are other food sources available that are easier to get to you won't catch them. Keep all your other fruits & veges under cover until you get this problem under control. Good luck!

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S.B.

answers from Cleveland on

We just had the same problem last month. They were all over the place and we too have 4 kids with the youngetst 18 months. All we did was take 2 glasses and filled them about 1/4 - 1/2 full of red wine. Then we put plastic wrap over the top and secured it with a rubber band. Then take a fork and puncture the top about 2 times, you don't want too many holes. Then we set it out on in the kitchen in 2 places. Before my husband even put the plastic wrap on there were flies in the cup already. 24 hours later we dumped it down the drain with the dead flies and started over again. I think we did this for a week and got most of the flies out of the house. I can't believe how simple it was and how effective it was! Good luck and I hope it helps.

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H.K.

answers from Lafayette on

I agree with the cider vinegar and dish soap for fruit flies, but there is also another kind of fly right now that looks like fruit flies and cannot get rid of the same way. They are drain flies. If you find the fruit fly treatments not working, try cleaning your drains. You won't see them disappear immediately, because they don't die from this, they just no longer have a place to breed. You can also google drain flies. There is lots of info. about them. I thought I had fruit flies and was treating for them and they wouldn't go away and I kept treating and they just kept multiplying. Then I found that drain flies are often mistaken for fruit flies and like rotten fruit, too. Good luck. I know what a hassle they are!

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