Help with Fruit Flies!

Updated on October 11, 2008
C.B. asks from Nashville, IL
11 answers

i am having a problem with fruit flies and they're driving me crazy! how do i get rid of them? any help would be greatly appreciated

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K.C.

answers from St. Louis on

They have fly traps you can buy at any store probably. Walmart would be my best guess. Their a mlong sticky ribbon and you hang them where ever the flies are.

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G.R.

answers from St. Louis on

Hi C.,
There actually was a post out here a couple of weeks ago that you might be able to locate giving great advice on how to get rid of them. I only know that b/c I was having problems with them too. What I've been doing that seems to be working is that I poured apple cider vinegar in a glass about 1/3 full, covered the top with press-n-seal (plastic wrap is good too) and poked holes in the top. The fruit flies can't resist the fermenting fruit smell of the vinegar (I heard wine also works) so they get themselves in the glass, but can't get out. They aren't smart enough to figure out to go through the holes to get out. Set the glass near the area where you're having the problem & watch the flies you catch within a day or less. Good luck!

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M.D.

answers from Kansas City on

Gayle is mostly right, apple cider vinegar is the key. But if you stir a drop or two of liquid dish soap into the apple cider vinegar, you won't need any plastic wrap to trap them. The dish soap changes the surface tension of the vinegar...so when the fruit flies go to check it out, they actually sink in and drown. Kind of gross, having a stinky dish of dead fruit flies...but slightly less annoying than a houseful of live ones:)

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E.C.

answers from St. Louis on

C.,

They breed in your drains, so make sure to flush all of your drains (preferably at night when they won't be used for a while afterwords)and make sure to get your main drain in the basement too... The post before me told you about the vinegar, this works well, we had a horrible problem with those pesky bugs last year. I put out a bowl of vinegar and put a little dish soap on top of the vinegar as well as on the outer ridges of the bowl, this traps them if they don't actually fly into the vinegar! Good Luck!

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M.L.

answers from St. Louis on

I have had the same problem all summer because we keep alot of fresh fruits and veggies out in bowls on the counter. I have had great results with apple cider vinegar. I use baby food containers (plastic or jars). You poke tiny holes in the lids with an ice pick, paper piercer or darning needle. THen fill the container full of apple cider vinegar--fill almost to the lid. The gnats/fruitflies love the vinegar and can get in but not back out of the container. They drown. Another suggestion I found on the internet was to put a little bit of bleach down all your drains. Supposedly, these creatures can lay eggs and hatch out of your drains! Hope this helps!

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R.F.

answers from Kansas City on

I had the same problem last year and someone told me to set out a glass of red wine. It sounds crazy but I set a couple out around the house and just a couple days later they were gone. I'm not sure why but it works.

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D.M.

answers from Kansas City on

We had the same trouble all this year, first of all they are just bad. the only way I got rid of them in my house was to bleach my kitchen, bleach my garbage disposal and clean it out and set off flea bombs. Havent had one since. A friend is an exterminator and told me that they nest in the garbage disposal and that it is necessary to start the process there.

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E.K.

answers from Kansas City on

I use a baby food jar filled with apple cider vinegar and then put in a few drops of dish soap. The flies are attraced to the vinegar and then soap kills them. They will all end up in the bottom of the jar. I have used this for years and it works GREAT, however you have to get used to the smell of the apple cider vinegar for a day after you add more. Good luck looking for a radiology job. That is what field I am in and the jobs are scarce.

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S.A.

answers from Chicago on

cup of apple cider vinegar with a dash of dish soap will attract them and trap them in the cup until you dump them out.

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L.L.

answers from Kansas City on

i too had a terrible problem with fruit flies in my new house even when I didn't have any fruit in thehouse at all. I ended up wiping the outside of my kitchen cabinets and all my walls with bleach water and vuala! No more fruit flies!

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A.F.

answers from Kansas City on

We did a little research on the internet and found that you can by fruit fly traps. They seemed expensive to us even though we bought them to try it out. We decided to make our own the next time we needed them. How we did that was to get a little juice glass and just add enough OJ to cover the bottom of the glass. Roll up a piece of paper to make a funnel that fits perfectly in the glass. The bottom of the funnel should have a small hole left (just large enough for the fly to get in). The large top of the funnel you should tape along the glass top so that the flies have no exit. Hope this makes sense. When the juice sits on the counter a couple of days it will start to sour and attract the flies.

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