Get Rid of Fruit Flies - Homemade Fruit Fly Trap

How would you love a homemade fruit fly trap? At times, you may find your compound or house, especially the kitchen, overtaken by a swarm of fruit flies.

This will upset you. Fruit flies will make your house look messy and unkempt.

Maybe you have even tried to remove the attractants of these fruit flies without succeeding? In this article, I’ve discussed the top fruit fly traps you can DIY.

Homemade fruit fly traps may include vinegar (apple cider vinegar – that also kills fleas or white vinegar), using old wine or beer bottle, fruits/fruits peel jar, dish soap, banana jar, red wine trick, paper cone & old/rotten fruits and heated milk/sugar &pepper.

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Get Rid of Fruit Flies With a Homemade Fruit Fly Trap

1. Vinegar Trap (apple cider vinegar or white vinegar)

Vinegar trap is my best homemade Trap that will trap over 70% of fruit flies in your house or compound.

You will need to have the following requirements: vinegar (either apple cider or white vinegar), a glass jar or bottle with a narrow entrance (20 cm to 30 cm depth), a piece of cellophane, or polythene paper, and a rubber band.

Once these are in place, carry out the following procedure.

Pour 10 to 30 ml of vinegar in either glass or bottle gently.
Tilt the container slightly and shake to ensure some vinegar sticks on the wall.
Close/seal the glass or bottle (for the container, it’s not necessary to seal always) with cellophane or polythene paper. Then tighten with the rubber band.
Using a sharp narrow device, make a few tiny holes on the cellophane or polythene paper.
Place the vinegar trap near the fruit flies’ infestation.

You will require to make two or three vinegar traps in case the swam of the fruit flies is large.

This Trap’s principle is that vinegar emits an attractive scent that lures the fruit flies into the bottle or glass).
Once the fruit flies enter the container (through the tiny holes), they cannot come out (they get trapped inside).

Apple cider vinegar is more potent than white vinegar due to nectary spices added to it. You will require to empty the Trap after every 2 to 3 days. Check these commercial fly traps.

2. Old wine or beer bottle Trap

A bottle of old wine or beer can be used as a fruit fly trap since the old fermented wine or beer releases a scent that attracts the fruit flies.

You will require to leave your wine/beer bottle after use for 1 to 7 days (to allow wine/beer leftovers to ferment).
Then, seal the bottle with cellophane or nylon/polythene paper.
Poke few beautiful holes on the paper with a tiny sharp object.
Place the Trap near the fruit flies’ infestation.

The fruit flies attracted by the fermented scent will be trapped inside the bottle. You can even leave the bottle without sealing (though this may not catch 100% of the fruit flies that get in – some may manage to escape).

Alternatively, you can ferment wine or beer (leave 10ml of wine/beer in an open jar for five days).

Pour it into a bottle (Trap) and shake well to ensure it sticks on the wall before setting the Trap in the area manifested with fruit flies.
You will need to empty the wine trap daily by rinsing the trapped fruit flies.

Avoid placing the Trap in the living room since it may pull some fruit flies around (even if it’s in the corridor or kitchen, the scent is strong enough to attract fruit flies).

3. Fruits/fruits peel jar Trap

Fruit jar fruit fly trap is made up of many fruit types cut and put together in a jar. To make one at home, you will need to;

Cut into small pieces of various fruits such as mangoes, oranges, sugarcane, pawpaw, avocado, watermelon, etc. Place them in a basin or glass jar.
Seal the basin/jar with cellophane or polythene/cling paper colorless (this enables the fruit flies and owner to view inside).
Poke the seal with a tiny sharp object to create a path for fruit flies to get in and also fermenting scent to leave the jar/basic.
Place the inappropriate Trap place near fruit flies infestation (kitchen, compound/field).

When ripe fruits begin to rot, they release a sharp scent that can attract fruit flies over 20 feet away.

They will enter the jar and get trapped there. Therefore, you will not need to put too many pieces in a given jar for economic purposes.

Alternatively, you can place the peels from fruits such as mangoes, bananas, pawpaw, avocadoes, or potatoes in a jar, seal, and poke tiny holes.

These peels begin fermenting in a day and emitting a scent that attracts fruit flies in the vicinity. After a substantial amount of fruit flies are trapped, it is necessary to empty the Trap and fill it with fresh fruits/peels.

4. Dish soap Trap

You can use dish soap to clean utensils, kitchen, sinks, and showers to make a homemade fruit fly trap. The fragrance and diethanolamine chemicals act as attractants of fruit flies into the Trap.

To make a homemade dish soap fruit fly trap, you will need to follow the following steps:

Collect/fetch available dish soap and place it in a glass jar/container (diameter of 20 – 30 cm and a depth of 30 – 40 cm).
Add some little water to dilute it slightly (ensure you form a sticky and viscous substance that will help stick the fruit flies).
Seal the glass jar with colorless polythene or cellophane and poke tiny holes on it.
Place the Trap near a fruit fly’s manifested areas.

The working principle in this Trap is using a sticking mechanism. Once the attracted fruit flies land/step on the sticky, viscous dish soap, they will get stuck/trapped and die there.

Normally, the Trap may take 3 to 7 days to trap a substantial number of fruit fries. The attractant smell will intensify as days go by due to the fermentation process.

It is not advisable to hold long trapped fruit flies as they may decompose, thus messing with the Trap. You will, therefore, require to empty the Trap after every 5 to 8 days of use.

In such a case, you can scoop the top layer of the dish soap and top up the remainder with a fresh one, or else you replace the entire decoy (dish soap).

Alternatively, you can spice your dish soap trap with some vinegar or ripe fruits to boost the bait’s attraction strength. This is usually in a cold area where low temperatures highly inhibit scent diffusion.

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5. Banana jar Trap

Banana jar trap is one of its own kind, an independent fruit fly trap that doesn’t require any spicing attractant (apple cider or fragrance) for quality performance.

A ripen banana emits a sharp scent that pulls fruit flies over 20 to 30 feet away. Carry out the following to create your homemade banana trap.

Peel the well-ripen bananas (1 to 3 pieces) and cut them into small sizes (about 2inches).
Put the banana slices into a clear glass jar or container (at least 15 cm deep).
Seal the jar with colorless polythene paper or cellophane.
Poke tiny holes on the seal to allow the fruit flies in and expel the banana scent into the vicinity.
Place your banana trap near a fruit flies infested area.

The attracted fruit flies will get in and get trapped (they won’t be able to fly out). This Trap can also be used in the living room without interfering with the comfort of the occupants.

Empty the Trap after every 2 to 3 days of use. This Trap may be uneconomical if you spend more bananas (stick to a minimum of one or two per Trap).

Alternatively, you can slice the banana peels and repeat the same procedure above.

However, the peels may take slightly longer to rot and release an attractant smell. When banana peels decompose, they may emit an unpleasant odor and leave a dirty spell in your jar (though they are useful too).

6. Red wine trick Trap

Red wine is known to emit an attractant smell that pulls fruit flies from the packaged/crate. Therefore, you can make a red wine trick fruit fly trap by carrying out the following step.

Sprinkle little red wine on the red wine bottle (closed/not used).
Place the bottle in a colorless glass jar (about 30 to 50 cm deep).
Seal the container with colorless polythene paper or cellophane and poke the tiny holes on the seal.
Don’t pour any red wine at the bottom of the jar or container.
Place your Red wine trick trap near fruit flies infested area or living room.

Once the fruit flies are attracted to the glass jar or container, they tend to cling to the red wine bottle as they try to get into the feast on the sweet scent (trick).

The smell released by red wine is strong enough to attract fruit flies over 40 feet away.

Once a large number of Fruit flies have accumulated on the red wine bottle wall, seal the glass jar once more (to close the holes) to suffocate the trapped fruit flies for 1 to 4 hours.

Then, empty the jar by rubbing off the dead fruit flies stuck on the red wine bottle’s wall.
The advantage of this fruit fly trap is that you can re-use the red wine bottle before drinking the content (red wine).

It can also be used in the living room without disturbance to occupants (the fruit flies always flew in and get trapped – no external movement).

7. Paper cone & old/rotten fruits Trap

To make a paper cone & old/rotten fruits Trap, you will need a white/purple/pink pain-writing pad, a Glass jar (60 cm depth and 20 cm diameter), and old or rotten fruits. Carry the following steps:

Place the old fruits (could be rotting avocado, oranges, pineapples, grapes, mangoes, or pawpaw) in a colorless glass jar.
Make a cone (with a narrow opening at one of its ends) using plain paper and place it on a glass jar/container.
Place the Trap near the fruit flies’ infestation.

This trap work by preventing fruit flies from getting out once they flew in. The colorless glass jar (help in observation) and rotting/fermenting smell pulls fruit flies into the Trap through the entrance (cone opening).

The cone’s conical shape prevents the fruit flies from flying back once in (hence trapping them).
This Trap is not suitable for the living room.

Though it can be used in the kitchen, it’s supposed to be kept in an enclosed place (the rotting old fruits smell is not pleasant). The Trap is best suited for outdoors and near decomposing materials, near the bins or flowerbeds.

Empty the Trap after every two to 4 days to reduce the adverse effect of rotting fruits on the surroundings.

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8. Heated Milk/ Sugar & Pepper Trap

In this kind of Trap, you will require to have milk (powder or liquid form), black/red peppers (around five pieces), sugar (a quarter kilogram), and a glass jar or basin (depth 30cm and 50cm diameter – approximate).

Follow this procedure to come up with a trap.

Mix 80ml of milk (add water if you are using milk powder) with sugar and heat for 3 to 7 minutes while stirring until the entire sugar dissolves.
Pour the mixture into the glass jar and shake to allow it to stick to the container’s sidewall.
Grind the pepper, sprinkle in the mixture and stir for a few seconds.
Make sure the milk foams form a sticky top layer.
Set the Trap near the fruit flies infected area. In case the infestation is massive, make two or three of these traps.

The sugar acts as a spice, which, when mixed with milk, will emit an attractive scent that pulls the fruit flies into the Trap. The milk has a sticky substance that traps and drowns fruit flies on landing/stepping. The pepper will emit a spicy scent that poisons the surface of the milk-making fruit flies to fall faster. This Trap should not be kept near the kids (pepper emission will make one shed tears).

You will need to empty the Trap after 4 to 6 days by pouring the entire mixture. Though expensive, heated milk/sugar & pepper trap can kill many fruit flies (it may eradicate the whole colony of fruit flies with a subsequent number of times).

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Ways of Preventing fruit flies

The following are some of the measures that you can take to prevent fruit flies from invading your house or compound:

Keep off any rotting materials in the kitchen, living room, or compound.
Remove all the wet mops, rags, and store them when dry-clean.
Slow down fruit ripening by storing them in a fridge.
Empty garbage from the kitchen often before it begins to decompose.
Clean utensils immediately after use.
Clean all drains in your house and compound regularly to get rid of damp areas.
Clean your fruit to be stored correctly.
Always cover the trash bags after use.
Freeze your compost within the compound regularly.

Conclusion

You can trap fruit flies using a homemade trap right at your home. You can use vinegar, milk, sugar, fruits, fermenting or rotting substances, peppers, or even peels from vegetables to achieve this.

When placed in a regulated container, these substances emit a scent that attracts fruit flies, which get trapped once they flew in. Not all homemade fruit flies can be used indoors.