How to get rid of fruit flies is a question that I have been asked many times since I started this website. Most of us have seen a fruit fly buzzing around our kitchen and never thought much about it, but every once in a while the fruit fly multiplies, and multiplies, and multiplies, and before you know it you have fruit flies every where. That’s what happened to me this summer.
Like most people I figured if I got rid of the source of the problem (a banana) that the fruit flies would just go away. Boy was I wrong. Like most people out there I had no idea of how to get rid of fruit flies or how to kill fruit flies for good. So like you probably are now I turned to the internet in order to learn how to get rid of fruit flies once and for all. This article is an accumulation of all that I learned through reading half a dozen articles on how to kill fruit flies.
How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies In The Kitchen
Even though fruit flies can be found throughout your house most of the time though people see them in the kitchen because of all of the available food sources that there are for the fruit flies. Fruit flies lay their eggs in the same food that they feed off of so if you can eliminate their food sources in your home it will go a long way toward getting rid of your fruit fly problem. Here are a few things that you can do that will help you get rid of fruit flies in the kitchen and the rest of your home.
- Remove Food - Removing food that is out in the open and not in containers is the number one thing that you must do to get rid of the fruit flies. Like I said earlier fruit flies eat and breed in the same area so by eliminating food left out in the open you are eliminating their food source as well as their breeding ground.
- Get Rid Of Trash - Getting rid of any trash that you have in your waste paper basket can also help with your fruit fly problem. If you don’t have a garbage can that has a lid on it now might be a good time to invest in one. Just by having a lid on your garbage can should eliminate any possible food source for the fruit flies.
- Clean Your Sinks - of all the ways of how to get rid of fruit flies in the kitchen this is probably one of the biggest one that people never think about doing. You should thoroughly clean your sink, it’s drains, garbage disposal, underneath your sink, and the areas around your sink to eliminate any possible food or breeding area for the fruit flies. It is important that you clean your drains several times over a few hours with ammonia to kill anything that is growing or living in them. Also you should dry your sink out anytime you are not using it until your fruit fly infestation is gone.
- Clean Your Appliances - Your appliances are another area where fruit flies can find food and breed, so you should thoroughly clean all of your appliances. This includes cleaning under your fridge, and stove. You should also clean under the top of your stove if it has a raised top. Food always seems to spill and collect in this area. In your dishwasher you should clean out any old food that has collected in the bottom of the dishwasher and it’s drain. It is also a good idea to not let any dirty dishes sit in your dishwasher for any length of time until your fruit fly problem is eliminated.
- Remove Wet Materials - Remove any moist or wet towels, wash rags, and sponges from the kitchen area.
How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies In The House
Now that you have taken care of getting rid of fruit flies in the kitchen it is time to concentrate on the rest of your house. I would recommend that when you do this that you leave your shoes off and do it in your bare feet. That way you can check the carpet and floor for any spilled drinks or wet spots that you might not know about. So inspect all of the flooring in your house especially the carpet. Also you need to check each room for left out food as well as spilled food that the fruit flies could eat that might be under the furniture. Next you need to check each bathroom in your house for water or moisture under the sink vanity, and behind the toilet as well as pouring ammonia down the drain and drying to kill anything that might be living in it.
How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies Outside
Not every fruit fly problem is because of something inside of your home. Sometimes the problem is on the outside of your home and the fruit flies are just coming in. So start off by making sure that any garbage or food source that is around your house is picked up and placed in a good garbage can with a snug fitting lid. Then you should walk around the exterior of your house and look for torn screens, crack in your foundation, or any other holes in the exterior of your home. Any trouble areas that you find should be caulked or fixed as soon as possible. This will not only help you to eliminate your fruit fly problem but will also keep other unwanted pests out as well.
How To Kill Fruit Flies With A Fruit Fly Trap
If you are looking for a way to kill fruit flies then there are many different ways you can do it. One is with a fruit fly trap. Here a few different fruit fly traps that should help you kill fruit flies.
- Bug Zapper - Fruit flies like most bugs are attracted to light so an inexpensive bug zapper is a great way to kill fruit flies both inside and outside of your house.
- Fly Paper - I’m not a big of ly paper, mostly because I find it disgusting to have dead flies stuck to paper inside or around my home. However I would rather suffer through looking at it for a day or two that have fruit flies in my house. Fly paper also doesn’t work all that well and if I were to use it it would be with a bright light or a piece of fruit to draw the flies in.
- Commercial Fruit Fly Traps - Often times hardware stores carry fruit fly traps that you can purchase. They work quite well, but not any better than homemade DIY fruit fly traps. So I personally would save my money and just build my own fruit fly trap.
- Homemade DIY Fruit Fly Traps – There are several ways to make a home made fruit fly trap, but this one is the one I prefer. Take 1 two liter bottle of coke that has just a little bit of soda left in it and place few drops of dish soap in the bottle. You can also use cooking oil if you prefer. The soap or cooking oil is for breaking the surface tension of the soda so that any fruit flies that try and land on the soda fall in and drown. You then leave this bottle out with it’s lid off in an area where the fruit flies seem to be for a few days. Then when all of the flies seem to be gone you just put the lid on the bottle and throw it away.
- Use Your vacuum – This method of killing fruit flies works so so. You take a bowl and place something sweet in it that the flies will like. Orange juice with dish soap works quite well, and then you wait for them to start collecting around the bowl. After a while most of the fruit flies will be flying around the bowl and you just vacuum them out of the air and off the counter tops. To use this method though you should have a good vacuum with a Hepa filter and then replace your vacuum cleaner bag when done so that they don’t have a chance to crawl back out and fly around in your house.
How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies Naturally
If you don’t like the thought of killing the fruit flies and want to know how to get rid of fruit flies naturally then I have just the thing for you. You need to take a canning jar or anything similar like an empty Miracle Whip jar and place a piece of spoiled fruit in the bottom of it. Then make yourself a paper cone to set on top of the jar. I would try to make the opening in the bottom of the cone fairly small. You want the fruit flies to crawl into the jar and then not be able to fly back out. Then when you have collected all the fruit flies in your jar all you have to do is take the jar outside, pull the funnel out, and release them unharmed out side of your house.
The Best Way Of How To Get rid Of Fruit Flies
Of all the ways to get rid of and kill fruit flies my favorite is the incense method. Fruit flies can’t handle the fumes given off by incense, and die rather quickly when this method is used. I personally like the smell of incense, and I like the how this method of killing fruit flies works so fast to kill them.
So if you have fruit flies in your home I hope this article helped you and gave you a few ideas of how to get rid of fruit flies either naturally or with a fruit fly trap.