DIY Fruit Fly Traps

Previously we shared a couple of natural methods to eliminate fruit flies, I’ve now updated this blog with more information to help you get rid of these pesky little bugs.

Fruit flies are not fond of clean surfaces so keep benches and table tops as clean as possible, wipe up sugary spills quickly and lightly spray trouble areas with a solution of 300ml water and a few drops of peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil.

Compost old fruit in your composter away from the house, remove soda, kombucha beer bottles etc and clean out your rubbish bin, they often lay eggs here which will hatch and continue the infestation. If you have a kitchen compost container try keeping it in the fridge (if it will fit) or ensure it’s clean on the outside and closed tightly to remove the scent of old fruit and vegetables.

Keep your sink and drain clean and free of any food particles, giving the drain a good flush with white vinegar and baking soda will help to lift any residue stuck in and around the drain.

The fruit flies I am talking about here are also called Vinegar Flies or Drain Flies, their biological name is drosophila melanogaster. But in NZ they are most commonly known as Fruit Flies.

I am not talking about Queensland Fruit Flies which are a danger to our fruit industry. This is one of the reasons you have to declare fruit at the airport so that MPI can check all fruit for this type of fruit fly. However sometimes they do make it across our borders – there was an issue with this type of fly in Northcote in 2019, MPI put a control area in place, it was lifted in January 2020 once the area was again clear.

To eliminate fruit flies try one of these methods.

Super Easy – White Vinegar In A Dish

Get a little dish – or the base of one of our deodorant tins that you’ve cleaned – and pour Green Goddess Double Strength White Vinegar into the dish, leave it near your fruit or any area that has a lot of flies, they will fly in and drown. Pretty easy and effective.

We discovered this method in at our Eco Shop & Refill Hub when we left a little white vinegar in the bottom of a container and came in the next day to a lot of dead fruit flies floating around.

Old Fruit In A bowl

Instead of throwing away old rotten fruit try putting it into a small bowl, then cover the top with Compostic Cling Wrap (this type of wrap can be home composted).

Poke a few little holes into the wrap and place it where you see the most fruit flies.

Apple Cider Vinegar Trap 

Fill a bowl with the vinegar and add a drop of dish soap, mixing well. The apple cider vinegar tempts the flies with its stale sweetness, and the dish soap actually works to decrease the surface tension of the liquid, so the flies are immediately immersed upon investigating and can’t escape.

If you’re not having much luck with that roll up a piece of paper and make a funnel, put that into a jar with the mixture in the bottom, this will trap the flies.

Quick & Easy Method (if you drink wine or beer)

Leave a bottle of old wine or beer out near where the fruit flies were spotted. They’ll be lured in by the stale beverage and the narrow neck of the bottle acts as a natural barrier to keep them trapped.