How to Kill Fruit Flies With Home Ingredients

Keep overripe fruit in the fridge to keep it from attracting flies.

Few pests are as obnoxious as fruit flies. They hover, swarm, eat your fruit, annoy your guests and land in your drinks. But you don't have to resort to noxious chemical sprays to get rid of the pests. Fruit flies are annoying, but they aren't very clever. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Office, the best way to kill fruit flies is to trick them into killing themselves. With a few home ingredients, you can make an effective trap that will control the problem in no time.

Things You'll Need

• Soda bottle
• Serrated knife
• Beer
• Plastic wrap
• Rubber band
• Needle

Instructions

1. Cut the bottom 4 inches off of the bottom of a soda bottle.

2. Fill the bottom of the soda bottle with 1 inch of beer.

3. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the cut end of the bottle.

4. Press the center of the plastic wrap down with your finger until it is roughly 1/2 inch above the surface of the beer.

5. Wrap a rubber band around the cut mouth of the bottle to hold the plastic wrap firmly in place.

6. Poke a roughly 1/8-inch diameter hole in the center of the plastic wrap with a needle.

7. Place the baited trap near any swarming colonies of fruit flies that you see. They will crawl down to the beer through the hole in the plastic wrap and find themselves unable to climb back out. Empty and reset the trap once it collects many fruit flies.

Tips & Warnings

• Baiting traps isn't the only way to get rid of fruit flies. Fruit flies live and breed on organic garbage and rotting fruits and vegetables. Put ripe fruit in the refrigerator, clear out organic garbage and rinse soda and beer cans to get rid of fruit fly breeding sites.

References

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Flies in the Home; Barb Ogg