Fruit Flies!!!! - Round Lake,IL

We had that problem last year and what worked for me was to fill a small bowl or cup with cider vinegar all the way up to the rim with a drizzle of liquid dish soap.

I tried traps, etc.

The thing that worked for me was having a kitchen sized trashcan outside the kitchen door, and throwing all food trash outside rather than have it sit inside all day.

Fruit and other flies were all gone w/in a few days.

I disagree with the vaccum idea, bugs can fly back out (or crawl I had a real bad ant problem last summer and they crawled out of our vaccum) fruit flies hatch in drains. so you need to pour vinegar down your drains in your house, all of them not just the kitchen. just a couple tablespoons

The apple cider vinegar and dish soap worked for me, too.

I just had this issue this summer, but I finally solved it last week! I put bananas in a glass with saran wrap over the glass. I poked holes in the wrap. The flies would go in but couldn't get out. Every morning I would release the ones that were captured, then set the glass down again. We were infested with these things! It took about three days and they are gone. Finally!

RED WINE!!! open a bottle, have a glass yourself, pour some into a bowl, cover with saran wrap, poke holes in the wrap, big enough for the flies to get into, leave the rest of the wine that's in the open bottle in another area and wait. You will see a lot of dead and drunk fruitflies in a few hours. Worked like a charm.

I used little beer in a plastic cup and wrapped the cup in fly paper from the top inward so there was a small hole. Wow they love beer and they land get stuck and dye. Oh make sure all fruit is in the fridge until they are gone

I have the same problem. It happens every summer for lucky me. This summer it was because of a pineapple. Stupid flies. I have found that if I put any sweet liquid into a few bowls around the kitchen the flies go to the bowls and drown. Then, I make sure that I do not keep any fruit out in the open (bananas live in the pantry for awhile) for a few weeks post flies. Also, you have to make sure you don't have any dirty dishes in the sink (if only my husband would remember that we have a dishwasher for a reason!) and I clean the kitchen sinks and drains with baking soda and vinegar. I don't know if that actually helps anything but I like the chemical reaction. It reminds me of making volcanoes when I was a child.

I discovered by accident this week that a wine bottle with a few inches of red wine at the bottom is a fruit fly death trap. They're attracted to the smell of the wine and fly into the bottle, then can't seem to figure out how to fly out of the bottle. Problem solved. Hope that helps!

I was a high school genetics teacher so I often had fruit flies released. I know that this method works: Put a banana in a cup. Make a cone out of paper and put the pointy end down into the cup. The flies will fly down through the cone to get to the banana but are not smart enough to maneuver their way back up through the small hole to get out. I have also heard that the red wine works, though that was not something I did in a high school classroom :o)

Apple cider vinegar in a bowl. They are attracted to it and drown. If it's really bad put a fly strip across the bowl and as they fly to the vinegar bowl they will get stuck. You need to clean out your drains. Pour ammonia down your drains, let it sit for at least an hour before you rince it out. They lay eggs there and it sound like if they are mulitplying that is probably what has happened.

A.,
I have it, fruit flies and the answer. I like to keep my fruit out because I prefer it to be at room temp when I eat it. Fruit flies are not limited to bananas, any ripe fruit will attract them. I swear they are come out of the drains!! They are annoying little pests but here is the antidote... fill a glass about 1/3 full with apple cider vinegar, add a drop of dish washing liquid and set it near the fruit. Watch the flies accumulate at the bottom, of the glass. A safe, simple, inexpensive answer to the problem. Good luck.

I posted this response to the same type of question on Mama source a couple of years ago - THIS WORKS. take a small cup (I use yogurt containers), fill with strong vinegar (cider or wine types), a tsp or so of dish soap. Cover with plastic wrap and put a few holes in the wrap. The flies go in and drown and they can't get back out. I would place my 'trap cup' near the source of the flies (in my house it was close to my sink). When I had a real bad problem with fruit flies, I would change the cup every other day - to keep the smell strong and because I was getting about 10 flies per day. After a few days - no flies.

ive got the same situation over here involving a watermelon.

You have received a lot of good working ideas. I've tried some of them and they work. If you want to get rid of the flies right away, get your vacuum cleaner out and use your open hose to vacuum them up. Any you miss can be killed or collected by the other methods. They generally cannot find their way back out of the bag

BTW, snails in the garden will go to beer in a bowl and drown in the beer.

Good luck to you and yours.

I was at Fred Meyer grocery yesterday and noticed a fruit fly trap for sale.

And I think I've heard that putting out a bowl of vinegar will attract them and they drown. I'm not sure about this, tho.

Fruit flies can live on just a crumb, and they multiply so fast that trapping them doesn't really work very well (in my experience). The best luck I had the couple of times I had them was to thoroughly clean EVERYTHING (under and behind appliances, shelves where any crumbs may be hiding, don't forget the sink and drains!). Then, each and every time you eat ANYTHING, clean up very thoroughly right afterwards. You've got to keep it literally spotless for a few days, and then they go away because they have no food to eat on.

I don't know how true it is, but one of my old friends from work told me once that he cuts the tops off of the bananas before he brings them in the house because supposedly the fruit flies lay eggs on the tops of the bananas. I've never tried it so I can't vouch for it. I just thought I'd share because you got a lot of ideas for getting rid of them, but none for keeping them away.Good luck!

take small bowl and add 1/2 inch of apple cider vinager and 1 drop of liquid dish soap. Swirl it around and leave it on the counter. Every two days, dump it out (including all the dead flies) and repeat until all the flies are gone.

The flies are attacted to the smell and once they land in the solution, they drown because of the 1 drop of soap.