Fruit Flies - Salt Lake City, UT

put vinegar and a little dish soap in an open dish on the counter near where you have the problem. Vinegar attracts them, dish soap kills them. Good luck!

They breed so fast it's hard to get rid of them. You need to get rid of any damp/soft materials that they like to breed in. Ripe fruit, damp towels or wash cloths need to be put away. To trap the existing fruit flies get a disposable container, put cider vinigar and some kind of fruit peel (I used banana)then place some saran wrap over the top and tape or rubberband the edges down (a zip lock baggie will work as well). Poke some holes in the top with a toothpick and leave it out where you see the majority of fruit flies. The will go in to get to the cider and fruit but can't get out. After a day or two throw it out and replace with a new one. It can take a while as the breed so quickly and can infest plants etc. (you can spray plants with pesticides, but with kids and pets we just waited it out.

Vinegar and a little dish soap in a container will attract and drown them. Change daily.

In addition to the vinegar/dish soap thing....

-keep all your fruit in the fridge for 2 weeks.
-don't throw away food stuff in any open garbages. Cover the garbage or take it out immediately
-they hide in house plant soil ...so put them outside or put the vinegar really close to the soil for a bit.

-To get rid of the last few:
leave an apple on the table with one bite taken out of it. Come back an hour or so later - the fruit flies will be visiting. Spray the fruit flies with no-stick spray (like Pam). This prevents them from flying. Squish them with a paper towel. Throw everything away.

-don't forget the sink drains...bleach or vinegar + baking soda (generous amounts) in EACH drain.

Try a small dish of apple cider vinegar near the fruit source or wherever they seem to be hanging out. Be sure to put a drop of dish soap in the vinegar to break the surface film so the flies can drown in the vinegar.

In my book I have a couple of answers for you. If it is a bowl of fruit that you are sitting out just put a few sprigs of mint around the bowl of fruit. If they are hovering around the garbage can or a bunch of bananas, set out a small plastic container with a mixture of 1 Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, 6 drops of liquid dish detergent and 1/2 cup of water. The bugs will fly in, but they won't fly out. Garage disposal pour in previous mixture and let stand 30 minutes before you turn on disposal.

I use mashed bananas in a ziplock bag. But you have to be super quick when closing it. Also, wash all your counter tops and table with a bleach/water mixture. And keep all your produce in the fridge or garage

We had fruit flies really bad last year. What really worked and got rid of them the quickest was placing a bowl of vinegar and a couple drops of dish soap in the general area where you've been seeing them, then coming back to the bowl every 5-10 minutes and spraying the flies that have congregated around the bowl with straight rubbing alcohol (it kills them instantly). Then make sure that you pour about one cup of bleach down your drains (all of them in the house because they can go from one to another) twice a day for 3 days. It's a little tedious but it really works!

I did the bowls of vinegar and dish soap in several places around my kitchen. I also would vacuum them up with my handheld canister vac. You can put a piece of banana in a ziplock bag and make a sort of trap for them.

Make sure you get rid of the places they breed. Clean your kitchen thoroughly, rinse your disposal with bleach, take out your trash daily.

If you do the vinegar and dish soap thing, make sure you use apple cider vinegar. White vinegar will not work.