Easy Fruit Fly Trap

I used to make the inverted cone type traps but one day I didn't have any tape so I tried this. Much to my surprise it worked just as well, but was way easier to make.

Fruit flies can be a pain in the kitchen, but with a good trap it's surprising how quickly you can get rid of them.

The steps are:
1. Put bait in the bottom of the container
2. Cover top with plastic wrap
3. Secure with rubber band
4. Poke holes so flies can get in

Step 1: Materials

Materials:
1. A container
2. Plastic wrap
3. Rubber band
4. Bait

Tools:
1. Something pointy

Comments

[KWDragon]

This worked great. I would guess the cloud of fruit flies in my kitchen was cut down maybe 90% in the first 24 hours. I am going to leave it out another 24 and see if it finishes the job, as I suspect it will. Thanks!

[vonromantiko]

Have you tried the fly trap here? I have never done it but there were many people there claiming it is effective.

[macrumpton]

My Mom's kitchen has a big fruit fly problem, and I just put out a small bowl with some apple cider vinegar and a little red wine vinegar mixed up with a couple of squirts of dish soap, no cover necessary. Within 3 hours there were 20 FF dead in the bottom of the bowl, overnight that number doubled.

[lonnac3]

Just read this, went into the kitchen, opened the cabinet with the cider vinegar, got a face full of fruit flies and the cider vinegar bottle had about a dozen floating in it. There's a testament to this! I liked the martini glass idea. Optimistic that it will help.

[account3r2]

Speaking of vinegar... Has anyone tried this with honey and caught more than with vinegar? :D

[renwoman]

While reading the instructions a fruit fly landed on the computer screen. Irony in action. This looks like it might work. Only step still needed is how to bribe a loved one to take the full trap to the trash. I like the idea that I can do this myself with stuff that's hanging around my house. Wish me luck!

[smf257]

@NoFiller

I really appreciate your help. We retooled our trap a bit and have really de-bugged the office! The cup of Apple Cider Vinegar with a small bit of banana left to ferment over night proved to be irrisistable to the flys. Also we cleaned out the small garbage can that was a breading ground due to one of our office mates (Jeff) constantly tossing fruit peels and cores in there.

Another colleague (Dan) found great success using a bit of red wine and banana at his home. After leaving it to germinate for a few days he was slaying fruit flys left and right!

thanks so much for the help!

happing hunting to all!

[mainah]

Tell, Jeff, to take his scraps home and compost them or you'll toss him in the dustbin. ;-)

[NoFiller]

Thanks for the update, I'm so glad to hear that your office has been reclaimed.

[squirrellover21]

I use a large martini glass(the more flat area to allow the flies, in the better), cover with plastic wrap with dime sized holes in it(the flies will not be able to crawl from glass to plastic wrap for some reason), and use about a half ounce of sweet vermouth in the bottom. It's like a drunken fruit fly orgy in there.

[smf257]

Used lemon-lime gatorade and some banana

25 minutes in and still no flys in the trap!

HELP! our office is infested!

[NoFiller]

This is one of those 'watched pot never boils' situations. Leave the trap out for at least 24 hours. If it still isn't working here are some suggestions:

1. Use a more natural bait. For maximum attraction you actually want the bait to start going bad. That's why wine and vinegar work so well, because they are already fermented. Banana always works really well, but I might worry about the gatorade scaring them off. I have had this problem with some dish detergents.

2. Make sure that the flies don't have anywhere else to go. Even the best trap will have a hard time competing against a garbage can full of half eaten lunches.

[Wolfbird]

You can also cut the top off a 2 litre soda bottle and reverse the top to make the funnel. No tape required, it makes a pretty good seal on its own. I've been resuing the same one for a few days, I just bring it outside and knock out the contents.

[Napole]

Neither vinegar nor coca cola attracted any flies into the home made fly trap :-( but whatever the commercially sold fly trap used as baits has been working like a charm. The first hour there were at least 20 flies dead and no more lit' buggers buzzing in our kitchen. Now we need DIY moth traps.

[rainbowlory]

i live in the wine country in California and when they start to lay out the grape skins back in the fields it stinks so bad and then we are so at the mercy of fruit flys...... i'm so excited about this.. thanks

[richarpo]

You could take the cling film off, and put it outside to let them escape.

[crickle321]

What would the benefit be of letting them escape outside?

[tgosser137]

To provide food for other insects/birds etc. that eat bugs... yum!

[accordavillain]

I've done this trick with very good success. I used red wine as bait one year but it wouldn't attract the next, must have killed off the alcoholics. so I switch up my bait

[anotherbob]

 I thought I invented this! LOL

I use a mix of wine or beer and vinegar with a piece of what ever they were hanging around in the middle.

The vinegar will dissolve the little buggers and you won't even notice how many you have floating around in there.

[NoFiller]

Me too! Great minds and whatever... A quick internet search shows that this is actually a quite popular solution, don't know why I didn't come across it sooner.

[LancePenney]

I usually get a big fruit fly problem while I'm brewing beer in the kitchen during the summer. I always lay a tissue over the airlock to stop them from getting into the fermentor but this looks like a better solution.
Thanks a lot!

[NoFiller]

I've got to try the tissue thing. I'm brewing cider right now and this morning I found a fruit fly floating in the airlock.

[hbk2flyer]

 I like to use a bit of red wine, then let them go outside to feed the spiders!

[mikaelthemycologist]

You should also pour boiling water down the kitchen sink drain. The flies like to breed in there.

[Tofu]

I tried the cone/funnel form factor traps and they didn't work for me.  However this ible's form of trap worked like a charm for me!

I did change the manufacturing method a bit though.  I stretched the plastic wrap across the container and then used a heated paperclip to melt holes in the cover.  This allowed me greater control over the size, and placement, of the holes.

Filled with cider vinegar to a depth of about 1/4" and added a drop of dishwashing liquid.  

The morning after the first night of placement  there were at least 30 flies drowned in the vinegar.  Swapped out the vinegar and the next day another 30 flies.  I'll have to snap a pic of the results.  IT'S AWESOMELY EFFECTIVE!

[WickedFabala]

watermelon always bring em in!

[SirBrittanicvs]

Some Balsamic vinegar also works too, probably the same for every other vinegar.

[kissiltur]

We've been using these for a few days, and they are great. Far fewer flies annoying us, and vastly more successful than the tape traps we were using before. We have red wine vinegar and a drop of soap in them.

[cofosho]

I lived in a co-op (with compost and lots of fresh fruit on the counter) for a year and was always thwarted by a lack of tape. Our lifestyle also meant very few disposable bottles came through (except beer). I never thought of the plastic wrap and rubber band. GREAT idea.

[endolith]

Why cut off the top?

[NoFiller]

Smaller, looks less like clutter, less likely to knock over... nothing critical. Really, my favourite containers are the little yogourt cups with the foil tops.

[EaglesNest]

Great idea! I've been using the cone trap too, but I'll have to try this one. I found the best bait was apple cider vinegar with a drop of Dawn soap. They'll go for that over any over ripe fruit on the counter every time.

[NoFiller]

I've got to try cider vinegar, everyone keeps suggesting it. I just never think of it because it's not sweet. But of course it makes perfect sense because vinegar comes from basically rotten fruit.

[RetroTechno]

I also tried the apple cider vinegar and soap as bait.  It works very well, and you don't have to worry about it going bad.  The soap is essential to break the surface tension so the little buggers will drown.

[atombomb1945]

Had an incident this summer with some "old" bananas that had attracted a colony of gnats.  I used the apple cider trick and they were all gone within a week.  That stuff will attract just about any fruit eating insect. 

[cerberustugowar]

I use a saucer or a small plate.  About 5" across.  You can then stretch the plastic wrap across it and it will grip and you don't need the rubber band. The fruit flies like to wonder around the edges and don't like climbing on the plastic wrap to much.  Balsamic vinegar works well on attracting them also.

[Kirbsome!]

I have an idea:
Insert a 1" piece of straw trough the hole, so its almost completely inside the container. That way the flies will get in, but not out.
Great 'Ible!   :D

[NoFiller]

Actually, if you make the right size of holes this isn't necessary. Flies are really not that good at mazes. Combine this with dish soap (see below) and nobody's going to be getting out.

[caledonian]

A drop of dish soap helps break the water tension so that they are more likely to drown.