There’s nothing yuckier than a cloud of fruit flies in your face. This DIY fruit fly trap will clear out your kitchen in no time at all and it’s super easy. Oh, and it’s all natural too. Bye bye, fruit flies!
What’s worse than fruit flies? Well, mosquitoes are definitely worse but I made some citronella candles (and some more citronella candles) and all-natural bug spray to keep them away. Oh, and yellow jackets are also a pain but I made a recycled bottle wasp trap for those. Now it’s time to stick it to those icky fruit flies with another all-natural and simple solution. This fruit fly trap just takes a few minutes to make and it sends fruit flies, um, flying.
Materials:
- Small glass bowl
- Wine or juice
- Natural dish soap
- Plastic wrap
- Bamboo skewer
Make it!
1. Fill a small glass bowl with some wine or a little juice and a piece of the fruit that the flies are so in love with. Just a plain syrup will not work as well. Fruit flies are looking for some yummy rotting fruit so they can lay their eggs in it, so use rotting fruit to lure them into your trap.
As a side note: Eeeewwww! Yes, this means that they will lay eggs that turn into baby flies which we know are, well, I don’t think I need to say more. These are not fun pets is all.
2. Put a few drops of dish soap in the liquid.
3. Cover tightly with a piece of plastic wrap and poke a few holes in it with the bamboo skewer. Make sure the holes are big enough that fruit flies can find their way in to their demise da da dum.
4. Remove all temptation from the area (ie: move the offending fruit) and place the trap in its spot. Clean out when full and start again if the problem persists. It usually takes me only one fruit fly trap full to get rid of them as I don’t let it get too out of hand.
Even though I’m giddy about killing fruit flies, warding off mosquitoes, and trapping wasps, I do love insects as a whole. I know their value to the garden and earth, and respect their world. If you want to see the good side of creepy crawlers: learn more about beneficial insects for the garden, build your own bug hotel, plant a pollinator garden, a bee garden, or a butterfly garden. Yay for bugs! Just not on me. Or my fruit.
Hey Friends,
Sadly, your wasp traps are going to trap more than just wasps … they’ll also trap bees and other insects. Wasps won’t sting you just randomly, and they’re fabulous predators of other “pests” in the garden like cucumber beetles and potato bugs!
Cheers!
I have to agree with the above comment regarding the wasp traps. Wasps are beneficial pollinators and useful garden predators. Like bees, they won’t bother you unless you disturb a nest or inadvertantly step on them. If one gets inside, I just capture it under a glass and release outside. I like your idea for the fruit flies, but please reconsider your treatment of wasps! We need all the pollinators we can get these days with declines in bee populations.
Thank you for your comments Lori and Kim. I agree with you about supporting pollinators and have written about it many times. Not only that, but they troll my lettuce garden and fruit trees for aphids to snack on, so I welcome them in the garden to keep other pests at bay.
Later in the season, however, they are nearing the end of their life cycle and large numbers of them buzz around picnics and outdoor dinners as there is little work left to support the colony. It’s at this time of year that I trap those that are becoming a great nuisance. The colony’s eggs have already been layed and fertilized, so the large number of yellow jackets around are contributing more to pestering than to pollinating.
In addition, yellow jackets can cause a lot of damage to houses (such as chewing through siding) and they become very aggressive when their nests are threatened. So near the house, I do what I can to discourage them from setting up shop. If that means leaving them to do their thing in the garden, but trapping them near the house, I think it is a fair compromise.
For more on attracting beneficial insects to the garden and natural pest control, please see this group of posts: https://gardentherapy.ca/organically-ridding-pests/
Thank you again for your comments and for supporting pollinators!
Also, Kim, I have not seen a bee or anything other than a yellow jacket in my traps. Perhaps due to the location of them near the house, where other pollinators rarely venture.
I think it is good to note that the traps could attract other pollinators and one should be careful with location.
More on the wasp traps in question here: https://gardentherapy.ca/super-simple-diy-wasp-trap/
Great idea!! And the tightly fitted plastic wrap with teeny tiny holes means it could also be used in a worm bin.