Fill a bowl with vinegar and add a drop of dish soap, mixing well. The stale sweetness of the apple cider vinegar tempts flies, and the dish soap works to decrease the surface tension of the liquid, causing the flies to become immersed immediately upon investigating the solution and unable to escape.
If you find your fruit flies impervious to your plastic wrap or paper cone traps, try adding three drops of dish soap to a bowl of vinegar and leave it uncovered. The soap cuts the surface tension of the vinegar so the flies will sink and drown.
Fruit flies can't stand the smell of basil, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemongrass, lavender and clove. If you've had a fruit fly problem in the past, try placing these fragrant herbs in muslin sacks or tea bags and hanging them around the house.
To create a DIY fruit fly trap, mix a quarter cup of either apple cider vinegar or white vinegar with a few drops of dish soap. The idea is that the irresistible vinegar attracts the fruit flies, while the soap breaks the vinegar's surface tension and drowns them.
Apple cider vinegar
This method is the easiest since it only requires one ingredient. Pour some apple cider vinegar into a small glass or jar. Then cover the top with plastic wrap and secure it with a rubber band. Using a toothpick, poke a few tiny holes in the plastic wrap, and set it out on the counter.
A fruit fly infestation won't just go away on its own—it'll likely only get worse. Even if the adult fruit flies die, you'll continue to get new fruit flies every day unless you cut off the source. If you do nothing, they'll just breed on unnoticed crumbs, spills, and food particles.
Actually, the vinegar is not what kills the fruit flies. Vinegars like balsamic or apple cider work as bait to attract them, but you have to add something like alcohol or soap to the bait solution in order to kill them.
Lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, clove and basil herbs and essential oils can be effective in detering and preventing fruit flies: Place herbal tea bags around your kitchen. Add a few drops of essential oils to cotton balls and put them where you've seen fruit flies.
To make this one, all you need to do is pour some apple cider vinegar in a glass, cover the top with plastic wrap (you can secure it with a rubber band or hair tie), and poke some holes in the plastic. The flies won't be able to resist the vinegar, and plastic wrap will keep them from escaping. Easy and effective!
Take a jar and fill it 1/2 or 1/3 full of apple cider vinegar. Next, gently mix in a few squirts dish soap (maybe a teaspoon amount) so there are no bubbles. Then, leave it on your counter overnight near where you see them. In the morning there will be drowned fruit flies in the bottom of it!
Not only does hydrogen peroxide work to repel fruit flies, but it can eliminate them and keep them from coming back if used correctly and consistently.
While bleach may be able to kill some adult fruit flies, it is not an effective long-term solution for getting rid of them completely.
Make a simple but powerful fruit fly trap by putting a small amount of apple cider vinegar in a small mason jar with a couple of drops of liquid soap, such as baby shampoo (which is optional). If you added soap, mix well and cover the jar with a layer of foil.
Beer and wine
To that end, if you have beer or wine in your home, it can serve as the perfect fruit fly trap. Leave a small amount of the beverage at the bottom of the can or bottle. Place it on a flat surface near where the fruit flies are located, and wait as they are drawn to the alcohol inside of the can or bottle.
Fruit flies especially think vinegar is good—particularly apple cider vinegar, says Hedges. But if you put a cup of apple cider vinegar out on your counter—a common trap tactic—you won't kill the pests. You will only make the problem worse, since fruit flies can actually breed in the cup.
Fruit flies often come in to your home through cracks in walls, loose seals around doors or windows, or via eggs laid inside of a piece of produce from the grocery store. Fruit flies can seem to come from out of nowhere to infest your home, but this is mainly due to how quickly fruit flies breed and develop.
Infestations have to start somewhere. Fruit flies move into kitchens, bathrooms, and basements if they sense a food source. Overripe fruit on the counter or any fermenting matter in drains, mops, and trash bins appeals to them. Unsuspecting homeowners may also bring these pests inside on garden crops.
Fruit flies can be a problem year round, but are especially common during late summer/fall because they are attracted to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes, melons, squash, grapes and other perishable items brought in from the garden are often the cause of an infestation developing indoors.
In the small, larval stage, fruit flies are susceptible to becoming victims of ant and beetle larvae. One of the most common predators of flies, including fruit flies, is the frog. Although frogs eat a diverse diet, they feed on flies as often as they can. The spider is also a common predator of the fruit fly.