I know–not my usual post subject, but last night, I came up with a fool proof way to rid my house of fruit flies. I don’t know why I never thought of this before, seriously.
Not only does it work really well, but you don’t need to spend any money on traps. You don’t need to rig bottles with funnels, or cover bowls of red wine with plastic wrap and poke holes in it. That last one, by the way, was my usual go to. It worked, but it took time. I don’t need to do that anymore!
You know how fruit flies are fast? They see you coming, and they’re gone. Seconds later, they’ve all settled back down on your fruit bowl. You just can’t catch them.
But I found a way. Yes, I did! Here’s what happened…
I had some brown bananas on the counter. They were in a plastic grocery bag that was mostly closed. I knew I had to freeze them or they’d be disgusting in a day or so. The bag was behind a bowl that’s full of garden cukes and tomatoes.
I pulled the grocery bag toward me, and opened it to check out the bananas. As I did that, about 10 or 12 fruit flies flew out. Damn! I knew that even if I got rid of the bananas, the flies would soon be all over my fresh veggies. I tied the grocery bag in a tight knot, and then put that in another bag, then tied that one up. It’s outside in a barrel to be taken on trash day. Those nasties that are left in the bag aren’t getting back in my house. I still needed a way to get rid of the ones left in the house, though.
Here’s how I did it. After the minute or so it took me to get rid of the banana bag, I came back to the kitchen, and sure enough–the flies had settled into my vegetable bowl. You all know that as soon as you move the fruit (or veg), they all fly out and hover there. Watch them! They don’t take off to the next room like a regular fly. They hover and wait for you to get out of the way.
- I grabbed my bottle of kitchen cleaner. In this case, it’s Fantastik Lemon Spray Cleaner. (Use what you’ve got!)
- Take hold of the fruit bowl, but gently, so you don’t startle the flies.
- Now get ready, and quickly slide the bowl toward you, out of the way of the spray.
- Quickly spray the fruit flies with the cleaner–right where they’re hovering!
- Most of them will fall to the counter. Wipe them away with a paper towel.
- If there are a few stragglers, put the bowl back in position, let the flies settle back in, then repeat the above steps.
- Do this until they’re gone.
- If you don’t have spray cleaner, try hairspray!
That’s it! So simple, and yet so effective! Now usually, those 10 or 12 fruit flies would have been all over the vegetables, and probably would’ve made a lot more little flies in the meantime. The wine method I mentioned above–usually took about two weeks to get all the flies. What a pain!
What I did last night took SECONDS. Two sprays and they were all gone.
I checked the bowl this morning, still full of cukes and tomatoes, and not one fruit fly is left. ZERO.
