How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies for Good

Drop That Fruit Fly Swatter!

If you want to get rid of fruit flies then you don't have to do it the messy way. What's more, is that they can spread diseases when you splatter their guts all over the counter and walls. Sorry to be so blunt but there's another way to get rid of uninvited guests.

Please...Just Go Home!

Have you ever had any guests show up uninvited that would never leave no matter how many hints you gave them? That's right! You know who (or what) I'm talking about.

That's when you have to entice them to drink more and a LOT MORE. I'm mean you literally have to drown them in their favorite drink.

I'm going to show you how to get rid of fruit flies. No matter how or where they got in, they just have to be dealt with. If they can't take a hint then you just have to kill them. Sorry to put it so bluntly again, but they'll invite their friends, and then their friends will make more friends, and so on and so on.

I was addressing an email the other day with one of my readers that brought up a great question about dealing with the fruit fly. I thought I'd make a page and newsletter titled How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies. Hopefully it helped out a lot of you who deal with this pest.

It was that time of year (end of fall, depending on where you live) when many of you had brought in your worm bins from outside to keep them from freezing and to keep your composting worms highly productive throughout the winter. Good call if you did.

But you may have also brought something else in that rudely RSVP'd themselves like the loud, smoking and drinking obnoxious kid we all grew up with in high school. No matter.

Because the best way to fight fire is with fire.

What Attracts a Fruit Fly?

This is a very good question because what attracts a fruit fly is the same thing that we'll use to get rid of fruit flies. The fruit fly is attracted to:

Fruit
Excessive moisture.
Acidic liquids such as the sour smell in a worm system.

This will not be a quick fix if you want to kill them the safe way. The adult fruit fly (as long as they're alive and have a food source) will keep multiplying and the cycle will not end until every last fruit fly is gone (or at least deterred from mating).

So this is what I recommend because it has worked for me every time.

1. Drown them. Use a small container, fill it with apple cider vinegar, cover the top with plastic wrap, and poke enough holes in it and big enough for the flies to get in and drown.

The more containers the better. Go wild!! Put the container where you see them flying the most. I have not found a better liquid yet. They love the sour acid.

(Skip steps 2-3 if you don't have a worm bin)

2. Some flow-through worm bins come with a spigot at the bottom of the system. This is for collecting the leachate at the bottom of the last tray or bottom reservoir. If you're continually having liquid at the bottom then this can be a problem.

It will definitely attract the fruit fly but usually only if it has a sour smell to it. If it is sour then you're putting too much food in and the worms can't keep up with the amount.

Remove any excess food you have in the bin. You really should never have any run-off as there is always enough moisture within the food itself to keep your worms hydrated.

Spigots aren't always a bad thing as sometimes it can be easy to over do it especially for beginners. Be sure you do not use the smelly leachate and know the difference between leachate and worm tea.

If you need to add food then go ahead and add some food to the bin in a couple of corners and cover it with moist coco coir or peat moss of about 3 inches.

This will prevent any adults from getting in and laying eggs. They now should be drawn to the the apple cider vinegar. Installing a layer of peat moss or coco coir on top is important because it is dense unlike shreds of paper or cardboard. It will also prevent the buried food from leaking any smells out into the room.

3. Add Diatomaceous Earth (DE) to the very top of the bedding. Just sprinkle it in all over the top bedding. This will get on the flies scratch them, open their pores, and dehydrate them. At least any that hatch or get back into the bin.

DE is not a must if you don't have access to it. This is perfectly safe for humans and worms. If you've never heard of Diatomaceous Earth then you will absolutely be amazed as there is literally over 1,000 uses for this earthy substance.

4. If you have an insane amount of fruit flies then use the vacuum wand and suck them up when you can catch them off guard. You have to be quick! but you'll find out that the apple cider vinegar is one of the best liquids to use to get rid of fruit flies (in my opinion).

Finally

You'll eventually get to the end of the cycle (pupating and hatching) and things will be back to normal. This is what I have found that works the best to get rid of fruit flies and if you have any suggestions then I would be glad to hear from you.

Just go to community help and post your comment. We always enjoy helping and being helped from the community or you can contact us.

Happy fruit fly trapping,
~Pauly Piccirillo

Return to Homepage From Get Rid of Fruit Flies

If you enjoyed this topic How to get rid of fruit flies then please share this page.