Fruit Fly Trap

[fitfool]

We love cooking with bananas but buying bananas almost always means dealing with fruit flies since I like to let them get mostly black on the outside before I use them. But now that's ok because my boyfriend makes the best fruit fly traps! For us, our fruit flies are usually all in the trap within a day or two of setting out the trap.

You'll need:
- a plastic container you don't mind throwing out
- some plastic wrap (bigger than needed to just cover the opening)
- a rubber band
- a small piece of fruit (starting to rot is ideal but not necessary)

Bait the trap by putting the fruit in the bottom of the container. Now place the plastic wrap over the opening and then use the rubber band to keep it in place.

Now use your finger to gently poke the plastic wrap down so that it forms a V-shaped cone pointing down into the container. Poke a small hole in the center of that V that's just big enough to let a fruit fly through.

The flies smell the fruit and work to find a way to reach the food. But then when they go to fly out, they just head up. So most of them spend their time crawling around the rim of the plastic container. Then they're easy to squish. After a few days, we start wondering if maybe they're just breeding in the fruit and producing new fruit flies so then we'll throw out the trap.

Comments

[couchtiger.livejournal.com]

When I have fruit flies I just set out a small dish of red wine vinegar with some dish soap squirted on top. The flies are drawn to the vinegar but the soap prevents them from being able to fly back out and they get stuck and drown. It has always worked for me.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

We tried that one too but they seemed to just treat the vinegar as a feeding trough. They would land but then when we looked again, they had flown away. Maybe we needed to squirt in more soap?

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Soap breaks the surface tension - my gf uses this variant.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Now the next time we make this, I'm going to also add soap and vinegar to the bottom to see if we can get any to drown.

[annieeats]

Yes, maybe more detergent. This always worked really well for me too.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I've give more soap a try next time. Would be nice not having to sacrifice a piece of fruit to bait the trap.

[curieuse.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thanks!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

See the other comments above -- apparently there's also an easier way with vinegar and soap.

[sourdick.livejournal.com]

BRILLIANT! Ive been having this problem all summer~

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Well I can definitely vouch for this trap working wonders for us. See the other comments above -- apparently there's also an easier way with vinegar and soap.

[fixnwrtr.livejournal.com]

Aah, yes, the old vinegar in the sealed cup with a few tiny holes punched in. I use the same trap and it works every time.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Love this trap! I'll have to try it with some old vinegar next time too.

[kaitou-lili.livejournal.com]

Ooh! That looks really handy...i always hate having fruit flies buzzing about. Thanks!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I didn't care about fruit flies at first until they started multiplying and showing up every time we bought bananas. :P

[streetstupid.livejournal.com]

This post appeared at an eerily perfect time!

We are dealing with a fruit fly 'situation' after bringing home a lot of fresh tomatoes, peaches and bananas from the farmers market the other day.

At first I tried the red wine vinegar with the dish soap in a covered cup. I didn't get any. Perhaps my holes were too big? I also tried the "wine bottle / beer bottle" attempt but that didn't work, either.

Then I switched to an 'uncovered' glass and that seems to be working much better. I still have a 'situation', though. :(

I've never had a fruit fly problem like this. I'm beyond annoyed!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Very annoying when the fruit flies won't just go somewhere else. Try this trap...we've liked it a lot. I think pushing the plastic down into a cone makes it less likely they'll find the one hole that lets them exit. We watched some fruit flies escape on some previous versions of the trap that had just a flat surface and a hole in the center.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

I got tired of having flies in my kitchen like this, so if I have fruit on the counter, I put it in a basket partially lined with one of my kitchen towels, either a tea towel or terry, then I throw the end of the towel over the fruit, to keep off the bugs.
If they don't find the food, they'll go away.

Now if I could only do this with ants!! They've discovered my dog food bowl. Aargh!

[alsoname.livejournal.com]

To deal with ants that are swarming a bowl of pet food: Put the food bowl onto a plate, and then put enough water into the plate to form a "moat" around the food bowl. This will keep the ants at bay, at least until the water evaporates.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

I've heard of doing this, but it didn't even occur to me!
And it can't get any messier than the water bowl, as far as slopping on the floor.
You wouldn't think that a Yorkie could manage to slop water with his tongue, but Mickey manages to. He slurps. I think he's trying to drink the well dry.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

clever idea :)

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Won't they just smell the fruit and seek it out under the towels? I'll try this trick next time too.

[carmy-w.livejournal.com]

I don't wrap it tight, but I make sure all the edges of the basket are covered, so the towel doesn't have gaps around the edge, and mostly, they don't get it.
Now, if one of the fruits go bad? They find their way, no matter what.
(Which reminds me-I've got pears ripening that better go in the fridge when I get home!)

[fixnwrtr.livejournal.com]

Fruit flies and gnats are drawn to the vinegar, and the plastic wrap over the cup with a small hole keeps them in until they can drown. I hadn't heard of the soap variant, but I have always used the plastic wrap so surface tension doesn't matter.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they just didn't like our vinegar. We've tried setting out multiple traps with different baits. The one with a piece of fruit always had most of the fruit flies while the vinegar one just had 1-2 fruit flies in there. Still...pouring vinegar is easier so I'm tempted to try again.

[mousetrout.livejournal.com]

Apple cider vinegar seems to work particularly well for me.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I'll experiment with that too. Thanks.

[fixnwrtr.livejournal.com]

I use nothing fancy, just plain white vinegar. Put it in the cup about halfway up, cover with plastic, poke the hole and let it go. The fruit flies fly in but they don't fly out.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Or maybe I didn't pour enough vinegar in the cup... I had only poured a small layer of vinegar before.

[arwyn.livejournal.com]

Sweet, this is a great way for me to catch the flies and feed them to the fish!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Yup...seeing you mention that reminded me that I had meant to post about this trap.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

Hi there, nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by my journal, hope you don't find it too boring! :-) I talk a lot about my pottery studio and work, and sometimes about friends/family and cooking (something we share a passion for and that I don't have nearly enough time to do).

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Hi! Yay for another cook! Thanks for adding me back. I got a chance to visit your area a few months ago when I went to the Grand Canyon. Looking forward to seeing what comes out of your kiln!

[88greenthumb.livejournal.com]

Great contraption! Thanks for the tip!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Cheap and easy trap. I'm happy with it.

[wildmagelet.livejournal.com]

This would have been SOOO helpful over the summer here. Bookmarking this for next summer! We were practically infested over Christmas after I made a banana cake.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Yeah...bananas are the biggest culprit for us. For awhile it seemed like we got fruit flies every time I bought bananas.

[slunickomoje.livejournal.com]

I would often make this with a bit of honey water at the bottom - works wonders! Thanks for sharing... there is also a similar yellow jacket trap with a bit bigger holes on a soda/water bottle.

:-)

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

cool...good to know there other good baits.