How to Naturally Get Rid of Fruit Flies

Another great post from our friends at The Greenest Dollar...

Here’s the good news: I now have several egg cartons, tin cans, and plastic trays full of sprouting herbs and vegetables. Whoo-hoo!


The bad news? All this indoor planting has created a fruit fly population explosion at my house.

The little buggers have hatched in the soil I guess. I used Miracle Grow, and have no idea how they got in there. But, they did. Now, they’re all over my dining room, where my little sprouties are trying to grow.

I’ve tried using a glass of wine, and a glass of OJ (thinking they’d be attracted to the sweetness and drown). Neither strategy worked.

I was looking up natural ways to get rid of these guys today, and thought if you’re sprouting seeds right now too, you might have the same problem.

And thus, a blog post is born!

So, here are some natural ways to get rid of fruit flies or gnats in your home.

1. Dark Beer

This is my next tactic. Apparently, fruit flies love beer, so if you put some beer in a shallow dish, they’ll flock to it and drown.

2. Use a Soda Bottle

I found this awesome tip on TheDollarStretcher.com

Here is is:

I grow tomatoes, and I have found a great way to trap the flies when ripening fruit inside. To trap the fruit flies, I take a 600ml or bigger soft drink bottle (soda bottle for the non-Aussies!) and cut it in half round ways about a third of the way down from the top. Put an old tomato or some fruit in the bottom of the bottle with a small amount of water. Take the top third of the bottle without its lid and turn it upside down and put it into the bottle (like a funnel). The flies can fly in, but don’t make it back out again!
-Barbara - Australia.

3. Use Vinegar

Is there anything vinegar can’t do? It’s like the miracle liquid.

Put some vinegar in a small jelly jar. Cover the top with a paper or plastic funnel. They’ll fly in but not be able to fly out. I’m sure you could also use this one with the soda bottle hack mentioned above.

4. Use A Banana

I found this awesome idea on HubPages.

Here it is:

1. Get a small jar you don’t plan on using again (like a baby food jar or something similar) and wash it out well. Make sure it is not a jar with a funky smell such as a used pickle jar or anything that use to have strong spices. You want a clean, odorless jar.

2. Take a chunk of banana and place inside the jar. This is why you want a clean, odorless jar - so that the banana smell won’t be overpowered by other not-so-tempting smells. Banana seems to work the best, but you can experiment.

3. Fit a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the jar, making sure that it fits tight and well sealed around the edges. Then take a pen or pencil and poke 4 to 5 holes in the plastic, just big enough for a fruit fly to fit into. Once a fruit fly crawls in, it can’t get out. You would think they would just fly back out through the holes, but they won’t!

4. Place the jar in an area where you have seen the most fruit flies. Depending on the amount of fruit flies you have, you can expect to start seeing the jar fill up within just a few hours. After 24 hours, you will discover just how bad your fruit fly problem is!

Last Word…

I don’t often wage war on the natural world, but the fruit flies have to go. They’ve also migrated upstairs and are now infesting the house plants in my office and on my desk. Which means they’ve been buzzing around my head all day!

I’m feeling confident that at least ONE of these strategies will work.

Do you have any frugal and eco-friendly ways to get rid of fruit flies? I’d love to hear them!