As the name suggests, fruit flies love overripe, fermenting and rotting fruit as well as vegetables too. You can come across a flurry of these tiny brown flies any time of year but they are generally more common in the summer and autumn months when the temperature is higher, causing fresh produce to ripen more quickly.

Fruit flies can covertly make their way into your kitchen as eggs laid on extra ripe or fermenting fruits and vegetables. They’ll also simply fly in uninvited, attracted by the smell given off by overripe fruits and vegetables that are kept out of the fridge. As pests go, fruit flies reproduce rapidly, with females laying hundreds of eggs that hatch into maggots in 24 hours, that in turn need as few as six days to turn into fruit flies. Their speedy life cycle requires a quick response to stop a handful of fruit flies turning into a full-scale infestation.

While locating and disposing of the offending food source is a necessary first step, the most effective way to scoop up the remaining fruit flies is with a homemade DIY fruit fly trap. A DIY fly trap works by baiting fruit flies with a sweet-smelling, fermenting liquid, luring them into a trap where they’re then stuck and drown in the liquid.

As well as setting up a DIY fruit fly trap, you’ll also need to remove all other potential food sources for the fruit flies. Put fresh fruit and vegetables in the fridge or seal in zip-lock bags. You’ll only need to do this for a few days or until the remaining fruit flies are dealt with.

All these homemade traps are easy to make and use household products you probably already own.

Materials to make a DIY fruit fly trap:

The bait needs to be enticingly pungent enough to lure the fruit flies into the trap. Apple cider vinegar is the most reliably effective bait, but alternatives include wine, orange juice, banana peels and honey.

Once you’ve decided on your bait, put in enough to fill the bottom of a jar or container. If you’re using a fairly viscous product then add a splash of water and give it a stir.

Incorporating a drop of washing up liquid to the bait increases the chances of the fruit fly trap working well. The detergent helps by reducing the surface tension, causing the fruit flies to drown more easily. It also coats the flies in a thin layer of the detergent making it much more difficult for them to get out of the bait liquid. Keep in mind that a heavily perfumed detergent is likely to deter rather than entice the flies, so where possible use an odourless washing up liquid.

Once the flies have found their way into the trap you need to keep them there. There are three workable tried-and-tested ways for sealing the trap so that fruit flies will find their way in but not out:

The most effective way of keeping fruit flies inside a DIY trap is by sealing the jar with a lid that has a few very small holes. Use a nail and hammer to perforate the metal lid, then screw on tight.

Tightly wrap a piece of cling film over the top of your jar or container of bait and hold it taut with an elastic band. Next use a pin, toothpick or something small and pointy to poke a few tiny holes in the cling film.

Roll a piece of paper into a cone and seal it with sticky tape. Put the tapered end of the cone into the jar or container so that the fruit flies access the bait via the small hole at the bottom. The larger end of the cone should be sealing the top of the jar or container. While the paper funnel isn’t sealed, the shape means that fruit flies often can’t find the hole to get out.

You’ll need to wait anywhere between a few minutes and 24 hours to see fruit flies caught in your DIY fruit fly trap. This will depend on the severity of the fruit fly infestation, which if severe, may require a different approach.

There are commercial fruit fly traps available if you don’t have the materials or inclination to make them.

By using glue-like surfaces or fly tape, sticky-surface traps catch fruit flies as they get stuck to the adhesive. Both PIC Fruit fly trap and Blooven Fruit Fly Traps use this method to trap fruit flies.

Pre-made liquid baits, such as Super Ninja Fruit Fly Trap, Repulseo Fruit Fly Trap and Novokill Fruit Fly Trap, use tried-and-tested bait formulas.

The most effective way to prevent fruit flies is to create an environment where fruit and vegetables aren’t left to rot. As soon as you bring home fruit and vegetables, gently scrub them under running lukewarm water and allow to drip dry. Washing fresh produce removes any eggs, larvae and traces of fungi, as well as other bacteria, germs and pesticides, and maximises the lifespan of the produce. Throw away any fresh produce that is fermenting or rotting.

Keep fruit flies away by storing fresh produce in the fridge, freezer or in sealed bags or containers. If storing produce in the fridge, allow enough time for it to reach ambient temperature before using to access the same flavour. Follow good kitchen hygiene by regularly wiping down surfaces that have come into contact with food, sweeping up crumbs after mealtimes and routinely taking out the bin.

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