If you're dealing with a kitchen full of fruit flies and want to know exactly which DIY trap works best—welcome. This is where I shine. I tested four of the most common (and weirdest) homemade fruit fly traps, counted every single bug corpse and crowned a winner.
Table of Contents
Best Fruit Fly Trap (I Counted Corpses)
Tuesday night is garbage night round these parts. I have a regular garbage bin, a compost pile, a compost bin, a recycling box for metals and a recycling box for papers.
When I was a kid getting rid of your garbage just involved rolling down the car window.
That means I have compostable things like fruit and vegetables under my sink for a week. When I pull the compost bin from under my sink, a planet of fruit flies has been known to rise up out of it. They then disperse with military precision around my kitchen.
Like you, I have stretched cling film over a bowl of vinegar and punched holes in it with a fork. CAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE FRUIT FLIES.
I thought so too until I set a glass of milk on the counter during fruit fly season.
In the time it took to pour the milk and walk to the other end of the kitchen there was a fruit fly in it.
And so it began.
The Methods I Tested
🪰 Vinegar in a bowl
The go-to, vinegar in a bowl with plastic film and fork holes was already on the counter.
🪰 Milk
I figured they must love milk so I set an open glass of milk on the counter.
🪰 Vinegar Bottle
Then I remembered that whenever I have fruit flies in the summer they always get into my vinegar bottle so I set that on the counter too.
🪰 Best DIY Fly Trap
THEN I remembered about my DIY bottle fly trap & made a miniature version of it with vinegar as a bait in the bottom instead of rotting shrimp.
The Results (Ranked Worst to Best)
I left the traps out for 3 days, which is how long it took to eliminate the fruit flies.
I then emptied the contents of each trap into a fine sieve, catching all the dead fruit flies, dried them on a piece of paper and started counting.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
And here are the shocking results in order from least to most effective.
#4. MILK FRUIT FLY TRAP
Pour milk in a glass and leave it on the counter.
#3. VINEGAR IN A BOWL FRUIT FLY TRAP
Set a bowl of vinegar out and stretch plastic wrap across the top tightly. Punch holes in the plastic wrap with a fork or toothpick.
#2. BOTTLE OF VINEGAR TRAP
Leave your vinegar bottle out on the counter. Don't plan on using the fly filled vinegar in the near future unless you're training to go on Survivor or something.
#1. MASON JAR WITH A PAPER CONE TRAP
Roll a stiff piece of paper into a cone and fit it into a mason jar with vinegar in it. The cone should be quite close to the surface of the vinegar.
Yes. I know. Close your mouth, you'll get fruit flies in it. I had the very same reaction when I saw how many flies this method caught. Once I counted them I WAS GIDDY AND NAUSEOUS.
Seriously.
How to Make a Fruit Fly Trap that Works
Materials
Instructions
- Mason Jar
- Sheet of paper
- Stapler
- Vinegar
- Make a cone out of paper leaving a small opening at the bottom of the cone for fruit flies to get through.
- Staple the cone together and cut off excess paper at the top.
- Pour vinegar into a mason jar.
- Place the cone in the jar making sure the bottom of it isn't touching the vinegar.
Using a paper cone and mason jar worked THAT much better than all other DIY fruit fly trap methods. I sifted, dried and counted them.
Fruit Fly Trap Video
This method for catching fruit flies blew the other methods out of the water and I suspect it would do the same to any store bought fruit fly traps.
Bonus Trap: For Bottle Flies (Not for the Weak)
If you aren't sure how to do it or what it looks like here's my full tutorial on how to make a similar trap for bottle flies.
The bait is more sickening: raw, rotting shrimp.
Any kind of vinegar makes a good bait for fruit flies and as anyone who drinks knows ... so does wine.
Had you told 16 year old Karen that she would make a pretty good living one day from drying and counting fruit flies she would have responded with a resounding "Yeah that sounds about right".
Mary W
I'm wondering if discard would work as well - I love that smell so there is that, also.
Mary Edwards
Hilariously informative!!!
Lee Hoy
Every year I make fresh hot sauce from hot peppers. Just before I make this years batch, I take the almost empty bottle and add water to it. I put that in a spray bottle (after going thru a fine sieve) and use that to deter the flies by spraying everything in the kitchen with the solution. The flies really hate it but I love it! P.S. Leave the kitchen afterward or you get pepper sprayed!!!
ML
Genius! But I don’t have fruit flies. I have sugar ants. Do you have a DIY ant trap?
Toni Guerrero
Borax and white sugar in equal quantities - one tablespoon of each, up to one cup of each, depending on how much you want to make. Sift about 3 times to get them to blend completely. Store in a sealed jar; old jam jars or similar are best. I also prefer glass to plastic. Place a small mound near where they're getting in. In a day or two, wipe up the residue and you're done!
The ants carry it all down into the nest and feed the queen, the young, and anyone else who steals a nip. It wipes the nest out at the source. Been using it for years!
NB NB NB! It is toxic. CLEARLY mark the bottle/jar so that nobody accidentally puts it in their coffee.
I have dogs, cats, chickens and people. I use it both indoors and outside (for fire ants.) Nobody but ants have been harmed by this concoction... but nobody has put any in their coffee.
jacqueline
Baking soda and sugar mixed together in a little pyrex bowl has worked for me and it’s not toxic.
Chris
We also have a compost bin outside but what I do is use a container to hold things until I'm ready to put them outside into that bin - and this container COVERED TIGHTLY lives in my fridge until it makes its way to the outdoor bin. I have never had an issue with bugs of any kind this way. I'm sorry, but the last thing I want on my counter is a container full of critters! My container is about 4x6x12 and easily fits into the fridge.
Ann
It is very important to know what pest you are dealing with. Fruit flies are the one that is always blamed when we see the little flies in the kitchen.
But often we are wrong and we wonder why our traps aren't actually working.
Drain flies are oh so common in the summer months and they are not attracted to the same things that fruit flies are. They may occasionally fly around fruit fly traps because of the liquid nature but they will more often than not, avoid the traps all together. They need to be dealt with completely differently.
Then there are fungus gnats that also love the organic materials in a food production area. Again, a totally different approach is necessary.
So IF your fruit fly traps do not seem to be getting the job done, then they are probably not fruit flies you are seeing. Many great articles can be found thru Google to help you properly identify your pest and help you use the right solution
kathryn
I stir a drop of washing-up liquid into the vinegar (slowly - I'm not treating those pesky FFs to a bubble bath) in order to reduce the surface tension and give the flies less chance of taking off again.
Can't remember where I read that advice - and as I'm insufficiently skilled to make a living from counting dead fruit flies, I haven't conducted any experiments to see if it does make the trap more effective. But if anyone out there knows of a professional fruit fly counter that might relish the challenge... 🤔
SUSAN
Dear Karen, as always, much appreciated and well researched information.You are better than a set of the Encyclopedias!! Still gagging thinking of your research process but eternally grateful. Thank you!
Anita J McDaniel
Okay, you're speaking my language here. I also have trash bin, compost bin, compost pile, and fruit and veg on the counters ready to process. I've always used the venegar and paper cone method. But...as I was getting ready to make sourdough, I noticed an annoying band of fruit flies/fungus gnats hovering around. I quickly made a second fly catcher by adding sourdough starter to the vinegar. It won hands down in the number of pesky insects attracted. Downside - it really stinks in a couple of days.
Karen
Yes, fruit flies LOVE sourdough starter. LOVE IT. ~ karen
Julie
Love this post! I’ll put this new information to good use.😊
Love the emails, I look forward to reading them at breakfast.
Karen
Sorry I served you fruit flies with breakfast. ~ karen!
tuffy
WOW!!! Awesome experiment!!!
I love it!! That’s why I love your blog!! Well done!!
And I had the exact same question about which vinegar works best, so I’ll eagerly await the answer. (Fingers doing a constant rolling tap).
Let’s see 🤔 I’ll take a pre-experiment guess: apple cider and wine vinegars will work better than distilled white. 😏
I also wonder if the color of the paper comes works differently, (white vs brown/dark colors) as insects have vivid color vision apparently?
ML
I think raspberry balsamic vinegar might work best. 😋🙃
traci
I have done this for years. I always use white printer paper. Based on Karen's results, I'm thinking the color doesn't matter as hers appears to have worked as equally well as mine do. I haven't counted, but I have tried different vinegars and I do think apple cider vinegar works the best (fastest). I just set one up the other day and I couldn't find my apple cider vinegar so I used red wine vinegar and that worked well, but I still think the apple cider vinegar attracts them faster. White vinegar works too, but a little slower than the apple cider. But honestly, any will have most of them gone by the end of the day! I also add some water and dish soap to mine.
Karen
I did wonder about the colour of the paper as well! But the dark paper worked so well the first time around that's what I tend to grab now. But red might be good or yellow of course! ~ karen
Carolyn
O G I hate those little bastards... disgusting things.
Every summer I wage war with them. I've used cider vinegar plus a drop of dawn dish soap covered with plastic wrap and toothpick holes for a couple years and been relatively happy with the method. I mean, it's worked better than any other method I've tried anyway. The other components of the war have included just not keeping any kind of fruit,vegetable or meat waste in the house. Just get it out as soon as it's created, giving them no opportunity to congregate or procreate.
This past week I thought I'd finally gotten the upper hand, thought just maybe I'd won the war. I hadn't seen one of them for 3 or 4 days, and was feeling hopeful. Yesterday I cracked open a bottle of red wine vinegar, and literally immediately one of those little effers came came flyin' in like a kamikaze dive bomber..... s o a b.
I cannot figure out for the life of me where those bits of flying shit come from.
Trying your funnel method next... just maybe the stronger aroma emanating from a larger opening will help. Think I'll try red wine vinegar as it seemed to be quite attractive. Thanks
Karen
Red wine vinegar is a good one for them. ~ karen!
Carolyn
Well... my test using the funnel method and red wine vinegar was unsuccessful. Not one fly after 4 days. Tried it too with my precious balsamic vinegar. Nothing. Conclusion? I don't have funnel flies.
Michele
Brilliant! Could you please find an equally great solution for fungus gnats? Not including sticky traps which I can't get okay with?
Lee Hoy
I use mosquito bits for those little buggers. Check it out at the lawn and garden store.
Karen
HI Michele! I just use insecticidal soap on the soil for fungus gnats. :/ ~ karen!
Jan W
Karen I didn't see your response til I was done. I'll add I insecticidal soap on the list (right under the wine) lol. Is there more than one type? Any recommendations? And thanks for your articles- I love them!
Karen
Hi Jan, a few manufacturers do an insecticidal soap. I normally get the Safer's brand. ~ karen!
Jan W
I too look forward to a solution. I have tried numerous things: hydrogen peroxide and water - the soil bubbled up and over the edge of the pot. 32 plants in 3 different rooms and I didn't notice they were overflowing until I was done. Don't try this!! Diatomaceous earth - some small plants got too dry and I lost a few. Then took each plant out of the pot, washed with dish soap and water, roots and all, and the plant pot. Worked for awhile.... Next i sterilized the soil in the microwave and repotted when cool. Must have missed a few few because they came back. Finally washed and repotted EVERYTHING in Miracle Gro potting mix formulated to be less attractive to fungus gnats. This has been my only success so far.
Then I took my daughter's suggestion to water plants with banana peel/water solution as hers look so much better than mine. Read yesterday that this promotes fungus gnats due to rotting bits of banana that make it through the strainer. Today I'm going out to buy a bottle of wine to prepare for the day the gnats hatch and fly into my face.... BTW the wine is for me!
Kath
Awesome experiment, interesting and useful. Any tips for pantry moths??
Lee Hoy
They hate the smell of bay leaves. Spread them around in your cupboards.
Karen
Uch. I wish! I've only had them once that I remember and they were awful. The next day I went out and spent all my money on glass canisters. Now everything goes into them. Pasta, flour, cereal, nuts ... That's about the best tip I can give for pantry moths. ~ karen!
Mary W
Never really had a fruit fly problem since I take my compost stuff out every night BUT that was before I began sourdough growing. Now they hover around when they see me coming to feed THEIR starter because I will remove the coffee filter long enough for some to commit suicide in my starter. I learned to be really fast removing and replacing the filter but they do have a strong will to die. Now, I'm getting up to place a coned container of vinegar next to it! I make my own vinegar and didn't have this problem! OK, done and hopeful. Thanks! and Karen thanks you, too. Still doing great!
Deb
I keep my compostables in an ice cream bucket in the fridge. Just sayin'
Karen
You have room in your fridge for an ice cream bucket??! I spent 1/2 hour last night rearranging my fridge just so I could fit in the cabbage rolls I just cooked, lol. ~ karen!
Samantha
I have a worm bin RIGHT in my kitchen. And I am not careful about what I feed them. I throw a few granules of Bacillus Thurengensis israeliensis, BTi, aka mosquito granules, in the spray bottle I used to mist the scraps as I add them...it works great. It works on all types of fly. Throw a few in your houseplants and watch them become inhospitable to fungus gnats.
Heather
If this were a recipe it'd get 5 stars. Amazing! My fruit fly problems are no more. Thanks! Really!
Karen
Excellent! ~ karen
CHerie
Gross as it is, I use those fly traps, you know, the sticky ones that you unroll and hang in the window and then watch the flies as they struggle to get off.. Sadistic, or what? But I loathe house flies almost as much as I loathe fruit flies so imagine my delight when I discovered that they (fruit flies, that is) are also caught on that. We live in the country with lots of farm and wild animals around us and have infestations of flies every summer. I also have a couple of bottles with cone shaped narrow necks that came with essential oil and sticks. Perfect because I can't for the life of me do a proper paper cone and bottle thing. Between them, I have seldom got many live flying bugs of any kind. I use apple cider vinegar with a wee drizzle of dishwasher soap on top in the bottles and change the hanging strips once a week.
Canadian Tire has them and, I would think, most hardware stores.
Kristin Ferguson
Karen, I do this too! One day I came home from work and my husband had created this exact trap but he decorated it with little comic depictions of fruit flies and phrases such as "Fruit Fly Party! This way! (down arrow)" "welcome!" "Drinks! Friends! Free! Fun!" (I was very charmed and took a photo of this setup and I would post it here but can't.) I have been proselytizing this method for years.
Karen
LOL. I'm going to HAVE to start drawing pictures on mine. ~ karen!