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".
wendy
Here's how I don't EVER get fruit flies in my kitchen: Line an ice cream bucket with a small piece of newspaper so things don't stick to the bucket, making zero bucket clean-up. Put scraps in it as you generate them. Put it in the fridge as you go. When the bucket is full, dump it and the paper liner into a large paper grocery/food delivery bag, squish it down well (you can keep adding to it) and store it in the freezer until the night before compost pick up. As far as I know, this is my very own, unique and brilliant idea!
Karen
Cleaning your drains will significantly cut down on both drain flies and fruit flies. It’s where they breed.
Roger
I use a small condiment cup. ACV with a drop of Dawn dish soap. Been doing this for years, always works!
Kasia
I’ve always used the vinegar method in a small bowl, but I add liquid soap, which I then froth into a thick layer of bubbles at the top (no cling wrap). The flies get attracted to the vinegar and get stuck in the soap bubbles. It works, but maybe not as well as the cone method! Especially because the bubbles pop eventually and you have to re-froth it (the flies do die at some point while stuck in the bubbles and then end up in the vinegar). I also wonder if the apple cider vinegar is better than white vinegar? Some more variables for you to add to your experiments next time ;). Thanks for all the work you do on your posts, Karen! I look forward to reading every time :)
Mary W
Oh but this new method will cost so much! - I love you and your humor and your outstanding research projects for normal people. Hey, that sounds like a book title.! or maybe just a pamphlet. (You also result in me using spell check the most of any other commenting site. ) I get smarter in many ways by reading your entertaining infomercials.
Chris W.
Very impressive testing and counting! We also have a composting bin in our yard so we also "collect" things for it. But I've solved the issue of the flies very easily - I found a Rubbermaid container that's about 4x8x6 inches tall and it has a tight fitting cover so I just dump the scraps into that and leave it in the fridge until it's full. That's usually every other day so then I can just dump it outside in the composting barrel, turning it regularly along with some yard clippings that my husband dumps in. We end up with zero mess in the house and some really wonderful compost.
Anne Bowen
Did you use apple cider vinegar for the effective method?
Randy P
I reckon if I wanted to confirm your results, I'd need to start keeping a container of decomposing vegetation inside my house? I think instead I'll just take your word for it. It is a fascinating experiment nonetheless.
Anonymous Reader
Forget dealing with bug corpse juice and sticky carcass paper. I found the most effective and gratifying way to destroy them was with one of those electric bug zapper tennis rackets. Not only does it obliterate their little bodies on contact, but it does so with a satisfying snap that soothes your fruit fly worn soul.
Karen but not that karen
I can totally recommend this method - i have approximately literally hundreds of tomatoes 🍅 around my house in various stages of ripeness- i should have hundreds of fruit flies. I dont have any flying around. A few in the jar but I haven’t counted them.
Happy In Edmonton
One more to test next year… someone in our house (!) left the top off the mouthwash bottle, in a rarely-used bathroom. I don’t know exactly how long it was like that… probably a week to ten days. It was filled with little minty smelling fruit flies. You inspire me, Karen, thank you for what you do 🌞
Karen
Oh, that's hilarious! I'll give it a shot. ~ karen!
Mao Thwash
What brand of mouthwash, please?
jacqueline
Drosophila species: "fruit flies" invasions are deterred by carbon materials…paper, dried fallen leaves. I call them fermentation flies because they’re attracted to fermented things (vinegar, wine, etc.) and decomposing plant materials. Decomposing odors are controlled as well. In the kitchen vegetal food waste goes into a paper bag along with used paper towels, napkins, wrapped in a sheet of newspaper and when full all goes into the green waste bin or compost bin. For the compost bin, lots of dried fallen leaves are gold for balancing the nitrogenous materials rot. All is turned occasionally with a long, thin tined hay fork to mix and oxygenate and check for the right moisture balance. The compost bin smells good, like damp soil (on occasions when it smells sour, I know the nitogen/carbon/moisture balance is off so add leaves and mix. I no longer have fruit flies using these methods…except when I make wine vinagar from corked wine, they can show up. Thanks, Karen for your paper cone in a jar idea. That’s the one I’ll use for vinager making. Hope this helps someone.
Lynn
Love your blog Karen. I have used the stretched plastic with holes for years , i like your new idea better , will try it shortly. I also like that you use natural cures for pests. A fella that works with hubby uses boiling hot water weeds and ant mounds both . Have yet to try it on the ants as it will take more than a kettles worth for my any mound.
Karen
The boiling water does work on weeds, but you have to do it several times to really kill the root of something like a dandelion. :) ~karen!
Cathy
We don't kill dandelions, we eat them! They're healthy and delicious. They are good in salads and sandwiches. The best leaves to eat are the ones from plants that haven't bloomed yet.
Susan
Also add a drop of dish soap to break the surface tension of the vinegar. The fruit flies won't be able to float and potentially escape.
JEAN MUNROE
A friend told me about the cone method but I just sprayed all their landing places with peppermint oil mixed with water and three days later, all gone. I also removed all ripe fruit and stored in fridge. I found out my brother, who lives downstairs, was keeping black bananas on his kitchen counter so we also got rid of those. I think that was the origin of my infestation. Thankfully his cleaning lady told me about it and she cleaned up his space.
Beth
Karen, I love you. Now please invent a flea trap that works!
Joyce
up your game by using a small piece of over ripe fruit and a splash of red wine in that mason jar........they REALLY like that
Laura
this is read-aloud-to-your-husband-who-doesn't-usually-laugh-along-with-you material .... hurray for wierdos like you!
Laura
Love this! Now, any chance you can perfect a Japanese Beetle trap that would kill every *%&#* (blasted) one of them who ventures near my zinnias and raspberries? I know, I know…they say one shouldn’t set traps because it just lures more beetles to the area. But, how I wish that weren’t true!
DOROTHY JANE WILLIAMS
Allow me to introduce you to Horticultural Neem Oil!
I thought I would go mad when I moved to Burlington and my garden was attacked by literally thousands of Japanese Beetles. It is used in Organic Gardening. It doesn’t kill them. Injestion disrupts their reproductive cycle. Mix 3-4 tsp. into a gallon of water and spray your raspberries, zinnias and dahlias. Re-apply after rain. Watch the numbers decline. For me, year 2 after starting this…barely a few Japanese Beetles! It also prevents powdery mildew. Safe for use on fruits and vegetables.
Similar products available at Amazon.
Tine
I am always and impressed by the sacrifices you make to keep your readers on the cutting edge of so many, many things. Thank you