Homemade Fruit Fly Trap

We have a bunch of visitors at The Pantry. They showed up quite uninvited. They buzz around our heads, poofing out of crates of vegetables like magic spells in Disney movies.

You'll need a ball jar, coffee filter, rubberband, and bait. 

Fruit Flies. Blurgh.

The danger of fruit flies is mostly just to your personal sanity. They can transmit diseases, but are not known to do so as much as your average house fly. The fruit fly can live up to 30 days in optimal conditions (between 60 and 85 degrees).  The female fruit fly can lay up to 500 eggs at a time, allowing the population in your kitchen (or our Pantry), to multiple exponentially.

Nasty.

So how do you get rid of the little buggers?

Cut the tip off of the coffee filter to create a funnel.

There are a few different methods for bait. What you need to know is that fruit flies aren’t attracted to regular sugar, they are attracted to fermenting sugar. Wine or beer are both great baits, as is a little yeast in sugar water.  Adding a drop or two of dish soap to your bait will disturb the surface of the water so the flies get trapped and can’t fly away. (MUAHAHAHAHA)

Add bait (I used beer), and a few drops of dish soap.

Here are some simple steps for making your own fruit fly trap.

1. Fill the jar with about 1-2 inches of bait (red wine, beer, apple cider vinegar)
2. Add a few drops of dish soap.
3. Cut a 1” space out of the middle of a coffee filter.
4. Secure filter to the opening of the jar using the outer ring of the jar’s lid or rubberband. (Make sure that there is a well in the coffee filter: like a funnel)
5. Replace bait every few days.

Insert coffee filter and secure with a rubberband. 

Tips:

• Make sure you have good bait! Think of sugars that will break down: slices of banana, beer, watered down yeast with sugar.
• Soda/Pop doesn’t work well. Since it’s not a fermenting sugar, it won’t be the first choice for fruit flies. 
• If you buy a commercial container, be aware that their pre-made bait probably contains harmful chemicals. You can use their container with your own homemade bait instead (or if you just run out).