How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies

Here are some great tips for some environmentally friendly methods of both deterring fruit flies, and removing them should they already be present. 

Photo Credit: Designlazy.com

Steps

1- Prevention is the best cure. Remove food sources attracting the flies by keeping fruit and vegetables in the refrigerator. If there is no room in the fridge, keep them covered using plastic or inside a brown paper bag. Only dispose of fruit and vegetable scraps in the outside trash or in the garden compost (don’t keep them inside). Keeping a clean kitchen, such as washing dirty plates immediately after you are finished with them, taking out the trash daily, and cleaning the tops of dirty ketchup bottles etc will also deter fruit flies. Similarly you could keep the out of the house altogether by keeping screen on your windows. Do not use manure to fertilise plants that are near to your house as this provides a breeding ground for the flies. Also do not over water house plants, as allowing the soil to dry thoroughly between each watering will kill fruit fly larvae. 

2- Remove fruit flies by using a rotten fruit lure. A humane method of removing fruit flies is to attract them into a large bottle by placing rotten fruit in the bottom of it (adding a little balsamic vinegar or fruit juice can help), and then releasing your captives away from your house. A less humane method is to mix vinegar with washing detergent, to which the flies will be attracted and then drown in, alternatively you could use the hose attachment of your vacuum cleaner to hoover them up. 

3- Keep fruit flies off of growing fruit by picking it when it’s ripe. Again, prevention is best, so pick fruit when it is ready rather than letting it rot beneath the tree. To manage larger crops, you can either cover branches or areas of ripening fruit with an exclusion bags, alternatively, purchase an organic fruit fly spray.

Tips

To re-iterate, prevention is the best cure. Keep fruit and vegetables out of reach of the flies, keep a clean kitchen, and dispose of organic waste directly into the outside trash.