Sweet Tooth Sweet Life

A Love of Food, Fitness, & Fashion

I Have A Problem

By 63 Comments

I have a problem.

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Over the past few days, my kitchen house has been invaded…

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By fruit flies.

And not just a couple here and there…a LOT of freakin’ fruit flies.

I’ve resorted to putting all of my fresh fruit in the fridge, with the exception of my bananas; they’re keeping their counter status with the help of some Clearly Fresh Bags that I was sent a while back. So far, the bags are working very well.

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The swarms of fruit flies, however, are going nowhere. Except, of course, in my face.

Normally, my apple cider vinegar trap does the trick. I just place the vinegar in a small cup, cover it with plastic wrap, and poke some holes in the top with a toothpick.

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But over the course of three days, I’ve trapped three fruit flies.

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THREE.

Thanks to a tip from my dear friend Heather, I also tried doing the same sort of trap, but with a banana slice inside.

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So far, nada.

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The only other trap I could come up with is the sticky fly trap that I can remember my dad hanging in our garage all while I was growing up.

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Call me crazy, but I’m not quite sure that I want these beauties hanging from my kitchen ceiling…

So I’m begging. If you have ANY tips for how to get rid of these darn little things, please send ‘em my way. I’m going nuts! Disappointed smile

*****

Dinner

Have I ever mentioned how much I love leftovers? Especially when it’s too hot to turn an oven on.

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Tonight, Jay enjoyed some of last night’s leftover steak while I finished off the rest of Monday’s Chicken Taco innards. I also added a dollop of plain Chobani + salsa to tonight’s leftovers which made it even more delicious.

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On the side, I also had a piece of toast with a little light butter.

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I’m hoping tonight’s meal will do a good job of keeping me fueled without feeling too full for my softball game.

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Yes, lucky me has a softball game tonight in this sweltering heat. I’m trying not to complain though, especially since Jay is playing two games tonight. It could always be worse, right? Winking smile

*Just a Reminder: There’s only 1 more day left to enter my SOYJOY Daycation Giveaway…and now there’s TWO kits to be given away!

Question for the Evening:

How do I get rid of these darn fruit flies??? Please tell me I’m not the only one dealing with the invasion!

About Courtney

I'm a working mom of two beautiful little boys, Lucas and Alex, and I began writing Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life in April 2010. I enjoy chronicling my love of food (healthy and indulgent!), baking, motherhood, fitness, fashion, and everything in between!

Comments

  2. Kathryn says

    I used to leave a glass of beer or wine on the counter for a few days. Usually helps for me. Otherwise get rid of whatever was causing them and just wait.
    Reply

  3. Lisa @ Sunny Seed Stories says

    You should buy this buy spray at Target, the name of which I can't recall right now. Basically, you set it down in the middle of the room you need to debug, press a button, and it shoots bug spray throughout the room. (Also, you need to leave the house for a few hours.) It worked really well in my kitchen last year. Sorry I can't think of the name.
    Reply

    • Jen M. says

      those are bug bombs! they work best if you do your entire house (like one bottle for every couple of rooms, spread out, put away all food/etc.) because otherwise it tends to just chase the bugs to another corner of your home...
      Reply

  4. Alyssa says

    omg they are the worst!! We had a ton of them at my house recently too - best way to get rid of them is with an empty bottle! We used an empty 2L soda bottle and cut all the way around it, right above the label. Then we poured apple cider vinegar in the bottom, and inverted the top part of the bottle into the bottom part! Once they get in there they can't find their way out! It works SO well!
    Reply

  6. Vanessa @ Sweaty in Pink says

    So unfortunate there is not an inconspicuous way to get rid of fruit flies, like an ant-trap or something. I wish I could offer some advice, but the only thing that I've heard of that works are those strips -- which are total eyesores!
    Reply

  8. Ebru says

    Just 2 weeks ago I had the same problem and I thought I was losing my mind! I stuffed everything in my fridge and even some things in the microwave just to keep everything out of sight. They wouldn't leave! "My" flies would gather around my kitchen sink area and would drive me crazy so after an extensive Google search, I decided to take some people's advice of pouring bleach down all the drains including the bathroom sink just in case. Guess what? I left the sinks like that overnight and in the morning...voila! Not a single one! Now I am not sure if it's environmentally safe to pour bleach down the drain but at that point nothing was more important than my mental health so I just went ahead with it! If you do try it, I hope it works for you as well. They can be so annoying!
    Reply

  10. Corey @ Family Fresh Meals says

    Yes.. I have heard of Alyssa's idea working great! My college roommate actually had to breed fruit flies for one of her pre med classes. UGH! Those suckers ended up getting EVERYWHERE. I now have a deep hate for fruit flies.... a deep deep hate :) good luck!
    Reply

  14. Sarah R says

    I've always done cider vinegar in a dish with a drop of soap. The soap breaks the surface tension so the flies drop right into the vinegar when they land on it.
    Reply

  15. Kristen says

    I agree about the dish soap! I usually put a teaspoon or so of dish soap in a small tupperware and then about the same amount of cider vinegar and just sit it on the countertop by where I see them the most. I came home from work the other day to 18 fruit flies in it... YUCK! I resorted to not buying bananas :( because I don't eat them fast enough to deal with the fruit flies, and bananas kept in the refrigerator seriously gross me out. I need to try those bags!
    Reply

    • Brittany says

      Yes ma'am, I mix soap and ACV. Works every time. I usually mix it up to make some bubbles. I don't know if the bubbles make a difference, but it's worth a shot to get rid of them!
      Reply

  16. Nicole says

    Having the same problem!! No idea why!! Sorry I dont have any suggestions..but thanks for yours! I'm going to try the apple cider...very annoying!
    Reply

  17. Gloria says

    Fruit flies are the weirdest things because we had a huge problem with them at my apartment in Worcester, MA, and at a restaurant I worked at there as well. But, at my family's house in Connecticut, we have never had any problem with them (knock on wood), even with bananas laying out all the time. At my old apartment, we tried putting a banana peel in a zip lock bag with small holes in it. That actually worked pretty well. The only thing that really helped though was buying insect spray (Raid) and spraying that in the kitchen. Another thing that helped after that was wrapping all fruit/vegetable scraps (like peels, seeds, and cores) in plastic bags before throwing them out in our garbage. Good luck!
    Reply

  18. Shelley says

    Do the apple cider vinegar trap, but put a couple of drops of dish soap in with it. It'll kill them and i think it also lures more flies in. Try that out :)
    Reply

  20. Mary @ Bites and Bliss says

    Gah, I had the EXACT same problem for the past few weeks!! I tried everything and couldn't get rid of the dang things. I'm really hoping scrubbing my kitchen totally clean, emptying it of any open food whatsoever, then leaving for three weeks will help. Or I'll come home and my entire house will be infested..but fingers crossed.
    Reply

  21. colleen laquay urbaniuk @ thegiftofmondays says

    definitely try the vinegar with dish soap...it works great!!! i put about half apple cider vinegar into one of those plastic containers that you were using in the pics and then add a couple of squirts of dish soap (any kind) and do not stir!!! i do this in the morning and then again at night (with a new batch of brew). sometimes it takes 2 days of doing this to get rid of them but then suddenly, they are gone!!!
    Reply

  22. Laura says

    Fill a glass with white wine then put a little drop of dish soap in it. Works like a charm for me! Hope it helps!
    Reply

  26. Emily says

    Are you sure they're fruit flies? I thought I had the same problem in my apartment, but it turns out there are similar flies that come from overwatering house plants. If you have a lot of plants in the house, water them less than you usually do for a couple of weeks and they should go away.
    Reply

    • Jen M. says

      Yes! I've had this happen with plants too -- the eggs are sometimes in the soil and then the heat + moisture from too-frequent watering causes them to hatch or something. You can also put a couple drops of dish soap into the water you use to water your plants and it helps to kill little bugs...
      Reply

  31. Julie K. says

    I use an empty sports drink bottle or Vitamin Water bottle, drill 5 or 6 holes in the lid and fill the bottle half full of plain old vinegar and it seems to do the trick!
    Reply

  32. Carey @ Positively Blonde says

    My roommates and I had the worst fruit fly problem in college. We used every at home remedy to try to get rid of those little pests, and finally discovered a winner- dishwashing soap and apple cider vinegar. Mixx them in a cup and leave it uncovered. Good luck!
    Reply

  33. Kelsey says

    A glass of white wine! We just put it on an open counter top (ours is right near the sink) there were 10 floating the next morning and now there practically all gone and its only been 3 days!!
    Reply

  35. Cute~Ella says

    spray down all surfaces that might have any traces of food on them with windex. run hot hot hot water down the drains for about 5 min and then pour bleach in the drain (I like lemon scented) and let it sit for like 10 min or so and then another round of hot hot hot water. I'm having the same problem too and have my dish out, but the drain thing helped A LOT
    Reply

  36. Halley (Blunder Construction) says

    You are definitely not alone. I've also tried pouring some red wine into just a dish and leaving it out, I've caught many that way. Also, I'm sure you've done this, but on a particularly bad day, I wipe down all the surfaces around the sink/where the hang out. Walls, cabinets, counters, even the tops of counters get a quick wipe.
    Reply

  38. Regan says

    Last year when we bought our house...the previous owners left a apple pie from McDonald's in the cupboard...and along with it...ton's of fruitflies....I was furious.......so we researched...and made our own little recipe..... we added anything and everything...in the traps like you've made...I'd suggest adding WINE....pork and bean sauce/juice....simple syrup.....good luck....and patience.... hope your free of then soon!...p.s. I Love your blog!! :) RLA
    Reply

  42. TheBloggersBrother says

    I know if you put like 6 pennies in a bag of water it keeps bugs out of dog food, not sure if it would work with fruit flies? worth a shot..
    Reply

  43. Kate says

    I put balsamic vinegar in a little bowl with a couple drops of dish soap. Shake it up so the dish soap makes bubbles on the top. The little gaffers smell the vinegar but get stuck in the bubbles!
    Reply

  47. jacqueline says

    Pour a little bleach down every drain in your house at night and then cover them, in the morning they should be gone!
    Reply

  48. Michelle Binkley says

    Get a jar (I've used mason jars in the past) and cut a paper cone to slide into the top. Make sure the opening of the bottom of the cone is very small. Place part of a banana peel in the jar. Tape the cone to the jar. The flies will go in to get to the banana, but will be unable to fly out. Be prepared, though, the first time I did this I was totally grossed out by how many fruit flies were trapped in there! Here's a link to a picture of the "trap" I found online. http://littlejungfarm.blogspot.com/2010/08/fruit-fly-trap-cheap-and-chemical-free.html Hope this helps!
    Reply

  49. Katy says

    I had this problem a few years back! Mine would always concentrate near my kitchen sink. I did the apple cider vinegar thing and it didn't fix the problem. For me, I could *always* see them all over the kitchen and near the sink. So, in a fit of rage (which ended up working quite well!), I grabbed the vacuum, attached the hose, and sucked up those damn little flies! Worth a shot ;)
    Reply

  51. Steph @321delish says

    I had fruit flies like whoa last summer, and I went to the hardware store and bought this little thing that was shaped like a tiny apple, filled with some kind of chemical, with one way in and no way out for the bugs. It was similar to the vinegar in a cup idea, but whatever was in it worked WAY better than the vinegar (I tried it too). I just don't remember what it was called...
    Reply

  52. sarah says

    We have 'em too! UGH! they are a very unnecessary part of creation (along with a ton of other critters). I do something that's a little wierd, but hey it works for me. When i see one, i just make a really scary face with my mouth open wide and eyes bulge. The Catch- YOU CANT BRUSH YOUR TEETH YET SO DO IT IN THE MORNING. Your breath HAS TO STINK. Then the little flies do what anyone else in that situation would do- they fall over.
    Reply

  55. Taylor says

    We just had the same problem - A secret that we found was spraying them with Windex!! You may feel insane carrying around the bottle with you lol, but spray them at the little pests and they are instantly down for the count :)
    Reply

  56. Heidi R says

    The wine works! We had a HUGE problem with fruit flies the past 2 summers and strangely enough, we live in Worcester, MA too like one of the previous commenters mentioned-maybe it's a Worcester thing! ;) I tried everything-nothing worked until I put some cheap wine (fruit flies like their wine fruity and cheap-think white zin) in a bowl, used a drop of dish soap to break the surface tension, and then covered the bowl with saran wrap with holes poked in it. Flies got in, but couldn't get out-worked like a charm! (And I was horrified by how many flies we trapped. UGH!)
    Reply

  57. Lauren says

    I have heard that orange juice with a bit of vinegar mixed together works well! Just in a little bowl with plastic wrap and little holes poked in it.
    Reply

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