If you’re like me, you’ve got a ton of fruit coming into the house, and this time of year, the fruit flies can get thick. I fought them for years, till Kirke Harper of Claiborne taught me this simple trick, which works like a charm.
<Kathy Bosin invites all Spy readers to visit her online at A Chesapeake Journal. This post comes from the summer of 2011, but it’s timely and useful any summer day. You won’t ever fret about fruit flies again.>
Ready? Get a tall drinking glass, and put a little piece of fruit in.
Next, cut a tiny hole in a coffee filter.
It doesn’t have to be THAT tiny…
Stuff the filter inside of the glass, below the rim, and get some tape.
Start at one end, and tape the filter tight up next to the inside of the glass. It bunches up, but just keep taping. Goal here is to have a tight seal around the filter.
When you’re done, it looks like this.
Voila. You guessed it. The fruit flies enter the hole for the fruit, then try to exit by climbing up the glass. The filter is sealed all the way around, and because they don’t exit through the hole they came through, they can’t get out. Trapped. Try it. Set the trap on your kitchen counter and within an hour, I am not kidding, your problem will begin to solve itself.
You can see them in there. Little buggers……Gotcha!
Brenda says
You can make an even easier trap: Skip the coffee filter and tape. Instead put the fruit in a glass and cover tightly with plastic wrap ( seal with a rubber band if you think the plastic isn’t sticking to glass). Punch a few holes in the plastic wrap with a fork. Flies go in but can’t seem to get out. You must put all other fruit away or the flies will go to that fruit standing out instead.
Elaine Shortall says
Still another way to trap fruit flies is to fill a small jar (like a half size spice jar) with apple cider vinegar. The holes in the top of the spice jar allow the flies to enter, but they go to get a sip of vinegar and die. If you don’t have a spice jar, just use a custard cup or something small as a shot glass and cover the top with cling wrap and poke a few holes. You will get the same result. When it is full, you can just wash them all down the drain and start a fresh one. I usually place several around, wherever I see the little fellas gathering.