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How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies with White Vinegar & Dish Soap

DIY fruit fly traps
Photo: CC0 Public Domain / Pixabay – Skeeze

Looking for a simple and effective solution to eliminate fruit flies? Learn how to get rid of fruit flies with white vinegar and banish them from your home completely.

Are fruit flies driving you crazy? We’ve got you covered. Unlock the secrets of how to get rid of fruit flies with white vinegar and gain expert insights on how to avoid future infestations. Reclaim your space and enjoy a fly-free home with this white vinegar fruit fly trap.

How to Get Rid of Fruit Flies With White Vinegar Fruit Fly Traps

how to get rid of fruit flies with white vinegar
This white vinegar fruit fly trap will eliminate your problem in no time. (Photo: CC0 Public Domain / Pixabay - NatureFriend)

You might already know that you can get rid of fruit flies with white vinegar. It is indeed a simple and effective remedy, and you only need a few more ingredients to make the trap.

For this white vinegar fruit fly trap, you’ll need the following ingredients and materials:

  • a shallow bowl, container, or cup
  • 1 tbsp. white vinegar
  • ¼ cup. apple juice
  • a drop of liquid dish soap

Instructions:

Mix all the above items in your container and fill any remaining space with water, almost to the brim. Place the container next to the fruit that is attracting the flies.

The odor of the white vinegar trap will quickly attract the little troublemakers. The soap decreases the water’s surface tension so that the flies cannot simply land on the surface; instead, they’ll fall through the liquid. You’ll be shocked at how quickly you can get rid of fruit flies with white vinegar!

Where Do Fruit Flies Come From?

how to get rid of fruit flies with white vinegar
Leaving ripe fruits out in the open for too long will attract fruit flies. (Photo: CC0 Public Domain / Pixabay – LubosHouska)

As far as pests go, it could be worse (imagine bed bugs, for example!). Fruit flies don’t really do anything, but they are definitely annoying. They tend to invade in swarms and take over your kitchen. To understand how to get rid of fruit flies, it’s important to understand why they appear in the first place:

  • During the warmer months, they are attracted by the scent of ripe fruit and come in through open windows.
  • Food waste in garbage and compost bins is irresistible to those flying nuisances.
  • Ripe bananas or damaged apples are just two of many optimal breeding grounds for fruit fly maggots.
  • It’s not uncommon to inadvertently bring fruit flies home with your produce — in larval form, developed at the grocery store.
  • With up to 400 eggs per laying female and a development cycle of just two weeks, the population can become a problem very quickly.

How to Avoid Fruit Flies

white vinegar fruit fly trap
To help prevent a fruit fly invasion before it starts, avoid leaving glasses of wine or fruit juice out in the open for too long. (Photo: CC0 Public Domain / Pixabay – CongerDesign)

We’ve shown you how to get rid of fruit flies with white vinegar, and it’s pretty simple, but preventing a fruit fly invasion before it starts is much easier. There are a few simple measures that you can take to help minimize the risk:

  • Eat or process fruit quickly; don’t keep it around out in the open.
  • Learn how to store apples, lemons, tomatoes, plums, and other fruits properly to prevent them from becoming overripe or spoiling.
  • If you have more bananas than you can handle, try freezing your bananas to make delicious banana nice cream later. Or you could slice them and put them in the oven to make banana chips.
  • Place extremely ripe or damaged fruit in the refrigerator, or simply turn them into something delicious, like vegan apple pie, homemade applesauce, or vegan lemon bars!
  • Take out your garbage and compost more often during the warmest months of the year.
  • Don’t leave open bottles or glasses of wine or fruit juice out for too long.
  • If possible, install screens on your windows.
  • Don’t store bananas or apples near other fruit, as this speeds up the ripening process.

By following these tips, hopefully you won’t need our vinegar fruit fly trap at all!

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