Instructions: Build your own fruit fly trap

Summer, sun, sweet drinks and fresh fruit on the table are simply part of the true summer pleasure. Now the time has come for the fruit flies, which regularly spoil this pleasure for us. Although they are very small at around 2 mm, they usually appear in large flocks.

Invasion of the fruit flies

Who hasn't experienced it when a cloud of small fruit flies rises when you reach into the fruit bowl and spoil your appetite for fresh fruit. Because fruit flies are almost obsessed with ripe fruit and even vegetables, because their larvae feed on the microorganisms contained therein. Each female lays up to 400 eggs. Within a few days, an invasion of these tiny little fruit flies develops.

In order to prevent an invasion of fruit flies, fruit and vegetables should be kept in a cool cellar or in the refrigerator and only taken out shortly before use. Immediately chop leftover vegetables and fruit and their skins and put them in the compost or in the organic bin.

Prevention against fruit fly infestation

If you don't want to give the little fruit flies a chance to stop, you can follow the advice below:

• Store overripe fruit in the fridge
• Check the fruit basket daily
• Empty the trash can every day in the summer
• Don't leave drinks out in the open
• Rinse drinking glasses after use
• Wipe off spills of fruit and vegetable juice immediately
• Briefly rinse empty beverage cans stored indoors
• Dispose of fruit and vegetable waste in a compost heap away from home
• Pour boiling water down the drain once a day
• Ventilate frequently

The scent of herbs drives away insects

Just as vegetables, fruit, juice, vinegar, wine and beer attract the little flies, nature offers herbs whose scents make the fruit flies flee.

• Dry the olive herb and hang it up in cloth bags in the kitchen
• Place chestnuts or onions in the fruit bowl
• Place a pot of peppermint or lavender on the windowsill
• Place basil in pots around the house
• Decorate the lemon slices with the cloves and place on small plates
• Bring close-meshed fly screens in front of the windows

If none of that helps, self-made fruit fly traps provide an effective remedy.

Build the best fruit fly traps yourself

No chemicals are needed to get rid of the summer plague of fruit flies. Simple fruit fly traps are effective and can easily be built by people who are completely inexperienced in manual work. The construction of such a trap simply exploits the fruit flies' appetite for rotting fruit and sour smells.

The classic, simple fruit fly trap

In a shallow bowl fill:

• 1 part fruit or wine vinegar
• 3 parts fruit juice, beer or wine
• 1 drop of dishwashing liquid
• 2 parts water

Mix all ingredients well. Add the water last. The drop of detergent is only meant to break the surface tension. As a result, the fruit flies cannot survive on the surface and sink and drown. Due to the higher evaporation in summer temperatures, the liquid should be renewed regularly.

The more durable variant

The following ingredients are required for the slightly longer version of the fruit fly trap:

• 1 small bowl (if possible in the color yellow, because this is particularly attractive)
• 1 piece of very ripe fruit
• 1 drop of dish soap
• 1 plastic bag
• 1 pair of scissors or fork
• 1 elastic band

1 drop of washing-up liquid is dripped onto the piece of fruit. Place in the bowl and put a plastic bag over it and seal the open end with the rubber band. Now either cut off the tip of the bag (small hole) or pierce it in a few places with a fork. The fruit flies find their way into the trap, come into contact with the detergent and cannot find their way out. The fruit retains its attraction for a long time and therefore needs to be renewed much less frequently.

Fruit fly trap for the ecologist

Not everyone has plastic bags in the household and does not want to buy them out of ecological responsibility. A modification of the fruit and fruit fly trap can be used here. The foil bag is replaced by a small glass, the opening of which is placed over the bowl with the fruit. Place two small matches underneath so the fruit flies can crawl in. After contact with the detergent, they cannot find their way out again. If you want to release the flies again, leave out the detergent. If some fruit flies have gathered under the glass, simply pull the sticks away and release the flies in the garden.

The Fast Trap

• Fill a small container with rotten leftover fruit.
• Place a fine-mesh sieve or colander over it
• Place near the fruit flies
• Cover with a towel after about 20 minutes
• Take the covered container outside and release the flies

This method can be repeated until the fruit fly invasion is defeated.

Fruit fly trap from plastic bottle without deposit

• 1 empty plastic bottle
• 1 part fruit or wine vinegar
• 3 parts fruit juice, beer or wine
• 1 drop of dishwashing liquid
• 2 parts water
• 1 sharp knife

Using a sharp knife, cut off the top third of the bottle as straight as possible. Unscrew the screw cap and brush the thread with some jam. Fill the bottom part of the bottle 2/3 full with the mixture. The cut-off upper part acts as a funnel and is placed upside down in the lower half of the bottle. If you want, you can fix the funnel with glue. The fruit, fruit or fruit flies try to get to the sweet bottle neck, fall into the mixture and are caught.

Fruit flies catch without vessels

Not everyone wants to set up pots in their house as fruit fly traps. The following examples show how you can still keep the annoying little insects at bay:

• Stick double-sided tape on the wall near the fruit flies
• Apply a water-vinegar-juice mixture (dishwashing liquid is not necessary for this variant)
• The small flies are attracted by the scent, stick to the adhesive tape and can be disposed of without any problems

Worth knowing about fruit fly traps shortly

In general, you should keep the kitchen and trash can very clean during the fruit fly season and wipe off any splashes of water, fruit juice or similar from work surfaces and surfaces immediately. Garbage, especially fruit and leftovers, should disappear in a tight bag. It is best to dispose of it in the household waste twice a day. A proliferation of flies can be prevented by regularly pouring boiling water down the drains of sinks and washbasins. This kills any eggs or larvae that the fruit flies like to deposit in these spots. Finally, two tips for traps:

Dishwashing liquid as a trap

• Dish soap in water or juices breaks the surface tension of the liquids, causing the flies to sink and drown.
• You'll practically drown in this inexpensive yet very effective fruit fly trap.
• To increase the effect, you can also add some apple juice or orange juice to the detergent-vinegar mix.

A variant of this trap works with a bowl, a piece of fruit, some washing-up liquid and vinegar and a plastic bag: the bowl is covered and wrapped with the bag. The casing is then punctured in a few places with the tip of a scissor or a fork. The fruit flies are guaranteed to find their way to the fruit, but after contact with the dishwashing liquid they won't come out again.

Adhesive strips as a trap

Adhesive strips are stuck to the wall in the kitchen or wherever fruit flies are more common. They also emit a sour odor that attracts the fruit flies, where they simply stick to the tape.

Learn more about insect repellent