I've been having a battle with fruit flies. In my home, we eat a lot of bananas and I also like to make sure some of them ripen fully so I can bake up a loaf of banana bread (or two).
But with bananas on the countertop, I've also had an influx of fruit fly visitors that are not welcome in my home.
There are plenty of reasons fruit flies can turn up in your home, including buildup in your drains, unwashed trash in your bins, and crumbs and food scraps you might not have noticed.
Whatever it is, I'm on a mission to find a way to get rid of fruit flies, and social media has brought me an answer.
While I've tried 3 different DIY fruit fly traps with varying results, I recently came across a hack I'd never seen before that I just had to try. It also helped that I had all the ingredients already in my home.
Spoiler alert: I've been very surprised by the results.
How does it work?
TikTok pair, @jeffandlaurenshow, share wildly varied from food hacks to home organization to their 2 million followers. But, they're also really great at sharing DIY pest control hacks that require minimum effort.
And for their DIY fruit fly trap, all you need is a lidded mason jar, apple cider vinegar and some dish soap. To save on costs, you can also easily recycle any old food jar you have, rather than buying a new one.
To follow this hack, carry out these five simple steps:
- Poke several holes in the lid of the mason jar
- Add around a cup of apple cider vinegar
- Add a couple of squirts of dish soap
- Swirl the mixture around in the jar
- Place the jar wherever you notice the fruit flies
It's important to note that you should be very careful when poking the holes in your mason jar lid (as I quickly learned).
While you can use a hammer and nail, screwdriver or power drill, you also need to be careful of the sharp edges that remain on the lid. I opted for the power drill as it tends to leave the cleanest holes.
It's also worth noting that fruit flies are a lot smaller than regular flies, so if you're worried that the holes are too small, don't be.
Here's what happened when I tried it
To complete this hack, I picked up a bottle of apple cider vinegar, fairly cheap at my local grocery store. I already had an old jam jar to clean out and dish soap at home, so it only cost me around $5 to put this DIY fruit fly trap together.
After a failed attempt with a screwdriver to make the holes, I recruited my husband and his power drill to make them for me neatly instead.
Then, all I had to do was simply add about a cup of apple cider vinegar, as well as a couple of generous squirts of dish soap.
After replacing the lid and agitating the mixture, I placed the DIY fruit fly trap onto my windowsill directly above where I keep the bananas. I'll be honest, my expectations were low for this one as I've already had several failed attempts at getting rid of the fruit flies in my kitchen. But, I was happy to give it a go since it took me less than a minute to do and cost me very little.
I left it overnight and returned in the morning to find that the mixture had caught not one, not two, but what appeared to be three fruit flies. At first, I thought it had failed as the mixture was pretty cloudy, but after a swirl around it uncovered the truth – it had worked!
I feel like I don't get to say that a lot about DIY hacks, but with it's safe to say with this one I've been pleasantly surprised.
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