I’m sure you’ve met these little guys… they show up when you leave bananas or other fruit out on your counters a little too long and they are “buggers” to remove.  Well, getting rid of fruit flies is not all that difficult and you can do it quickly and humanely. Catch and release, baby!

For more kind ways to get rid of bugs check out our posts No-Kill Natural Pest Control and How To Make a Humane Bug Catcher.

Supplies for Getting Rid of Fruit Flies

• Plastic soda bottle (16 oz. to 33 oz. size is great.)
• Craft knife or scissors
• Drill (optional)
• Small piece of fruit, the more rotten the better. (banana peel, slice of apple etc.)

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Instructions & Printable Labels (pdf)

Instructions

Cut your bottle into two pieces about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the way up from the bottom. Place a small piece of ripe fruit in the bottom. Turn top piece upside down and place into the bottom piece. Set it on your counter overnight.  The next morning take your bottle outside away from the house and release the flies. If it did not get all the flies set it up again.

POINTERS

• Make sure there is nothing else to attract the fruit flies in your kitchen. You want them to focus on the bottle only.
• If you find the fruit flies are flying out of the larger hole of the bottle you can drill a smaller hole, big enough for them to easily enter into  in the bottle lid and screw it on.
• Do NOT leave the trap unemployed for over a day because any eggs in it will hatch. (A single fruit fly can lay up to 500 eggs!)

Add some ripe fruit into the bottom. Banana peels are great!

Set it on your counter for a full day or overnight.

Take outside away from the house and release the flies.