Fruit flies are more commonly a problem during the summer, because they can’t survive in the cold. But that doesn’t mean they won’t sometimes enter your home – especially if you have some extra ripe, fermenting fruits and vegetables on offer.
Other things which might attract them are drains and bins, where they might lay eggs and cause an infestation. It’s important to keep your kitchen clean to avoid them coming at all – but the good news is that you can get rid of them.
One TikTok user has shared the only way they have managed to get rid of fruit flies properly – and it’s making a homemade trap using two items from their kitchen. Shan, who shares content on her @s.h.a.n.22 account, recently said: “Got bad fruit flies? This is the only thing we’ve tried that actually works.”
In the video, Shan has used an empty Mason jar, banana and paper. According to Shan, all you need is a: “Large slice of banana. Part of a banana peel and a paper funnel taped to a mason jar.”
The video demonstrated how the fruit flies would enter the mason jar through the biggest part of the funnel to get to the banana, and once they got there they were trapped. In the comment section, Shan explained what she does once the flies are trapped: “You can put liquid in the bottom or dump.”
Shan also posted a video showing exactly how to make the fruit fly trap. First, she explained you need to “make a tunnel with paper and tape it, [making] sure the hole is small”. Once you have put some banana and banana peel at the bottom of the jar you need to “secure with tape” and “make sure there are no holes so the bugs can’t fly up”.
Then you can trim the cone, and leave it somewhere they are likely to hang around. Shan also said some people have suggested adding, water, wine, apple cider vinegar or beer in the bottom to attract them.
In the comment section many expressed out excited they were about the hack, as it worked for them too. “Made one earlier. Caught all of them within a couple hours!!!,” said one person. “I was sipping a glass of wine, left the glass for 5min and came back to 3 dead fruit flies in it! HATE THEM!!” commented another.
Another said: “Just tried this after seeing it last night. We caught SO many overnight. Love this trap.”
Other people started sharing their own hacks for catching fruit flies. “A bowl of whole cloves also works,” said one person. “A drop of soap and a little water in the bottom will also prevent them from escaping,” added another.
A third commented: “Try to put coffee leftovers on there ….they go crazy with that smell.”
