Reader Tip: The Quick & Simple Way to Banish Fruit Flies

Fruit flies are the scourge of the summer kitchen. With plenty of ripe fruit sitting out on the counters, my kitchen has been attracting these little flies for the past couple weeks, so I decided to search this site for a solution. A trick recommended again and again by readers in the comments ended up being the quickest, easiest way to rid my kitchen of these pesky flies.

I’ve tried making a fruit fly trap with a paper funnel and a glass of vinegar, but it always seems to take awhile for the flies to find their way in. And I didn’t have any rue on hand, so I decided to try a solution described by quite a few commenters: fill a small glass with apple cider vinegar and add a few drops of dishwashing liquid. Wait.

I caught my first fruit fly within minutes of putting the glass near a pile of plums. The fly buzzed down, fell into the vinegar and stayed there. After awhile, it sunk to the bottom of the glass. By the end of the day, it was joined by many of its friends, and my kitchen was virtually fruit-fly-free. Success!

Have you ever used this method to get rid of fruit flies?

Related: The Ultimate Cheap and Reusable Fruit Fly Trap

(Image: Anjali Prasertong)