DIY Fruit Fly Trap

By Todd Fratzel on Maintanence

DIY fruit fly trap.

Fruit Flies

It seems our house has been overrun with fruit flies this fall with all the garden vegetables fruit in the house. So we built a DIY fruit fly trap to try and reduce the “herd”. My wife read about making a fruit fly trap from a water bottle so we gave it a try.

DIY Fruit Fly Trap

Here’s what you need to do to build your own DIY Fruit Fly Trap:

1. You’ll need a plastic water, soda or juice bottle. I like the clear plastic so I can see if we’ve got any flies.

2. Cut off the top 1/4 of the plastic bottle and keep the two pieces. Make sure you remove the cap before you go any further (I forgot to and had to take the thing apart to remove the cap).

3. Turn the upper 1/4 with the neck down into the lower remaining section (see the photo).

4. Tape the two pieces together so that you have a tight seal.

5. Pour in some apple juice, apple cider vinegar or some wine (red wine seems to work best for us).

Fruit flies in DIY trap

Where To Place Fruit Fly Trap

Just place your DIY fruit fly trap in a place that seems to have lots of fruit flies and wait for the results. As you can see in the photo we’ve caught quite a few fruit flies in our DIY fruit fly trap.

I must say I was really skeptical when my wife told me about this fruit fly trap but it’s working really well. So if you have been overrun with fruit flies give this simple DIY fruit fly trap a try. It virtually costs nothing to make and your kids might enjoy this simple project.

Do you have a remedy for fruit flies? Have you ever tried this approach?

About the author

Todd Fratzel

I'm full time builder for a large construction company in New Hampshire. I run their design-build division that specializes in custom homes, commercial design-build projects and sub-divisions. I'm also a licensed civil and structural engineer with extensive experience in civil and structural design and home construction. My hope is that I can share my experience in the home construction, home improvement and home renovation profession with other builders and home owners. I'm also the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tool Box Buzz. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or you'd like to inquire about advertising on this site.

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7 Comments

  1. hollislocke says:

    We did something even more simple and it worked like a champ. Just took a small glass, filled with cider vinegar (we actually tried three glasses with all of what you suggested to see which worked best), and covered with some plastic wrap with just a small hole poked in the middle. We found that the cider vinegar was the best and it took care of the problem quickly!

  2. Anonymous says:

    That’s pretty swell. You don’t have to build something that complicated though. Just take a bowl of juice and add some liquid soap.
    Once the flies touch the surface, they instantly sink. Combining both would be the best solution, I think.

  3. Anonymous says:

    you can do the same thing with a glass and a piece of paper used as a funnel.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I would go with the cider vinegar and watch them enjoy the swim while having that suggested glass of wine:)

  5. Crystal Child says:

    An even simpler way of alleviating fruit fly problems. They breed in the sink drains. Pour bleach down the kitchen sink for three days and they vanish just like that.

  6. Baba says:

    We used this same method last year and it works fabulously.

  7. Thanks for the tip. We haven’t had any problems with fruit flies this year but a few years ago it seemed like every where we went there were fruit flies. Restaurants even had them flying around. So annoying. We hardly ever have them in this state but that year they were bad and I wish I had known your tip on how to get rid of them fast back then. I’ll remember this for future use.Thanks again for the tip~!

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