Fruit flies love places that have sugar, or are fermented, and have a little moisture to them. Common examples are beer cans, wine bottles and empty soda cans. After you've gotten rid of the produce, go into your recycling bin and take all the bottles and cans out, you can store them somewhere safe, sealed and dry until pickup comes along. Then give the bin itself a good cleaning.
3. Have compost? Take it outside.
Don't wait too long to wash those dishes, especially if there is still food residue on them, and especially if that residue is sugary or fermented. If you have a dishwasher, rinse the dishes well and load it as soon as possible.
6. Now check the other hiding place for flies: Potato and onion storage
Most people keep their onion, potatoes and other root vegetables somewhere dark and cool. These places easily get a little rot in them and become a haven for fruit flies. It only takes one moldy spud to keep that fly population alive in your kitchen. After you've dealt with the flies' main attractions, get rid of any produce that is mushy or soft and give the place a good scrubbing too.
At times, the quickest way to dispatch a population of invading insects is to kill the reproducing males. Fortunately, it's easy to trick fruit flies into thinking almost anything is fermenting fruit. Place a number of cider vinegar traps around the house, especially at all the dark moist areas that seem like a good habitat for the flies.
Here's what you'll need:
How to create the vinegar trap:
1. First, pour about an inch (2-3 cm) of apple cider vinegar into the glass.
2. Then, snip the corner off the plastic bag with your scissors, it should be a that is just big enough for fruit flies to fly through, but not so large that it'll be easy for them to escape.
3. Next, place the bag over the glass with the vinegar and position it so that the hole you made is over the center.
4. Push the corner you cut into the glass so the bag forms a kind of funnel, but doesn't actually touch the vinegar inside. It may take a few tries, so be patient.
5. Once this is done, use the rubber band to secure the baggie to the glass and your trap is done! Place these traps in the places most rife with infestation, even after you've cleaned them.
8. Continue the attack with a sticky fly swatter.
For those flies that are still buzzing around, even though you've left them very little place by now to land, there is always the option of brute strength. However, because they are so tiny and quick, it's almost impossible to swat them, unless you make this sticky swatter.
Get a Styrofoam plate and coat it with cooking spray. Now, as you swat at these pesky insects, they will stick to the plate, and you can later wash them down the drain.
9. Not enough? Use a blow dryer
10. Burn incense
Fruit flies have a very small, and very delicate, respiratory system. This means they need a constant supply of clean, fresh air, which they won't get if you burn incense around them. They will hate it and back away or risk dying slowly from lack of oxygen.
