How to make a fruit fly trap?

[Larry T]

The trap is easy to make, but no one tells me how big to make the hole for the fly to get in. I think my holes are to small about 1/8". I think maybe I will try 1/4 or 3/8". Has any one been down this road before?

[Rumi in Hawaii]

Hi Larry, my fruit fly trap is just a cone of paper taped into a jar with some vinegar or rotting fruit inside....I've never measured the hole at the bottom of the cone but it's probably about 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter. Seems to work pretty well, most of the time. But I've found the best preventative is to put your fruit in one of those baskets that has a mesh lid that opens up and closes over the fruit...found mine at the farmers market in Kea'au, but that was months ago. Of course, it does seem that what brings the fruit flies into the house is bananas - I think they hatch out of the skin or something. Good luck - they are really pesky aren't they? They land in my wine glass!!! Buggers!!

Have a grateful day.
Katie in Eden Roc

Wherever you go, there you are.

[Lin W]

We used to make yellow-jacket traps out of water bottles, don't see why they wouldn't work for fruit flies. Just take an ordinary drinking water bottle, cut it straight across just below the shoulders, invert the top so the neck is pointing down inside the bottle (remove the lid, of course) and push it down tight. You can easily take the inverted top in and out of the bottle bottom to add bait/dispose of flies, whatever. The mouth of the bottle is a fairly big opening but the yellow-jackets never escaped, doubt the fruit flies will either. When I have a fruit fly outbreak, they always seem to end up in the ice-cube trays in the freezer -- how??? Good luck.

use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without

[Carey]

Lin, invitations to an ice skating party??? (Hubby asked if you have through the door ice?... maybe they are slurping a drop of water & there is a fly sized area they can fly into the ice bin??)

This shows the paper cone style:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef621.asp

in more detail:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Super-EZ...-fly-trap/

Wiki has a bunch of different trap ideas:
http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fruit-Flies

and another:
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Get-Rid...t-Fly-Trap&id=87041

U-Tube has videos, inc. how to make the bottle trap (also look at the side bar for more):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcBNp8ZUxWA

But if you want an elaborate & probably ineffective trap:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAgsKlx2A9k&feature=related


if you have a lot of fruit trees in the yard, you may also want to look into having an augmentorium away from your residence… these are to encourage natural predators:
http://arsserv0.tamu.edu/is/AR/archive/f...4.htm?pf=1

[Andrew]

I tried this one and it is totally useless. Flies flew in and gorged on rotting banana then flew straight out again fat and happy ready to torment another day.

Andrew

From a Google search:
1. Get a small jar you don't plan on using again ( like a baby food jar or something similar ) and wash it out well. Make sure it is not a jar with a funky smell such as a used pickle jar or anything that use to have strong spices. You want a clean, odorless jar.

2. Take a chunk of banana and place inside the jar. This is why you want a clean, odorless jar - so that the banana smell won't be overpowered by other not-so-tempting smells. Banana seems to work the best, but you can experiment.

3. Fit a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the jar, making sure that it fits tight and well sealed around the edges. Then take a pen or pencil and poke 4 to 5 holes in the plastic, just big enough for a fruit fly to fit into. Once a fruit fly crawls in, it can't get out. You would think they would just fly back out through the holes, but they won't!

4. Place the jar in an area where you have seen the most fruit flies. Depending on the amount of fruit flies you have, you can expect to start seeing the jar fill up within just a few hours. After 24 hours, you will discover just how bad your fruit fly problem is!

This simple, inexpensive & safe method works perfectly and if you don't want the jar on public display, you can always slip it behind the garbage can, in the cupboard or even under the sink (Just don't forget about it!). You will want to empty the jar every 3-4 days before any eggs have a chance to hatch. While adult fruit flies can't easily escape through the holes, their maggots can very easily, and besides that - they are disgusting to see crawling around in the jar. You don't want to see these things crawling on your counter!

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[kani-lehua]

we used gal. water bottles. the holes were about the size of a quarter or maybe a little smaller. worked great! we bought some type of chemical potion from ace hardware. it was probably some type of pheremones.

"chaos reigns within.
reflect, repent and reboot.
order shall return."

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[Rumi in Hawaii]

Lin, that is so weird!! I've found fruit flies in my ice cube trays, too!! No thru-the-door water or ice here, just old-fashioned ice cube trays. Do you think they just get suicidal, or too hot for comfort??? []

Katie in Eden Roc

Wherever you go, there you are.

[Lin W]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Carey

Lin, invitations to an ice skating party??? (Hubby asked if you have through the door ice?... maybe they are slurping a drop of water & there is a fly sized area they can fly into the ice bin??)

Originally posted by Rumi in Hawaii

Lin, that is so weird!! I've found fruit flies in my ice cube trays, too!! No thru-the-door water or ice here, just old-fashioned ice cube trays. Do you think they just get suicidal, or too hot for comfort??? []

---

Just a regular ol' fridge with a top freezer and ice-cube trays, no ice or water through the door here either. It's a puzzle, isn't it?

use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without