Is Your Fruit Fly Trap Not Working? Here’s How to Fix it!

Fruit flies in your house can be a real frustration. You think you’ve solved the problem, only to wake up a couple of days later with even more buzzing around your kitchen. Grr!

So, if you have a fruit fly trap not working, then where can you go from here? Do you need to resort to chemical sprays that have the potential to harm small children and pets? Or is there a way to get your fruit fly trap working and getting rid of the pesky buggers?

In this article we’ll look at fruit fly traps and what can go wrong with them. We’ll also explain how to fix a non-functioning fruit fly trap.


Fruit Fly Trap Not Working! Why?

Homemade fruit fly traps are usually a great way to get rid of an infestation that hasn’t taken hold. All you generally need is a bowl or glass jar filled with dish soap and some apple cider, red wine, or even balsamic vinegar.

The fruit flies will end up drowning themselves in the solution.

Sounds easy, right? However, sometimes this doesn’t work. This may be because you’re using the wrong solution, or maybe the infestation is growing faster than the trap is doing its work.

To fix it, you should remake the trap, and also target any areas fruit flies may be breeding in your home. This combination should finally get rid of them for good.

To fix it, you should remake the trap, and also target any areas fruit flies may be breeding in your home. This combination should finally get rid of them for good.

You’ll see fruit flies swarming and buzzing around your kitchen looking for food or hanging around your bathroom drains or even your mirrors instead, which can become unbearable, especially if you suffer from OCD.

Before you take further action though, you need to make sure that you’ve eliminated all of the possible places where the female fruit flies may be laying eggs. We’ll go over the primary spots to focus on here:

1. Drain Pipes

Fruit flies will sometimes lay their eggs in your drains. You’ll need to cover them with stoppers or duct tape when they’re not in use.

If you notice fruit flies are coming into your house through your drains, then you should also pour boiling water down them daily. Even if the infestation isn’t coming from your drains, this action will help to deter them entering your home.

2. Tiny Cracks around the Kitchen

Fruit flies are also known to find environments to lay eggs where you wouldn’t expect, including cracks in grouting or in-between kitchen or bathroom countertops and sinks. So, if you find eggs here, you’ll need to dispose of them, or else you’ll be dealing with a new generation of fruit flies within a few days.

Fruit flies are also known to find environments to lay eggs where you wouldn’t expect, including cracks in grouting or in-between kitchen or bathroom countertops and sinks. So, if you find eggs here, you’ll need to dispose of them.

5. Trash Can Lids and Interiors

Have you cleaned your trash cans — and lids — on a regular basis? The interior of these objects are other places where fruit flies like to hide and lay their eggs, so cleaning and rinsing these regularly will play a role in getting rid of your fruit fly infestation.

4. Window Frames

Are there any air leaks around the corners of your windows? Yes, this is another way that these tiny kitchen menaces can enter your home. If this is the case, you need to seal these small openings with weather stripping or foam, for example.

5. Exposed Food on the Counters

Also make sure that any fruits, vegetables, or other exposed food where they can lay eggs are put in the refrigerator or into airtight containers, and then stored in your kitchen cupboards.

In addition, anything that holds water or is moist is tempting to fruit flies, so don’t leave dirty dishes in your kitchen sink.


How To Make Fruit Fly Traps That Work

fruit fly trap that works
Fruit Fly Trap That Works

1. Use a Jar With a Lid

Instead of using a bowl to make a homemade fruit fly trap, use a glass jar with a plastic or metal lid to hold the apple cider vinegar and dish soap solution.

2. Poke Some Holes in the Lid

What you’ll need to do next is poke or drill a few small holes in the lid. This will allow the fruit flies to get in, but it’ll be harder for them to get out.

If you don’t have a jar with a lid, you could also use shrink wrap to cover the jar, and poke some tiny holes into that, although this may not work as well.

3. Add More Sweet, Sweet Bait

You might also want to add a bit of sweet bait to the solution, such as a small amount of beer, a cola drink or iced tea, which aids in adding sweetness to the mix.

Heating the solution before putting it in the jar will increase the smell, and this should provide you with extremely good results.

You might also want to add a bit of sweet bait to the solution, such as a small amount of beer, a cola drink or iced tea, which aids in adding sweetness to the mix. Heating the solution before putting it in the jar will increase the smell, and this should provide you with extremely good results.

A couple of other ingredients you can use to make homemade traps for fruit flies include vanilla extract and yeast. For the vanilla trap, you need to mix soapy water with real vanilla extract. The sweet smell will attract the fruit flies, while the alcohol contained in it will kill them on contact.

As far as the yeast solution, it should be mixed with warm water and sugar in a dish, just as if you were proofing for making bread. When these ingredients are mixed together, they will activate and bubble, and the smell of this brings fruit flies like a moth to a flame. They’ll also get stuck in the mixture and drown.

4. Supplement with Fly Tape or Sticky Traps

Using sticky traps or fly tape all over the house will also help to gather any fruit flies buzzing their way around the house instead of being enticed by your homemade fruit fly traps.


The Cons of Using Fruit Fly Traps

Unfortunately, fruit fly traps don’t always work the way you want them to, especially homemade ones. These generally only attract adult flies, so they don’t eliminate the population as a whole. Anywhere eggs have already been laid won’t be affected by homemade fruit fly traps.

Unfortunately, fruit fly traps don’t always work the way you want them to, especially homemade ones, which generally only attract adult flies, so don’t eliminate the population as a whole. Anywhere eggs have already been laid won’t be affected by homemade fruit fly traps.

If you still want to take a more natural approach to getting rid of fruit flies, before you decide to use harsh chemicals like bleach or insect spray, then read our article Essential Oils For Fruit Flies.

Using a combination of certain essential oils work well to get rid of fruit fly infestations, while also working to add a calming scent to your home. So, now you have another way to get rid of these tiny beasts if your fruit fly trap is not working.