Get rid of pesky mosquitoes quickly and naturally with a DIY fruit fly trap. Here's how you can make a fruit fly trap yourself.
I love fresh fruit. In all variations. Preferably several mixed varieties at once. And I like to keep a few in stock. But as soon as it gets a little warmer outside, fresh fruit attracts mosquitoes.
Within a very short time, the whole apartment is swarming with black mosquitoes. Around the fruit basket, of course, it is particularly bad. Do without fruit completely?
Of course, that is out of the question.
Fortunately, there are great home remedies that work quite wonderfully. You can make a DIY fruit fly trap in just a few minutes. You probably already have the ingredients at home.
So that you can make a fruit fly trap yourself and use it immediately, I present you different variants. My favorite is the fruit fly trap with apple cider vinegar. But the other versions also work wonderfully.
Table of contents
But let's clear up one quick question before we get to the build instructions. Where the hell do those pesky pests actually come from?
Where do fruit flies come from?
Fruit fly, fruit fly, fruit fly - they have many names. From June to September in particular, things get busy in the fruit basket. No wonder: One mosquito lays up to 400 eggs, which develop into new mosquitoes in only 14 days. So even a small fly is enough to soon besiege the entire kitchen.
But where do they come from?
- Most of the time you take fruit flies home from the supermarket. Look around the store, if it is swarming with flies, then better leave the fruit. It is guaranteed to be full of eggs and larvae.
- In summer, mosquitoes are attracted by the scent of ripe fruit. So they can also slip in by the balcony or window.
- Fruit flies love food scraps of all kinds. If you have a full trash can or even a bio garbage can, it won't take long for the mosquitoes to get there. They will find any gap in the fly screen, no matter how small, to slip through.
The fact is that mosquitoes are a real pain in the ass. But they are not poisonous and do not hurt us. But their presence alone is enough to get annoyed.
What you should know: Fruit flies love overripe bananas and apples that have been cut. This is where they especially like to lay their eggs.
How to make a fruit fly trap yourself
Basically, I would like to state once again: Neither mosquitoes, larvae nor eggs are harmful to us. So if you now reach for the chemical club, then you only harm yourself with it. Especially if you eat the fruit afterwards.
An all-natural way to combat dew gnats is to use a DIY fruit fly trap. The mosquitoes disappear within a very short time and
There are two ways you can make a fruit fly trap yourself
- In the first variant, the mosquitoes are killed. They drown in attractant liquid.
- In the second variant, you catch them and can release them in the open.
Make fruit fly trap yourself with vinegar
By the way, the mosquitoes are not picky. You can use any vinegar. Apple cider vinegar has only proven to be particularly effective, but I've also tried balsamic. The mosquitoes love vinegar in any form.
A DIY fruit fly trap with vinegar always ends fatally for the pests.
You need:
- a small bowl, jar or dish
- 6 tablespoons vinegar
- 6 tablespoons tap water
- 3-4 drops of washing up liquid
If you like, you can replace the tap water with apple juice. But it also works great with water and so at least more juice remains for you.
Here's how
- Place the bowl right next to the fruit bowl or where the most mosquitoes can be seen.
- Pour vinegar, water and dishwashing liquid into the fruit bowl.
- Now leave the bowl exactly like this, don't stir it and don't move it anymore - otherwise the flies can smell the roast :)
Why does it work?
Fruit flies love the smell of vinegar. They are attracted by it.
Normally, the small flies can stand on the water surface and fill their bellies.
The rinsing agent cancels the surface tension. The mosquitoes drown and sink to the bottom.
You can leave the fruit fly trap for a few days. After that you should change the attractant liquid.
Fruit fly trap without vinegar
This method also belongs to variant 1, i.e. the one that kills mosquitoes. Here you do not use vinegar and thus have no unpleasant odor in the apartment.
If you don't have vinegar on hand, these mixtures have also proven effective: Milk & sugar against fruit flies.
You need:
- 10 tablespoons whole milk
- 3 tablespoons household sugar
- 3-4 drops of washing up liquid
- 1 pinch of pepper
But what you need to know: you can easily make a fruit fly trap with milk and sugar. But vinegar works more seductively on the mosquitoes. It also works with milk, but not as efficiently. But the big advantage is that it doesn't smell like vinegar in your apartment.
Here's how:
- Heat the milk until the sugar dissolves in it. The easiest way to do this with this small amount is in the microwave.
- Remove the milk skin, mosquitoes can stand on it.
- Pour the milk into a glass, add dishwashing liquid and pepper.
- Place the jar near the fruit bowl.
Attract fruit flies with wine
Wine is just as seductive as vinegar. Mosquitoes love the scent, which is why a mosquito sometimes lands in the wine if you don't close the bottle well.
Whether white wine, red wine does not matter at all.
You need:
- 10-15 tablespoons wine
- 3-4 tablespoons sugar (optional)
- 3-4 drops of washing up liquid
You don't have to add the sugar. But it is worth it, because it attracts mosquitoes - similar to fructose in fruit.
Here's how:
- Pour the wine into a glass, put it in the microwave and dissolve the sugar in it.
- If you want, you can add a little water to it to make it more liquid.
- Add 3-4 drops of dishwashing liquid.
- Ready is the fruit fly trap.
How you can attract fruit flies with baker's yeast
If you love to bake and are currently plagued by a plague of fruit flies, you know that the beasts love the smell of fresh yeast. But you can take advantage of this and make a fruit fly trap yourself.
You need
- 1/4 cube yeast (alternative: dry yeast)
- 1/4 L lukewarm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3-4 drops of washing up liquid
Of course, you can also use dry yeast that has already expired and is not suitable for baking. This is purely about the scent.
Here's how
- Mix the yeast with lukewarm water.
- Add the sugar - stir well again.
- Pour the mix into a glass.
- Finally, the washing-up liquid is added. And the trap is ready.
Make fruit fly trap yourself without killing the mosquitoes
You are a great animal lover and you don't want to kill the gnats? There is also a way for you to get rid of the pests.
The flies get into the trap, but no longer get out. You can empty the jar regularly without harming the animals.
The funnel method
You need
- One glass
- A plastic bottle
- Fruit
Here's how
- Cut off the neck of a plastic bottle. Alternatively, roll up a piece of paper to make a funnel.
- If you decide to use the paper: Roll it up so that it becomes wide at the top and there is only a small opening at the bottom for the mosquitoes. Fix the paper funnel with tape so that it stays in shape.
- Add a little fruit to the jar and mosquitoes will be on the lookout for the treat.
- The most suitable: sliced grapes or a piece of banana.
When there are enough mosquitoes in the trap, put a cloth on it and carry it outside.
The transparent film method
You need
- One glass
- A transparent film
- A rubber ring
- Fruit
Here's how
- Put the fruit in the glass.
- Stretch a transparent film over the opening of the jar. Fix it with a rubber ring - if necessary.
- Make small holes in the foil with a sewing needle.
- Ready.
Release the mosquitoes into the wild. But beware. Close doors and windows. The fruit flies are very nimble and quickly back in the apartment. If you are unlucky, you can start right back to making a fruit fly trap yourself.
Even better than DIY fruit fly trap: prevent the mosquitoes
Much better than getting annoyed with the buggers is to make sure they don't appear and multiply so rapidly in the first place. There are a few tricks that work quite well.
In the warm summer months, however, they only help to a limited extent. It gets a little better, however, if you
- Consume fruit quickly and buy only small quantities,
- do not stock up on fruit,
- always dispose of organic waste immediately and do not collect it in the apartment,
- store overripe fruit in the refrigerator or consume it immediately,
- make a quick smoothie or pancakes from brown bananas,
- install a close-meshed fly screen,
- shield the fruit basket with a cover,
- not leave an open bottle of wine or vinegar around,
- Do not store apples and tomatoes next to other fruits - they make everything ripen faster.
Why you should not make a fruit fly trap as a preventive measure
Now you could simply set up a trap as a preventive measure and prevent the mosquitoes from eating the fruit. Or?
Not a good idea. With the DIY trap you ensure that mosquitoes are attracted. They will die, but if you don't set up the trap in the first place, you won't attract any.
Help! The fruit fly trap does not work - This is the reason
Not every fruit fly trap has to work equally well all the time. If you're wondering why the fruit fly trap isn't working, try this:
- Sometimes the fruit is more tempting than the trap. Try a different mixture. What always works for me: the fruit fly trap with vinegar.
- Give the trap time to work. Leave it overnight, the mosquitoes may be skeptical at first, but usually they can't resist in the long run.
- Eliminate everything that could be tasty for the mosquitoes. Then they will voluntarily move to the trap.
- Build several traps to catch all the fruit flies.
- Try a different trap or several at the same time. That way you can see what your fruit flies are into.
What can also be: They may not be fruit flies at all, but fungus gnats. Observe where the gnats come from. Do they come out of the soil of plants? Or are they buzzing around flower pots? Then it is clear that the fruit fly trap is not working.
7 ways to get rid of fungus gnats!
Our conclusion
If you want to make a fruit fly trap yourself, you basically have two options: Kill the mosquitoes or do not kill them. Both are very efficient and homemade in a few simple steps. It is even better, but to have only a little fruit in stock, then the mosquitoes are not attracted in the first place in the large quantity.
Good luck in the fight against mosquitoes! :)
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