Medically Reviewed by Neha Pathak, MD on September 15, 2021
Those tiny "gnats" you see circling an overripe banana on your kitchen counter? They aren’t gnats at all. They're fruit flies. Not only are they annoying, they can also be bad for your health. But there are plenty of ways to make them go away for good. No matter where in the U.S. you live, fruit flies can show up on your kitchen counters or inside your trash can. They can turn up any time of year but are most common in the late summer and early fall. That's because they're attracted to ripe and rotting food. Fruits and vegetables -- especially bananas, melon, tomatoes, squash, and apples -- are their favorites. Rotten onions and potatoes are also a big draw for these tiny, 1/8-inch-long creatures. An adult female fruit fly can lay up to 2,000 eggs on the surface of anything that's moist and rotting. Within 30 hours, tiny maggots hatch and start to eat the decayed food. Within 2 days, they're all grown up and ready to mate, too. While that transition may seem quick, a fruit fly only lives 8 to 15 days. Research shows that fruit flies can transfer germs from a dirty surface onto a clean one. Some of the bacteria they may carry include salmonella, E. coli, and listeria. These three germs each cause food poisoning. Severe cases may put you in the hospital and can even be life-threatening.
If you have a fruit fly problem, insect sprays will kill the adult insects but won't stop eggs from hatching. To get rid of all the fruit files in your home, you'll need to:
To prevent fruit flies from getting too comfortable in your house again:
Fruit flies are the worst. One day, you have a perfectly lovely banana sitting on your counter, and the next, you’re hosting a bed and breakfast for a colony of vermin, and they are overstaying their welcome.
Fruit flies can pop up at any time of year, but they are especially common in the summer months when there are generally more fruits and vegetables ripening. They lay eggs on rotting or fermenting food, which hatch into hundreds of larvae. Then those larvae lay eggs, and then those larvae lay eggs, and before you know it you have to move and surrender your home over to the flies.
Luckily, before you give up your keys, there are a few things you can do to get rid of the little suckers. If you follow these steps, you’ll significantly reduce the numbers of these little tyrants and take back your kitchen.
Prevention
It’s much easier to stop the fruit flies from settling down in your space if your kitchen is clean and tidy. Start by cleaning up any areas where food might collect and break down. That means keeping your garbage outside or in a container with a well-fitting lid. Throw your food scraps in a compost bag and keep that in the freezer, rather than letting it sit out at room temperature. Flush out the drains of your sink in case old food has collected there.
If you normally keep fruits and veggies on the counter, try moving them to cooler spots or covering them, especially fruits with a high sugar content that ripen quickly. Try keeping your bananas and tomatoes in a cool drawer or under a dome. Yes, tomato drawers are a thing.
Photo by Catherine Powell/Shutterstock
How to Trap Fruit Flies
If fruit flies do make your kitchen their hangout spot, there are ways to trap them. They like fermented fruit, so mix a bit of dish soap with old beer, wine or apple cider vinegar. Pour water into the mixture until it bubbles, and leave the glass or bowl on the counter where you spot the flies. They’ll come to the glass because of the fruit sugar, but get trapped in the soap bubbles. You can also fit plastic wrap over the top of a beer bottle or glass of vinegar, and poke a few holes in it. Fruit flies can get in, but they can’t fly out.
If you’re looking for a solution with alcohol, there are commercial traps available, or you can make your own spray by mixing isopropyl alcohol and water. That should kill the flies on contact.
If All Else Fails…
Wait them out. Fruit flies only live for about two weeks, and when temperatures get cooler, they don’t survive long. You can have the sweet satisfaction of watching them drop off as summer turns to fall. Sip your pumpkin spice latte and grin, knowing you’ve outlasted the beasts for another season. Who’s in charge now, fly?
The gross reality is that fruit flies are mostly just annoying, but they do pose slight health risks. They can transport bacteria or germs as they land on food and surfaces in your home, which can occasionally lead to health issues. If you clean up an area with a lot of flies, you should wash your hands well afterwards, and wash any fruits and vegetables that are still on your counters before eating them.
Of all the household pests that can invade your home, fruit flies aren’t the worst. They’re not going to poison you, they’re not especially disgusting to look at, and they're scared off with the flutter of your hand—temporarily, at least. Still, they can make you feel a little ashamed like you have an unclean home, and they’re certainly annoying. Luckily, there are plenty of steps you can take to prevent fruit flies from settling in, to get rid of them, and to prevent them from coming back.
First, what causes fruit flies in your home?
Good news: Fruit flies aren't necessarily your fault. “It's not a cleanliness issue. Flies can come in on your produce when you bring your groceries home,” says Melissa Riker, who blogs home tips at the Happier Homemaker. “And they are incredibly hard to control once you have them in your home because they can lay eggs on anything, even the smallest little crumbs. And they can get in your drains and lay eggs.”
The experts at Orkin confirm that fruit flies are attracted to ripe, rotting, and decayed fruit and produce. They also like fermented items including beer, liquor, and wine. Not only can they breed in drains, but they can do so in garbage disposals, trash cans, and mop buckets. "Once they begin reproducing indoors, females are able to lay about 500 eggs and the eggs will hatch in as little as 24-30 hours after being deposited by the female," Orkin shares on its website.
How do you prevent fruit flies?
Rinse your fruit.
When you bring home fresh produce from the grocery store or market, wash it off before storing or displaying it. “You could just rinse it with water, or you can use one of those fruit and vegetable washes that they sell, or you can just use vinegar and water,” says Riker.
For that vinegar wash, Riker mixes around two parts water and one part vinegar. She notes that the combination might also keep your food from rotting a little bit longer as it kills some bacteria. Make sure to give your fruits and veggies one more final rinse in water before you’re done, though, so the vinegar flavor and scent don’t stick around.
Watch out for crumbs and older fruit.
No, you shouldn’t shame yourself as a housekeeper if some fruit flies appear, because again, “You would have to be unbelievably meticulous,” says Riker, to keep them out. But there are some hygienic behaviors you can be sure to maintain. “It's just a matter of cleaning up crumbs, and if your fruit starts to go overripe, go ahead and throw it out, because that sweetness attracts them.” There you have it! Tiny pests, begone.
How do you get rid of fruit flies?
Create a jar trap.
If the little suckers have already infiltrated, here’s one way to kill them. “I would take a jar and put something that's going to attract them inside,” says Riker. Fruit flies like sweet, rotting, fermenting things, so you could try overripe fruit, old wine, stale beer or soda, or apple cider vinegar. “Put that in the jar, cover the jar with plastic wrap and poke a couple of small holes. They can get in but can't get out,” she says.
Riker suggests placing a few of these jars around your home, perhaps near sinks, cabinets, or the trash, if the problem’s gotten worse and you want to guarantee to wipe them out quickly.
Stage a dish trap.
Another way to kill the flies is by... drowning them. “For that, you would use the apple cider vinegar or the wine or the beer as well, but you would add three drops or so of dish detergent,” Riker says. “Put it in a saucer, so it's wide, because then once they come down to it, the detergent breaks the surface tension and they drown.”
Try a store-bought product.
There are insect sprays and repellants you could spritz around your kitchen, as well as sticky fly paper and plastic traps. But Riker hasn’t tried them, she says, because “I feel like the apple cider vinegar really does the same thing. It just attracts them and traps them.” You probably already have all the stuff you need to fix the problem.
If you're on the hunt for an easy product that'll get rid of any flying insects in your home, consider the TikTok viral ZEVO Electric Flying Insect Trap, which is basically like a plug-in night light and bug trap combo. For a few other highly recommended options, see below. And make sure to check out a few of our favorite non-toxic cleaning products and the best natural bug repellant to control all pests once and for all.
Once exposed to air, these odorless strips slowly release a treatment that get rid of fruit flies—and other insects, like gnats and mosquitos—for up to four months.
Credit: Fruit Fly Bar ProPour this natural liquid into a small bowl and place it near fruit or compost, and you'll be free of fruit flies in no time. Bonus: You can use it indoors or outdoors!
Credit: Bye Bye Fruit FlyAll you have to do with this nontoxic product is open it, and let it work its magic. It lasts for up to 30 days and is made of specialized vinegar and ferment.
Credit: Aunt Fannie'sWant something that won't ruin your aesthetic? This ceramic jar with a stainless steel lid will do the trick. Just add a DIY mixture to it, and you'll be set.
Credit: RSVP International Store🏡You love beautiful homes. So do we. Let’s obsess over them together.
Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.