Help! I’ve got a fruit fly invasion! How can I get rid of fruit flies?

Sooner or later we will all have to deal with a fruit fly invasion in our house. Fruit fly eggs often ride into your home on the skin of the lovely fruit you purchase. As the fruit starts to ripen and eventually rot, the eggs hatch and fruit flies emerge. If they are not controlled immediately, a small fruit fly problem can easily turn into a large fruit fly problem. Ever gone off on vacation and come home to a fruit fly infestation?

By the end of this short article you will know how to get rid of fruit flies fast and prevent fruit fly invasions in the future.

Since this is a website dedicated to teaching worm composting, I am going to include a few tips focused on keeping fruit flies out of a worm composting bin. Even if you don’t have an indoor worm composting bin, the below tips will help you get rid of your fruit fly problem and prevent fruit flies in the future.

9 easy steps to get rid of of fruit flies fast

Build a fruit fly trap or buy a fruit fly trap here. If you’ve already been invaded with fruit flies, its time to trap them and kill them. Read these instructions for making a fruit fly trap in under two minutes.
Get rid of any fruit in your house. Remember, fruit flies lay their eggs in fruit skin (they especially like bananas which ripen quickly). If you are fighting a fruit fly invasion, get rid of all fruit (new or old) that is sitting on your counter.
Empty all trash cans immediately and clean with bleach, then leave out in the sun to dry. Fruit flies can live in your trash can as well, especially if you are putting food scraps in your trash can.
Clean your kitchen counters and sink with a diluted bleach spray.
Toss out your old sponge. An old stinky sink sponge with tiny food particles is a great habitat for fruit flies.
Add another layer of worm bin bedding to the top of your worm composting bin. You should never be able to see food scraps.
Be sure to bury all your food scraps well when you feed your composting worms.
Do not overfeed your composting worms. If you put too much food in the worm composting bin it will decompose without the worms eating it. Rotting food scraps is a great spot for fruit flies. Don’t put extra food scraps in your worm bin before you go out of town. Composting worms can eat their worm bin bedding as well. They won’t starve if you leave them for 3 to 5 days.

A Worm Feast
Freeze your food scraps before putting them in your worm bin or outdoor compost pile. Keeping your compostable food scraps in the freezer instead of on the counter keeps fruit flies from breeding in them. Freezing food scraps also kills any fruit fly eggs that may have been on your fruit skins.

Here’s to a fruit fly free kitchen! Do you have another tip to get rid of fruit flies? Please share on social media (links below).

If this article saved you from a flippin fruit fly freak out and helped you get rid of fruit flies, please share it with a friend.
If you would rather purchase a fruit fly trap, here is one that I have used in the past.