It happens every year: Spring dies down and fruit flies come out in droves. While they're tiny, those little buggers have an annoying habit of hovering around your produce. Before long, they're everywhere. So, we asked experts exactly how to get rid of fruit flies in your home for good.

Fruit flies are almost notable for their big red eyes, explains Jason DiBiase, president and possessor of Rochester Pest Pro. He adds they range in color from tan to black and are slightly smaller than a mutual housefly. You lot'll discover them in the early leap into summer in areas where in that location is a spillage, like underneath a kitchen cabinet where yous store your trash, DiBiase says.

How to become rid of fruit flies the right way

It tin feel like they'll never go abroad if you're dealing with a fruit fly infestation, but there are a few things y'all can do to kill them and prevent them from taking over your habitation:

1. Make clean up your kitchen

The number one thing you tin practice to become rid of fruit flies is to keep whatever area you take food aseptic and clean, DiBiase emphasizes. He suggests keeping your spills and nutrient scraps clean and put away ASAP to avoid pests. Specially if you choose to compost—he encourages keeping a compost bin outside and away from entrances to your habitation, if possible. Additionally, don't go out dirty rags, sponges, or anything else you utilize to make clean upwardly food out where bugs can find them.

2. Encompass upward your fruit (or wash information technology every bit shortly equally you lot bring it habitation).

      Fruit flies demand moisture (similar decomposable fruit) to feed off of and lay their eggs on, says Daniel Baldwin, managing director of technical, grooming, and regulatory services for Terminix. So, store your fruit in bags or cover them with bowls instead of leaving them out on your counter to keep fruit flies at bay. Washing and drying any fruit that you leave out, like bananas and apples, tin can also aid remove any fruit fly-attracting liquids or substances.

      3. Empty your trash and recycling regularly.

      Change your trash tin daily or every other twenty-four hours until you accept control over the trouble, suggests Nancy Troyano, Ph.D., a board-certified entomologist with Ehrlich Pest Control.

      Additionally, always use a liner or bag so everything stays contained. "The smallest piece of fruit or vegetable or a leaking container in the lesser of a trash can be a source for fruit flies," Troyano says. "This applies to both the kitchen trash and bathroom wastebaskets."

      And don't forget the recycling bin. "This is a big hot spot where we often find a nifty source for fruit fly problems," Troyano says. Use a liner here likewise, and make sure to wipe it out after emptying, too.

      three. Make a DIY fruit wing trap.

      Every bit a whole, finding and eliminating their food source and the breeding expanse is "the almost effective option," Baldwin says. But you tin can also try making your own DIY fruit wing trap. While these tactics don't always solve the problem, they can exist worth trying to see if they help the outcome. The following liquids can assistance concenter, capture, and kill developed fruit flies:

      • Apple cider vinegar
      • Onetime beer or wine
      • Fruit juices

      Pour a piffling bit of your preferred substance into a glass and exit it uncovered. The flies volition be drawn to the sweetness, eventually hitting the liquid to feed, and drown. In the case of using old wine or beer, but leave the canteen out—the narrow neck volition help go along them trapped.

      If you prefer to use a bowl, pour in the liquid and cover it with plastic wrap (securing with a condom ring) with tiny holes poked throughout. This allows fruit flies to come into the trap but makes it difficult for them to escape. DiBiase adds a touch of dish soap in the mixture tin can also aid attract bugs.

      4. Clean your kitchen sink.

      Glisten Disposer Care Foaming Cleaner

      Disposer Care Foaming Cleaner

      Glisten Disposer Care Foaming Cleaner

      DiBiase encourages cleaning your sink regularly to avert a buildup of food. Sometimes the garbage disposal or drain can exist to blame for a fruit fly problem, which is why Troyano recommends using a garbage disposal cleaner or rubber drain cleaner to clear the issue.

      5. Call an exterminator.

      If you've cleaned thoroughly and still have a fruit fly problem afterwards a few days, DiBiase suggests calling a pest expert for help. Though there are many products on the market, generally they won't do the job besides, or they can be dangerous if you lot don't read the characterization properly, he says.

      "As long every bit the proper conditions are available, fruit wing problems will persist and often become worse," Baldwin agrees. "Females can lay hundreds of eggs, and a unmarried piece of fruit can back up the development of thousands of flies." When it seems like you're dealing with fruit flies that are multiplying at an "uncontrollable rate," information technology'southward time to call in assist from the experts, Baldwin says.

        How to prevent fruit flies from convenance

        Again, removing convenance sites is the best way to go rid of fruit flies, Baldwin says. This likely means fruit and other produce you take lying out, or it could be your garbage tin. That'due south why our experts recommend removing damp things from your kitchen, keeping things make clean, and storing your produce in sealed containers. Overall, yous but want to discover fruit flies where they're convenance and knock out the source.

        Fruit flies vs. gnats: What's the departure?

        Fruit flies look like gnats, but they're actually dissimilar. Gnats are virtually one-half the size of a musquito, have long dangly legs, and are often dark gray or blackness, DiBiase says. They tend to oversupply around potting soil or organic materials, then they'll probable be found about your houseplants.

        Fruit flies, on the other manus, tend to hang out around stuff that's fermenting, like spoiling fruit.

        "Fruit flies are often lumped into the 'gnat' category, but they are not truly gnats, although gnats and fruit flies tin share some behaviors," says Troyano, like invading very suddenly. Simply let's exist real: Both are a nuisance.

        Why are there always so many fruit flies?

        These tiny pests breed speedily, which is why you lot might observe one on whatsoever given day, and and then a bunch more not long afterward. DiBiase says they have a brusk lifespan, but reproduce chop-chop–equally many equally 500 eggs at ane time.

        "When fruit and vegetables that we swallow are ready to come off the vine or tree, fruit flies will abound in nature," Troyano says, adding that they "tin can easily come up into your home from nearby areas. You may also inadvertently bring them home from the grocery shop or that farmers' market."

        Fruit flies also tend to proliferate when you're non super careful nigh deeper cleaning in your kitchen—say, your garbage disposal and trash areas—which creates more breeding and feeding sites for the flies, Baldwin says.