Don’t have a store-bought trap on hand? No problem. You can quickly get rid of fruit flies using materials you already have in your kitchen with these six homemade traps: You can put this research to work by diffusing essential oils in your kitchen to create an inhospitable environment for fruit flies to continue reproducing. At the very least, it will make your space smell nice. “If you bring home bananas that have fruit fly eggs and they’re sitting on your counter, given enough time they’re going to hatch and be in your house,” explains Bordessa. These hatched flies are harmless, but they can quickly reproduce on any food source they find. “Once they come into the home, they can spread and start breeding and feeding on other types of produce,” says Lozanova. Fruit flies typically only live for one to two weeks, and if they can’t find a place to reproduce in that time, they die off. Lozanova notes that dirty counters and drains can also harbor flies. Be sure to get in the habit of keeping your kitchen clean and fishing food out of your sink after washing dishes. Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She’s spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.
