How to get rid of fruit flies without vinegar

Vinegar is the most effective and popular material that people use to get rid of fruit flies. Most of the time, people use apple cider vinegar. It is sour and it has a similar fragrance to the fruit. But not every household has this ingredient in hand. There are other home remedies that homeowners can take advantage of to chase away the insects. And the effect is just as good. Check out these methods that we have in store.

How to free your house from fruit flies


Mothballs have a very strong scent that keeps insects and small animals at bay. That includes fruit flies. Leave some mothballs around your house like in the closet and in the kitchen, your house will be free from many unwanted guests.


The downside to mothballs is that they are very pretty. Mothballs and Naphthalene balls come in many colors, most of them come in a mixed bag full of colors or in white but glittery. There is no way children can identify them as dangerous objects. Many have mistaken them for candy.

So, if you live with a young kid, we don’t recommend this method, unless you teach them about the danger of the mothballs.

Lemon juice

Lemon juice can substitute apple cider vinegar, but the scent is weaker so the effect can be less dynamic. We use this ingredient to build a trap for fruit flies. You need plastic wrap, an old cup or bowl, sugar, water, a toothpick or a small stick and dish soap. You must use an old cup. The steps are:

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·       Step 1: pour lemon juice, sugar water, dish soap into the old cup and mix it all up.

·       Step 2: cover the mouth of the cup with plastic wrap

·       Step 3: use a toothpick or a stick to poke small holes through the wrap

·       Step 4: Leave the cup in the kitchen or wherever you find most fruit flies

·       Step 5: Decide how to kill the fruit flies in the trap since this method allows you to trap them only. You can try insect spray.

Lemon juice

The only downside to this method is that the trap doesn’t kill the flies. You have to come up with your own decision. We recommend insect repellent because it is quick and easy. But if you have a mothball, drop it in the substance and swirl the cup so that the fruit flies drown in the toxic chemical.

The reason why you must use an old cup is that the final step makes it dangerous to consume anything from this cup in the future.


Fruit flies love beer and wine as well. Who doesn’t? If you have some leftover beer or wine, you can use them as well. The materials that you need are the same as the method above. But replace lemon juice with beer or wine. But for beer, you don’t need sugar.

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The result is the same as lemon juice. You will have to decide how to handle the trapped fruit flies as well.


Rotten fruits + insect spray

If you have ripe or rotten fruits around, place them in a humid spot inside of the house. Fruit flies love humid environments. They will be attracted to the fruits quickly. Wait until many fruit flies gather in the same area and use insect spray to kill them.

This method is quick and easy. You can kill the insects directly. The hardest part of the process is to pay attention to the environment. Fruit flies don’t stay around for too long. So you have to keep an eye on the area to exterminate as many as possible.

Professional spray

Hire a professional once and you won’t have to deal with insects in the future. We advise that every household needs to be sprayed with insect repellent once so that the space is 100% free from small invaders. Not just fruit flies, mosquitoes, rats, cockroaches, flies won’t enter your home either. The spray clings to every corner of the house and makes it impossible for insects, reptiles, etc. to live.

Professional spray service


There are some frequently asked questions around the issue. You now know how to kill the fruit flies and how to trap them. But where do they come from? Where is their habitat? This section will give you all the answers that you need.

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Where do we find fruit flies’ lair?

Where do we find fruit flies’ lair

Insects don’t come from nothing. Fruit flies are like mosquitoes and flies, they come from areas with a high level of humidity. Fruit flies come from drains, sinks, wet mops, etc. These insects also love rotten or ripe fruits and vegetables.

In Asia countries where rice is the most important food, fruit flies attack leftover rice as well. Also, if you leave a bottle of beer or wine outside for a while, you will notice some small insects flying around it. They are fruit flies as well.

So you know where fruit flies come from and what their favorite foods are. Use them to your advantage to kill all the fruit flies in the house.

How to avoid having fruit flies in the house?

·       To avoid fruit flies in the house, you must keep the surrounding clean and tidy.
·       If you have a wet mop inside of the house, wash it thoroughly and put it under the sun so it can dry.
·       Check around the kitchen area and the fridge and throw away old meals or old fruits and vegetables.
·       Keep the part under the sink clean and dry.
·       Clean the bottle of beer or wine after finishing it. It will prevent the invasion of fruit flies.

Final thoughts

Hopefully, with our methods, you can get rid of fruit flies. Apple cider vinegar is the ingredient that we consider to be the most effective. It attracts fruit flies quickly and efficiently. If you want to kill these insects right away, spray bottles are another option. But either way, the trick works. Try it and see for yourselves.