Losing the battle against fruit flies and my sanity

Hi everyone,

I feel like I’ve tried everything at this point and fruit flies keep coming back. I clean the kitchen regularly, take out the trash, and even started rinsing bottles before throwing them away, but somehow they still show up again a few days later.

The weird part is that I don’t always see where they’re coming from. Sometimes they gather around the sink, other times near the fruit bowl or recycling bin. I even tried a couple of DIY traps, and while they catch some flies, it doesn’t seem to solve the problem completely.

Has anyone here managed to actually stop fruit flies long-term? Was it something simple I might be overlooking?

Fruit flies drove me crazy last summer. Turned out the issue was my kitchen drain.

Same thing happened to me. Once I cleaned the drain thoroughly, the numbers dropped a lot.

@MapleCorner That’s a good point. A lot of people forget about drains.

I had success with the apple cider vinegar trap, but it took a week or so.

Also check under appliances if possible. Old spills can attract them.

For me the recycling bin was the hidden source.

@QuietFixer Same here. Once I started rinsing cans and bottles better, it improved.

Another place to check is the garbage disposal if you have one.

Sometimes overripe fruit sitting out can keep the cycle going.

I finally got rid of them after doing a deep clean plus a few traps at the same time.