Say Goodbye To Fruit Flies With The Help Of A Favorite Alcoholic Beverage

While they're relatively harmless, fruit flies can be one of the most annoying pests to face in your home. It's one thing when they're swarming around countertop bananas or creeping around in your drains, but a whole different level of annoyance when they're pestering you for a sip of wine. As soon as you sit down with your evening vino, it seems like these little bugs can teleport from anywhere within a 10-mile radius. Look away for a split second, and they'll cannonball straight into your drink. Gross. Whether you've got a whole fruit fly infestation or one lone little nuisance, the solution is right in your hands! Pour a small amount of wine into a shallow dish, cover it with perforated plastic wrap, and let the fruit flies dive in for their last swim. 

Besides being disgusting to look at, a single drowning Drosophila melanogaster can release pheromones that make the whole glass of wine taste stinky, even after you've plucked them out of your drink. Save your wine and your sanity by setting up a pool party to get rid of fruit flies! Here's how you can eliminate these insects with wine and some other tips to make your trap more effective. 

Fruit flies can't resist the scent of overripe fruits — in this case, fermented wine –  so sacrificing a little bit of wine is the best way to get them off your back. To make a fruit fly trap, pour a small amount of wine into a bowl or disposable container. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap, and use tape if needed to secure the wrap and create a tight seal. With a bamboo skewer or toothpick, poke a few tiny holes in the plastic wrap, large enough for a foolish fruit fly to slip through but small enough that it can't easily escape. When the fly inevitably goes down to take a sip, it'll either get stuck in the wine or become too inebriated to fly and eventually drown. 

Nearly any kind of wine will work for this trap; however, a sugary red wine may reap the best results. Red wines tend to be more aromatic than white wines, making them very attractive to fruit flies. Wine alone is enough to kill the flies, but to make the trap even more effective, add a dash of dish soap. The dish soap will lower the surface tension of the wine, making the fruit flies sink to the bottom almost immediately. If you'd prefer not to waste any wine, a mixture of red wine vinegar or fruit juice, and dish soap can be another effective option.