Fruit Fly Trap

It's primitive, but it works so well.

Put a little apple cider vinegar in a bowl or jar and add a drop of dish soap. You can leave it just like this, or you can increase it's effectiveness by adding a funnel. I just folded up a piece of paper to fit into the jar (snugly around the rim), leaving a small hole at the bottom.

So, the fruit flies are attracted to the apple cider vinegar. If they land to try to drink it, the dish soap will have decreased the surface tension, allowing the fly to drown. But, adding the funnel makes it better because the fruit fly will go into the jar and since it can't figure out how to get out, it is much more likely to try out that juice at the bottom. Incidentally, it works for flies too, though not as many seem to fall for it.

With all the produce in here lately from canning, we've been just overrun with fruit flies. I had some tomatoes sitting on the counter waiting to be canned and just a wave over the top with my hand brought a whole fog of fruit flies into the air. It's just that time of the year, I think.

My trap, by no means, gets rid of them all, but I sure do like looking at all the drowned little bodies at the bottom of it. I'm morbid that way.