Do-It-Yourself Fruit Fly Trap

I have a confession to make: I've got a fruit fly problem.  Yes, the weather is warming up, and I forgot to take the kitchen scrap bucket out to the compost bin, so now I have fruit flies.  Lots and lots of annoying little buggies.

Last spring, I bought a fruit fly trap from the store.  I opened the package, set it up, and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Oh, the fruit flies were definitely interested.  But there was a big problem: the buggies were too gigantic to fit into the narrow openings in the trap.  (Is this a Texas problem?)

I decided to take a look at the ingredients list on the packaging, and I discovered that the trap solution would be very simple to make at home with ingredients that almost everyone has in their kitchens.

So I gave it a try, but instead of putting the solution in the trap with the tiny openings, I just poured it in a small custard dish.  Success!  So many drowned buggies, so much happy!

Simple ingredients do some hardcore killing

Supplies needed:

Small bowl
Apple cider vinegar
Dish detergent

Place about 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar in the small bowl.  Add a squirt of dish detergent.  Stir.  Viola, instant fruit fly trap!  The buggies are attracted to the apple cider vinegar, and the dish detergent acts to break the surface tension of the liquid so that fruit flies can't escape once they've landed.  Let the killing commence!

I like to place the trap within the fruit bowl in the kitchen so that the fruit flies can't miss it.

Come on, little guy, hop on into the bowl!

Let me know if you've got a great recipe for a do-it-yourself bug trap!