World's Best Fruit Fly Catcher

If you are anything like me, at this time of year you have a basket of peaches on your counter, some tomatoes from the garden, or a compost container filled with peelings and pits from all the wonderful fruits and vegetables currently available.

Last night it was just the two of us for supper. My husband has been working diligently on the upstairs bathroom project, doing floor tiling for the first time "like a boss" as they say. So I decided to treat us to a nice steak dinner with a Greek salad and corn on the cob.

Lovely steaks were on a bit of a sale at the grocery store. The corn and peppers for the salad came from a local Mennonite farm that sells a lot of fruits and vegetables on their property. The cucumbers and red onion in the salad were from my garden.

While the steaks were doing their thing, the pot of water was simmering, and the salad was tossed and waiting in the fridge, I poured myself a nice glass of red and caught up on some blogs. My glass of wine seems to be the perfect magnet for all things tiny and in flight. I've scooped them out with my finger countless times. I can't be the only one!

Tomatoes, cucumber and zucchini were picked fresh this morning. However, it doesn't take long for one little spot or bruise to begin attracting the fruit flies. Lord how I hate fruit flies. I do have a secret weapon, though!!

If you also would like to create this weapon of mass destruction, you will need four things: a jar, liquid dish soap, some kind of vinegar (choose one with colour, they seem to be a bit more "fermenty" e.g. red wine vinegar, cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar), plastic wrap, and an elastic band. 

Pour a little vinegar into the jar. You don't need very much, perhaps to the height of half of an inch. Then add one or two drops of liquid dish soap. This is used to break the surface tension of the vinegar. It is what makes the little buggers drown, vs. alighting on the vinegar and then flying off again. Put plastic wrap over the top of the jar and secure with an elastic band.

Take a sharp knife and make some slits in the plastic wrap. You can twist the knife slightly to open up the holes a little. Trust me, they don't need big holes to get in!

I park my fruit fly catcher close to my compost, but it could also go beside your fruit bowl, basket of peaches, line up of tomatoes on your window sill... You will be amazed and delighted (!) with how many you catch. You don't need to empty it every day. Even with dead comrades sunk to the bottom, more fruit flies will be lured to join them. World's Best Fruit Fly Catcher!