How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies On Plants [Top 25+ Affordable Tips]

7 min readJun 3, 2021

If you have noticed tiny flies in plants in your house, they are probably not the most helpful ones. The fruit plants are an excellent target for these fruit flies in plants. Today we are going to find a permanent solution on How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies with the best [ 25+ working tips] and how to exterminate these annoying flies fast o they don’t double.

How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies- Exclusive Tips

Overripe fruits are plants that attract these flies to fester. Once around the plant, they lay eggs in the leaves and the fruit.

Thereby severely damaging the plant. Small flies living in house plants are difficult to exterminate as they reproduce fast.

Things To Expect From This Article

How To Identify Fruit Flies?

Small flies living in house plants are small and compact species. When observed, they are orange in color and have stubby legs. Among the two common fruit fly species, the red-eyed variety.

You will commonly find around over-ripe and rotten fruits and vegetables. The dark-eyes variety, however, makes an appearance around drains and broken tiles.

How To Get Rid Of Flies In House Plants Naturally?

Natural intervention tricks to get rid of flies in plants is the best approach. These ways don’t damage the plant in the process.

A natural intervention is also safe for you or the person who does the cleaning. We have a few ways on how to get rid of fruit flies in plants.

How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies On Plants

Pay close attention to the soil

Tiny flies in plants lay eggs in the soil’s top layer. Once the egg hatches, the larva travels upwards and starts damaging the plant in exchange for food and nutrition.

To prevent this, pack the soil tightly. Any absence of gaps within the soil texture will kill the larva right after its birth. Thus, you can trap the larva before it reaches the shoot and roots.

Interested in DIY? Here is one that will serve your purpose and keep you entertained. Find a piece of cardboard and paint it in bright colors. Colors attract tiny flies on your plants.

Cover both portions with a thick surface of petroleum jelly. Once done, stick it near the soil and wait till the flies to get captivated.

Another great way to keep fruit flies away from plants is to drown them using a trap. Take a cup and mix apple cider vinegar kills flies with beer. Incorporate a drop of soap jell into this mixture.
To make it more accessible to the fruit flies, add a piece of rotten fruit on the surface. Cover the cup tightly using a cling film or clear plastic wrap.
Make small holes on the plastic wrap and place it near the plant. Fermentation attracts the flies, and their curiosity will get them killed.
The soap solution is a magic product that will prevent them from escaping the trap.

Potatoes will always come in handy. Cut up small pieces of potatoes and add them to the soil. Larvae usually come up to feed on them. Once you see bite marks or holes on the potato’s surface, pluck them out of the soil and fly throw up fast.

If flies in house plants aren’t taking your well-planned bait, you can get rid of the infected soil. Eradicate the plant carefully from its pot, remove as much soil as you can without destroying the plant or the roots.

If the fruit flies infestation home is too much, you can wash the roots to get rid of all the soil around it and re-pot it in fresh soil.

Every thought of plants that eat these flies and other pests? The carnivorous plants can gulp them down in an instant. Plant a few carnivores in an around your garden and watch the magic unfold.

killing fruit flies with vinegar

Another product commonly available in every kitchen is vinegar. Add it to a spray bottle and drizzle it all over the plant surface and soil.

Make sure you incorporate a little amount of liquid detergent. The addition will break the surface tension, leading to a significant entrapment.

Neem oil mixture serves as a potent killer and also the best pest control for fruit flies. Because of its antibacterial properties, it effectively gets rid of soil flies. Spray the plant with this mixture once or twice a day, and your pests might disappear.

Water Plants From the bottom

Let the plant absorb water from a trap places under the pot. The drainage system in the pot will aid this process. Also, dump out the water after 30 minutes or so.

You can cover the top layer with sand, gravel, or moss. Sand for household plants serves as a significant barrier and prevents infestation. After this process, soil flies are unable to lay eggs.

Store extra potting soil in a sealed container

Flies cannot survive without oxygen, and sealing the soil will cut off their oxygen supply. It’s an approach you can use as an integral part of your gardening regime.

How Do I Get Rid of Fruit Flies in My Potted Plants?

The soil within a potted plant is the ideal environment for fruit flies. These moist and warm places are perfect for their life cycle to proceed smoothly. Here are a few simple ways to get rid of flies in potted plants.

Picture of a fruit fly- How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies

Keep a check on how much you water the plants. The technique is to decline the moisture content of the soil.
Change the soil now and then. Keep the infested soil in an airtight place. This process will ensure that the existing larvae are killed and can be reused after a specific time.
Mix hydrogen peroxide with water and use the mixture to water your plants regularly.
Cover the pot with soil to cut access of the flies to the soil. Covering the pot will ensure that the surface for them to grow has been cut short.
You may also add vinegar in lieu of hydrogen peroxide to water the plants. They are toxic to the fruit flies and kill them instantly.

How To Get Rid Of Fruit Flies In Bathroom?

The dark eyes variant of fruit flies lives in the bathroom. You will find them hidden in the drains or under broken tiles. When disturbed, they will fly out in great numbers, and killing them one by one isn’t an option.

There are specific ways you can prevent them from residing in your bathroom.

Start with looking for the source

The flies are tempted by leftover food that might be lying in the kitchen sink or at one corner. Fruit flies are fond of moist and warm areas, and bathrooms seem to be the right environment.
So looking for the source is the primary step to start applying methods to get rid of them.
DIY traps work wonders and save you a few bucks, Use apple cider vinegar to trap them. Petroleum jelly or any other sticky substance will also attract them.
Make sure to choose a brightly colored surface for the trap. The bright color mimics their habitat, and hence, they quickly come to the trap looking for nourishment.
Boil water or white vinegar and discharge it down the sewer. It will kill the eggs and the larva hidden in the cervices and kill them right at the beginning of their life cycle.
You can also go for commercial drain cleaners once you have cleaned the drain, duct tape the entry point to prevent the flies from coming back into the bathroom.

Make sure not to leave leftovers in the bathroom and clean the drain every once in a while. The first precaution can save you from a lot of hard work later.

How to Avoid Flies in Indoor Plants?

Indoor plant flies can be a nuisance. They grow fast and can infiltrate the entire plant system within a year. House flies and Gnats are just a few pests that survive on plants with basic needs.

They lay eggs on the soil and feed on rotten and organic material. Their larvae are the most harmful ones, and gardeners usually target the larval cycle.

You can avoid flies in indoor plants by focusing on the plant.

Make sure that the plant is hydrated but prevent overwatering of plants. Remove the excess water as and when required. You can also up water the plants to make sure the plants utilize the proper amount of water they require. This approach will not leave enough mixture from the larval form to survive.
Keep the drains around the garden/surface clean. These are the places that support the growth of flies. Clean them at regular intervals through homemade or commercially available products.
Re-pot the plants at fixed intervals. Repotting helps get rid of existing flies and larva, which may cause a problem later. You can also wash the roots thoroughly to ensure that no larva/fly exists in the plant already.
Pack the potting soil carefully. Once you cut off the oxygen supply to the larvae, you will stop the reproduction cycle. Flies and other bugs cannot live except oxygen.
Remove any rotten material from around the plant. If the fruit is over-ripe, make sure to get rid of it. You should also remove fallen leaves and other parts that contribute to organic matter from time to time.
Clean the surface on which the potted plant is hosted regularly. Deterrents can be easily prepared at home using lemongrass, lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus oil. Wipe the surface regularly to make sure nothing attracts the flies.

For more and detailed tips on getting rid of fruit flies, without killing them.