This $7 trap just rid my kitchen of a fruit fly infestation, and now I can't live without it
It turns out that fruit flies love yeast. After leaving my bread to prove for a few hours, it felt like a colony of fruit flies had materialized from nowhere, ready to swarm my (thankfully covered) bread dough in search of sustenance.
I have previously raved about my fruit fly-busting routine, which took my kitchen from a full-on infestation to completely pest-free. And don't get me wrong, the routine still works a charm, but I let it slip in the past few weeks and paid for it handsomely.
Fortunately, after testing the Super Ninja fruit fly trap and seeing how effective it was at catching these pesky gnats, I stocked up on a bumper pack for emergencies. And if you want to know just how awesome these little traps are, I (unfortunately) managed to capture the evidence for myself. Shudder.
The Super Ninja Fruit Fly Trap is affordable, discrete, and unobtrusive. I'd recommend you stock up for any future fruit fly dramas.
It's prime fruit fly season, so if you're dealing with an infestation, you should know that you're not alone. "Fruit flies can be a nuisance all year round," says the experts at GardenBuildingsDirect, "but they thrive during warmer weather as fruit and vegetables begin to ripen, making this time of the year ideal for them."
The design of the Super Ninja is simple and hands-off. It's a pre-filled plastic container with a natural liquid bait that mimics the scent of decaying fruit to lure flies. And let me tell you, the fruit flies love this liquid. Within minutes of putting out the trap, they'd swarmed the yellow trap on top of the bottle, effectively forming an orderly queue to sink to their sticky demise.
I'm more than a little embarrassed to post the photographic evidence here, but you can rest assured that since Friday, the fruit flies have all but vanished from my kitchen.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
One of my favorite parts of this trap is how fast it works. The above photo was taken minutes after I opened a new trap, and it removed the bulk of the flies from my kitchen.
I supplemented this with a renewed respect from my old faithful fruit fly routine, pouring boiling water down my sink (where fruit flies love to lay their eggs) and moving my fruit bowl back inside my refrigerator, where the flies couldn't get to it.
Well, here's some more proof for you. I kept this trap next to my sink throughout the month of June, and snapped a gross picture of just how many flies it'd managed to catch before I swapped it out.
Super Ninja recommends you switch out your trap every two weeks, but I've found that it's still pretty effective up to a month after first use.
Although they're called fruit flies for a reason, that's not the only thing in your kitchen that can attract pests. "They lay their eggs on the surface of rotting or overripe fruit and vegetables," says the experts at GardenBuildingsDirect, "but can also breed in drains, bins, mop buckets, and anywhere else with damp, decaying organic matter.
If you're seriously struggling to get rid of the fruit flies, you should consider putting a trap near other drains in your home.
At the worst of my infestation, I found flies in my upstairs bathroom. They presumably got there through the drain system in my home, so I left a trap on the edge of the sink and flushed it with boiling water every day to prevent any new eggs from hatching.
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Tom's Guide
2 days ago
- Tom's Guide
This $7 trap just rid my kitchen of a fruit fly infestation, and now I can't live without it
There's nothing more embarrassing than inviting friends or family over, only for them to walk into a fruit fly-infested kitchen. And I'd know, because it happened to me on Friday when I threw a pizza party. It turns out that fruit flies love yeast. After leaving my bread to prove for a few hours, it felt like a colony of fruit flies had materialized from nowhere, ready to swarm my (thankfully covered) bread dough in search of sustenance. I have previously raved about my fruit fly-busting routine, which took my kitchen from a full-on infestation to completely pest-free. And don't get me wrong, the routine still works a charm, but I let it slip in the past few weeks and paid for it handsomely. Fortunately, after testing the Super Ninja fruit fly trap and seeing how effective it was at catching these pesky gnats, I stocked up on a bumper pack for emergencies. And if you want to know just how awesome these little traps are, I (unfortunately) managed to capture the evidence for myself. Shudder. The Super Ninja Fruit Fly Trap is affordable, discrete, and unobtrusive. I'd recommend you stock up for any future fruit fly dramas. It's prime fruit fly season, so if you're dealing with an infestation, you should know that you're not alone. "Fruit flies can be a nuisance all year round," says the experts at GardenBuildingsDirect, "but they thrive during warmer weather as fruit and vegetables begin to ripen, making this time of the year ideal for them." The design of the Super Ninja is simple and hands-off. It's a pre-filled plastic container with a natural liquid bait that mimics the scent of decaying fruit to lure flies. And let me tell you, the fruit flies love this liquid. Within minutes of putting out the trap, they'd swarmed the yellow trap on top of the bottle, effectively forming an orderly queue to sink to their sticky demise. I'm more than a little embarrassed to post the photographic evidence here, but you can rest assured that since Friday, the fruit flies have all but vanished from my kitchen. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. One of my favorite parts of this trap is how fast it works. The above photo was taken minutes after I opened a new trap, and it removed the bulk of the flies from my kitchen. I supplemented this with a renewed respect from my old faithful fruit fly routine, pouring boiling water down my sink (where fruit flies love to lay their eggs) and moving my fruit bowl back inside my refrigerator, where the flies couldn't get to it. Well, here's some more proof for you. I kept this trap next to my sink throughout the month of June, and snapped a gross picture of just how many flies it'd managed to catch before I swapped it out. Super Ninja recommends you switch out your trap every two weeks, but I've found that it's still pretty effective up to a month after first use. Although they're called fruit flies for a reason, that's not the only thing in your kitchen that can attract pests. "They lay their eggs on the surface of rotting or overripe fruit and vegetables," says the experts at GardenBuildingsDirect, "but can also breed in drains, bins, mop buckets, and anywhere else with damp, decaying organic matter. If you're seriously struggling to get rid of the fruit flies, you should consider putting a trap near other drains in your home. At the worst of my infestation, I found flies in my upstairs bathroom. They presumably got there through the drain system in my home, so I left a trap on the edge of the sink and flushed it with boiling water every day to prevent any new eggs from hatching. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Tom's Guide
19-07-2025
- Tom's Guide
People are sprinkling used coffee grounds outside their front door this summer, and it makes more sense than you think
Summer is really hitting its stride, but with the sunny weather comes unwanted pests, and the most pervasive of these can be ants. Ants travel far and wide in search of food, and they famously spread the word when they hit gold. So all it takes is an open door or some alfresco dining for ants to swarm your home, and getting rid of them can be a nuisance. If this sounds all too relatable, you may have searched online for the best ways to keep ants away. Many of these techniques involve chemical deterrents, but seeing as ants are largely annoying instead of harmful, it's a shame to kill these garden helpers in their tracks. And according to you don't need to. All you need is some kitchen waste. And if you're anything like me, you'll have an abundance of it going spare in your home. You might think ants would love coffee grounds, considering these crumbs are the perfect size for ants to carry, and surely offer some nutritional value. However, sprinkling some coffee grounds outside your front door, or around whichever entrance the ants have found to your home, will actually act as a natural deterrent. Why do ants hate coffee grounds? According to GardenBuildingsDirect, they don't like the smell. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. This also applies to vinegar, which experts say you can spray outside your home as an ant deterrent. "Ants dislike strong scents, and it disrupts their trails, making it harder to find food," explains the site. There's a second reason why ants hate coffee, and it's about the texture of the grounds. "Ants don't like the smell and acidity of coffee grounds, and they don't like the feeling of them underfoot." According to "Research shows that caffeine is effective in repelling slugs and snails when applied to foliage or the growing medium of plants. This is because of the naturally abrasive properties of coffee: soft critters tend to avoid rough surfaces." So it's not just ants that will avoid your coffee grounds, but also slugs and snails. To keep pests at bay, simply "create a barrier by sprinkling them around entry points and replace regularly." However, be aware that "once they dry, they become less effective". I'll be taking my used grounds straight from my knock box to my front yard to make the most of the residual moisture, but you could also add some water to re-hydrate grounds and get more use from them.
Tom's Guide
17-06-2025
- Tom's Guide
I tried 3 ways of getting rid of fruit flies on Amazon — and there's a clear winner
Fruit flies were once the bane of my existence. No matter how many traps I left out, more flies would always spring into action as soon as I thoguht I'd quelled the plague. In the end, it was this 5-step routine that banished the pests for good from my kitchen, but while I fine-tuned my new house rules, I went through a lot of Amazon's top-selling traps. So, I decided to put three different methods head-to-head in order to see if it really matters which fruit fly trap you buy. Spoiler alert: it does. Here's how Amazon's 3 top-selling fruit fly traps performed when I compared them in my own home. The winner really surprised me. 1. Super Ninja Fruit Fly Trap The Super Ninja Fruit Fly Trap retails for $6.99, with the price per unit decreasing the more you buy. It's the cheapest and most simple option I tested, using small containers pre-filled with an unspecified liquid (my money's on some kind of vinegar) and capping the lid with a trap that allows the flies in, but won't let them out. Leaving them to drown in a delicious vinegary soup. You get the picture. 2. Zevo Flying Insect Trap & Cartridge Retailing for nearly $20 at Amazon, the Zevo Flying Insect Trap & Cartridge is a more expensive option, but you'll be able to top up on the refill cartridges for less once you've bought the base unit. This option uses blue light to attract bugs, and a sticky adhesive pad to trap them once they've been drawn in. Unlike the Super Ninja, it draws in a range of bugs including mosquitoes and gnats. I also killed an unsuspecting moth when testing this option, which I'm not mad about after discovering the carnage they've wreaked on my cashmere sweater. 3. Katchy Indoor Insect Trap The Katchy Indoor Insect Trap caught my eye for a while, but at an RRP of $40 (it's currently down to $32), I wasn't sure I could justify it. But in the name of science (and out of sheer desperation) I decided it was worth a try. This option also uses blue light to draw in flies, but it works a little like an air purifier, drawing in bugs using a suction fan and trapping them on a sticky pad, like the Zevo. In fact, it's basically what would happen if you stuck the Zevo pad to a tiny hair dryer. Like the Zevo, the sticky pads are relatively cheap to stock up on once you've purchased the base unit. My methodology was simple: I left all three traps in my kitchen for a number of days, and waited to see which lured the most fruit flies into its trap, and out of my kitchen for good. It's worth noting off the bat that both blue light options were a little irritating because they require access to a power socket. I test kitchen appliances, which means my counter space is permanently cluttered with gadgets, and power sockets are at an absolute premium in my home. The light from these gadgets is also non-stop. I'd walk bleary-eyed into the kitchen to make my morning coffee and be met by two ultraviolet pools of light in different corners. To add to that, the Katchy makes a constant, low-level whirring noise. It's similar to the sound a hand fan makes on a gentle setting, and it's not enough to deter me from using it if it were to come out on top, but it should be a consideration factor if that would annoy you. After all, you'll need to leave the device running constantly if you want to eliminate the pests for good. As for the Super Ninja? The obvious downside is that it's unsightly. You'll watch it fill with fruit flies over the course of a week or so, and if you knock it, you'll spill the aforementioned unspecified liquid all over your countertops. I opted to put it on a windowsill to avoid this, and its appearance didn't bother me too much. The Super Ninja Fruit Fly Trap is the clear winner in my head-to-head testing. It's affordable, discrete, unobtrusive, and captured many more fruit flies than its more expensive alternatives. I was more than a little surprised to find that the cheapest and smallest option I tested did by far the best job of catching fruit flies in my kitchen. Sure, fruit flies are partial to a little blue light, but whatever liquid Super Ninja puts in this trap is their clear preference. I'm not going to post the photo results of my fruit fly massacre here, but I'd guess that the Super Ninja captured about three times the number of flies caught by the Katchy and Zevo combined. By the end of the week, the liquid was thick with dead flies and I rushed to order a replacement on Amazon Prime. If it's not just fruit flies you're concerned with, both blue light options did a respectable job of stopping both fruit flies and other pests such as gnats and moths in their tracks. I've left the Zevo in my bedroom to hopefully trap some of my detested wardrobe moths. But if you're battling a fruit fly infestation, you should look no further than the Super Ninja. A fruit fly trap is essential if you want to keep these pests at bay, but because they lay eggs before they enter traps, it won't be enough to completely stop the problem. The thing that made the biggest difference in my routine was to pour boiling water down my drains every evening. Fruit flies often lay eggs in drains, where remnants of food can accumulate, so this effectively flushes any future infestations out before they can emerge.
