- Size
- About 3 mm
- Look
- Tan body, red eyes
- Breed in
- Ripe fruit, food waste, drains
- Peak season
- Late summer and autumn
The fix is almost always to find and remove where they're breeding. Traps help mop up the adults.
Signs of fruit flies
- Small flies hovering around the fruit bowl, food bin or recycling
- Flies around the sink, especially near the plughole
- Flies near open wine, beer, vinegar or juice
- Furry-winged tiny flies in the bathroom, resting on walls (drain flies)
How to be sure
Fruit flies are tan with red eyes and hover slowly near food. Drain flies, also called moth flies, are grey with fuzzy, moth-like wings and sit on bathroom walls near plugholes. Fungus gnats are slim and dark and hang around houseplants.
What you can do yourself
- Find the source: check the fruit bowl, the bottom of the food caddy, recycling, under appliances and the back of cupboards for anything overripe or spilled.
- Bin overripe fruit and empty the food caddy daily for a week.
- Rinse bottles, cans and jars before they go in recycling.
- Make a trap: a little cider vinegar with a drop of washing-up liquid in a jar, covered with cling film pierced with small holes.
- For drain flies, clean plugholes and overflows with a brush and very hot water, as they breed in the gunk inside.
Call a professional if
- Rarely needed in homes
- Consider help if you run a food business, or flies persist after you've cleared every source
Keeping them out
- Keep ripe fruit in the fridge in late summer
- Empty and rinse the food caddy regularly
- Keep plugholes and overflows clean
Kit that helps
- Fruit fly traps or a jar, cider vinegar and cling film
- Lidded food caddy
- Drain brush
Product types only. We'll only ever point you to things we'd use ourselves.
Questions people ask
Where do fruit flies come from?
Their eggs often arrive on fruit from the shop, and adults get in through open windows. A forgotten potato or onion at the back of a cupboard is a classic hidden source.
How long does it take to get rid of fruit flies?
About a week or two once every breeding source is gone, as the last adults die off or get caught.
Are fruit flies harmful?
They're a nuisance, but they can carry bacteria onto food, so cover food and clean surfaces.