If you are like me and have fruit fly problems every fall, then this trap is for you!
These traps look great and make great gifts! Best of all, they really do work.
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Fun Facts!
A single female fruit fly is capable of laying hundreds of eggs. Within a week, they hatch into maggots and burrow into the plant matter. After about 5-6 days, the larvae transform into pupae. A few days after that, they emerge as adult fruit flies.
What you will need:
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- Regular Mouth Half Pint Mason Jars. I like the blue Ball jars because they look nice, especially for gifts!
2. 3 oz Plastic Cups
3. A Sharpie Marker
4. Plastic Champagne Glasses.
5. Apple Cider Vinegar and Dish Soap
Tools that you will need:
You will need safety glasses and a dust mask for safety. You will need a scissors, a rotary cutoff tool, a sharpie and a file and/or sandpaper to clean up the ends.
Let’s get started!
Remove the base from the bottom of the Champagne Glass, then place the bottom inside the glass upside down.
Using a Sharpie marker, trace around the circumference of the base inside the glass.
Put your safety glasses and dust mask on for this part! Using the scissors, cut the plastic glass to within a 1/4″ from your mark. The plastic will crack and break away as you cut but should not fracture the center. I used a right handed scissors cutting in a counter clockwise direction. If you are left handed, and are using a left handed scissors, I recommend you do the opposite to mitigate cracking on the center. On the second round of cutting I removed the entire black line I had marked and then some. The goal is to get the trap to fit perfectly on the top of the mason jar. The last step is to trim about 1 inch off the bottom of the stem of the glass with the rotary cutoff tool and clean it up with a file or sandpaper.
After you build it, fill the 3 oz cup with some apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap and assemble. Sometimes I like to add a few food scraps like tomato or fruit trimmings. Hope it works will for you!
Fun Fact!
Liquids like vinegar have what is called surface tension. This surface tension is caused by the molecules being attracted to each other. The surface tension actually allows the fruit flies to sit on water or vinegar. By adding a few drops of dish soap, you break the surface tension of the liquid. This happens because the soap creates gaps between the molecules reducing their attractive forces.
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