I wanted to trap fruit flies – and ended up breeding an army
12/11/2025
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
Pictures: Darina Schweizer
All I wanted was to test a fruit-fly trap. But then my home population exploded so badly that even Frubby couldn’t keep up.
When I test products, I always go all in. I let my cats shed all over the furniture for weeks to stress-test a lint roller. I’ve even triggered migraines just to check if a cooling mask works. And now I’m apparently breeding fruit flies to test a trap.*
Only this time, things got out of hand.
*I usually always have fruit flies I want to get rid of. But the moment I actually need them for a product test, they vanish. So I had to give nature a nudge.
The buffet is open
It’s Monday morning. I’ve just chopped up half the Migros fruit aisle for some muesli and dumped the leftovers into the compost bin. Above it, waiting on the counter, sits the Frubby fruit-fly trap.
Frubby consists of two parts: the top is a perforated funnel-shaped lid that lets the flies in but not out, the bottom is a jar for the bait. I’m using a lemon slice.
I settle in and wait.
Not rotten enough?
I check the jar every hour. It stays completely fly-free. Same story the next day. And the two days after that.
Where are the cursed fruit flies when you actually need them? If that’s not outright refusal to work!
I kick it up a notch and leave the compost bin open in the kitchen. Hours later, still not a single fruit fly. Time to escalate to the next level of grossness. I fish out a chunk of rotten banana peel with a fork and put it in the trap instead of the lemon slice. Take that, flies!
The situation escalates
The next day, the first fruit flies are buzzing around the jar. One has even crawled in through the tiny opening. I cackle smugly. Over the next hours, more flies join in. The jar keeps filling and filling…
... and it doesn’t stop. By now, they’re positively swarming. I have to shove the compost bin back under the sink. Frubby is teeming. Eventually, I release the first captives onto the balcony to freeze in the wild. But Frubby fills up again in no time.
It gets embarrassing
The next day we have guests. We have a fruit-fly problem, I warn them while waving my hands awkwardly over the snack bowls. My husband keeps clapping at the air. «Bloody pests!» we swear in turns. Our guests smile politely – while discreetly brushing fruit-fly corpses off the table.
Time to pull the emergency brake. We empty the compost bin, open the trap outside every hour and refill the bait. By round five I’m starting to consider myself a fruit-fly-catching expert. Here’s what I’ve learnt to make the trap work properly:
- Banana is the clear favourite (peel or fruit).
- Ideally, it should be brownish.
- Once it’s too rotten and dried out, replace it.
After the swarm comes the sigh of relief
After three days, the flies finally buzz off. At last! I’m pleased with the result! Frubby caught dozens of fruit flies – all without any poison. After use, I put it in the dishwasher and it’s ready to go again.
I’m positively buzzing from this product test!
How do you get rid of fruit flies? Let me know in the comments.
In a nutshell
Frubby’s a real catch
Pop in an overripe banana piece, close the lid, and the fruit-fly trap is good to go. After the catch, release the insects outside and put Frubby in the dishwasher. Fruit-fly trapping doesn’t get simpler or more eco-friendly than this. All those washing-up-liquid-and-vinegar hacks don’t stand a chance.
Pro
- Simple
- Effective
- Eco-friendly (plastic-free and toxin-free)
- Dishwasher-safe
Darina Schweizer
Senior Editor
Darina.Schweizer@digitecgalaxus.chI love anything with four legs or roots - especially my shelter cats Jasper and Joy and my collection of succulents. My favourite things to do are stalking around with police dogs and cat coiffeurs on reportages or letting sensitive stories flourish in garden brockis and Japanese gardens.
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