Why do I have fruit flies when my kitchen is spotless?

Because fruit flies need almost nothing to breed. A thin film inside a drain, the rubber seal of a bin, a sticky bottle in the recycling, one soft potato at the bottom of a bag. Every kitchen has spots like that, however clean it is. Fruit flies are not a judgement on your home. They often arrive on fruit from the shop, or come in through a window, and they breed fast in the warm months.

So the job is not cleaning harder. It is finding the one spot they are breeding in.

Where to look, in order

1. Fruit and veg outside the fridge. Bananas, tomatoes, peaches, and the bag of potatoes or onions. Tip it out: one soft one is enough.
2. The bin and the recycling. Under the bag, the lid seal, bottles and cans with a drop of juice, wine or beer left in them.
3. The food waste caddy or compost bin.
4. The sink drain and overflow. The film that builds up inside, out of sight. Check the bathroom too if the flies are there.
5. Under and behind appliances. A spill under the fridge, the dishwasher filter, the fridge drip tray.
6. Damp mops, sponges and cloths.

Flies hovering around a houseplant are more likely fungus gnats, which breed in damp compost. See fungus gnats in houseplants.

Remove the source

• Bin anything soft or fermenting, in the outside bin, not the kitchen one.
• Rinse bottles and cans before they go into the recycling.
• Wash the bin and its seal, and empty the caddy more often while this lasts.
• Scrub the drain with a long, thin brush. Pouring bleach down the plughole runs straight past the film the larvae live in. The brush is what clears it. Follow with hot water if your pipes allow.
• Fruit in the fridge for a week. No food, no new eggs.

Drain products: if you use a drain cleaner, follow the label, wear gloves, and never mix it with bleach or another cleaner. Keep it out of reach of children and pets.

Then trap the adults that are left

Once the source is gone, a trap catches the adults still flying about. A trap on its own will not fix it, though: while something is breeding them, new ones keep hatching. If your trap is catching nothing, see why a vinegar trap fails. The fruit fly guide has the full plan.

Are they actually fruit flies?

• Fruit flies are small and tan with red eyes, and hover around fruit, bins and the sink.
• Drain flies are fuzzy and look like tiny moths. They sit on bathroom walls near the drain. See fruit fly or drain fly.
• Fungus gnats are small, dark and slim, and hang around houseplants and windows.

Keeping them away

Ripe fruit goes in the fridge. Fruit that still needs to ripen goes in a covered bowl or container, and gets checked daily. Rinse the recycling, empty the caddy often, and brush the drain now and then in the warm months. Not a deep clean. Just fewer places to breed.