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Repel Flies Naturally

posted by Annie B. Bond Nov 3, 2000 2:54 am
filed under: Pets, Pests
Repel Flies Naturally
10 comments

By Annie B. Bond

Flies are such a nuisance! If you’re tired of having the pesky little critters buzzing around your house–but you don’t want to resort to using harmful chemicals–check out these easy, great ideas. They use kitchen cupboard ingredients and they really work!

Find out how to get rid of flies safely and naturally.

Here are a few hands-on methods:

Keeping flies away is often a matter of cleanliness. Remove compost to the compost pile, and don’t leave food uncovered.

Invest in window screens and screen doors and encourage your children to close screen doors quickly when they enter or leave the house.

Use flyswatters. Children enjoy this. Make it a contest to see who can swat the most.

Encourage the spiders in your house: they eat flies.

Hang pomanders on doors: citrus peel is a great repellent.

Dust the bottoms of your trash cans with borax.

Place potted basil plants in infested areas.

Homemade Fly Paper

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar

1. Cut 4 or 5 long strips about 2 inches wide from brown paper bags. Mix the ingredients in a bowl and spread it on the strips with a knife. Hang the strips over a bowl to catch drips.

Hanging Herbal Repellents

Hang a pine bough in the kitchen: flies dislike pine oil.

Whole or ground cloves in a small muslin teabag make a good fly-repelling hanging sachet.

More on Pests (11 articles available)
More from Annie B. Bond (3249 articles available)

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10 Comments       add a comment »
Tammy J.

HEY EVERYONE!!! ive been having trouble with flies and wasps coming in through the open doors, but bug screns wer really expensive to buy to fit my patio doors.
i tried everything on the internet from jars of vinegar to eucoliptus oil.
but then i found something that works!!
take an empty spray bottle and half fill with water, take an orange and using a funnel squeeze the juice into the bottle. do the same with half a lime, a lemon, then add 2 table spoons of vinegar put the lid back on n give it a good shake. then get spraying. it is fantastic and works a treat. this also works for stray cats, ants, some spiders, and smells lovely!! this formula is so good i just had to share it!!!!

Pam Johnson

I've found if I leave a burning candle on the counter, the flies will "go to the light" and then that's THE END of the earthly journey for them. From experience, the bowl of water with a couple

From experience, I know the few drops of dishwahing detergent in a bowl of water works too. It's fascinating they would fly into this.

Deborah A.

Ok, here is what I do for common fruit flies: put cider vinegar 1/2 inch deep in a bowl or plastic container with two drops of dishwashing liquid added. Leave it sit, uncovered near your fruit and they will dive in and drown. I empty and refresh once a day.

Carol D.

i tried the bag of water, the only time it worked was when the sun was shining in my back yard, before the sun got there forget it, my daughter was told to use a piece of foil.

James Driver

Van, more than likely what you are being bothered with is Phorid Flies. Fruit Flies seldom become an indoors nuisance. A very simple way to distinguish between Phorid flies Fruit Flies is to disturb them. Phorid flies will seldom take flight but will scurry away, and return very quickly. Fruit flies will always take flight

James Driver

Van, usually those "fruit" fly type flies that are a nuisance indoors ound fruit are Phorid flies. Easy to distinguish from Fruit flies as they will scurry away when disturbed, rather than fly away.

lauri r.

The bag of water with a penny in it works!! I tested it this weekend.

Sheila VO

Half-fill a zipper-style plastic bag or water bottle with water and suspend it on string in a doorway or window. I hang one from the ceiling fan, too. I don't know why, but flies go to lengths to avoid them. Do freshen the water at least once a week. Putting a penny in the water may increase your success.

Cass Lapre

To repel regular flies, burning incense around the deck has helped us.

For fruit flies, you can make a simple, non toxic trap by taking a jar or vase with a long, narrow neck and opening and placing a small amount of water and a small piece of overly ripe fruit in the vase. This is an attractant. Then make a paper funnel that tapers quite a bit at the end and insert into the vase opening. The flies are attracted to the smell of the fruit, and fly in and get stuck in the vase, as they cannot get out of the funnel again. The funnel must taper to a fairly small point for this to work. We found banana seems to attract the most flies. The flies may breed in the vase if you don't empty it daily. First, flood the vase with very hot water to quickly kill the flies, then dump outside away from your house or in the toilet. Hope this helps!

Van Gilmore

We do have an occasional common house fly get into the house and usually dispatch them with a swatter. However we do have infestations of what we thought were fruit flies. On reading some descriptions on the internet, we are not sure they are fruit flies. They act like fruit flies in that they like the fruit bowl, particularly peaches. We've tried removing things that the like for several days but they seem to come back quickly when we place some fruit back in the bowl. We don't have the micro/macro equipment to examine them closely. We will be trying some of the trapping methods described on some of the internet web sites to see if that works. In the meantime, does anyone have any other suggestions?

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Disclaimer: Care2.com does not warrant and shall have no liability for information provided in this newsletter or on Care2.com. Each individual person, fabric, or material may react differently to a particular suggested use. It is recommended that before you begin to use any formula, you read the directions carefully and test it first. Should you have any health care-related questions or concerns, please call or see your physician or other health care provider.

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