Home Remedies for House Flies

By Terri from Bethlehem

Archives: Request: Home Remedies for House Flies Archived on 11/16/2009 Does anyone know how to get rid of house flies? My house is 3 years old and every summer they are all over the windows. Orsymco from Newport, MI Feedback: RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I saw this on a TV show called "How clean is your house?". It's an English show and all they did was take a long strip of sticky tape fold over a little at the top tape it to the window. Then they put a dab of honey down the center and hung it on the window. They fly to the honey and get stuck on the tape. It worked fast. Try it. I don't have the problem with flies just gnats. I am going to see if that will work. It's worth a try. (07/14/2008) By Margaret from TX RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I think that I have found an answer. I scrubbed my windows, which were the breeding station for the flies, with vinegar and left some garlic on the window sills. So far, so good. Good luck. (07/22/2008) By Lynne Natural Remedies for House Flies Believe it or not, flies hate cucumbers. I just read this on a natural remedy website. I sliced one up and stuck it near the flies in my window and they went crazy, doing anything to escape. It was very amusing. Also, basil and mint plants. They said put pots of these around your doorways. After 10 minutes, all my flies are gone. But I am gonna try the water bag/penny remedy, too. (08/02/2008) By Art Weeks RE: Home Remedies for House Flies This is what grocery stores do. They put fans above the door that blow downward so that flies cannot fly in due to the draft of air. Haven't you ever been to a store and got your hair messed up and wondered why air was blowing right at you when you walk in? This is why. And you wondered why there wasn't a million flies and other flying pests inside the produce section. (08/30/2008) By smartest one RE: Home Remedies for House Flies We live on a dairy and live close to 5 other giant dairies. There are thousands of cows within 3 miles of our home and zillions of flies. We spray around the dairy, but to keep them away from our house it helps to put jugs (gallon milk jugs) in the fruit trees out in the yard. I put about 2 cups of water, 1 cup of apple-cider vinegar, and 1 cup of sugar in the jug and prop it up in the tree or hang it from a branch. The flies are attracted by the vinegar smell and must try to feed on the sugar water. They crawl in, but they can't seem to find their way out and drown. Don't put these jugs close to your house, because you don't want the flies attracted to something close to your doors. (09/11/2008) By Becky RE: Home Remedies for House Flies This works well for fruit flies. Get a plastic or otherwise disposable cup and put a piece of fruit that is nice and juicy and smelly that fruit flies like - peaches, watermelon, something like that (not apple). Cover the top with cling film and put tiny holes in the top. The fruit flies are attracted to the fruit and fly in, but can't get out. Breaks their breeding cycle and after a few days there will be considerably less of them. I am being driven nuts by houseflies and have put dabs of mint sauce on top of my brand new beautiful Apple computer (yep - I'm that desperate). Seems to be working. There are definitely less of them. Wouldn't recommend dabs of mint sauce around the house, but I am now comfortably able to work. (09/23/2008) By Jackie Report Spam or Abuse Request: Home Remedies for House Flies Archived on 07/10/2008 I would love for anyone to give me any home remedies to get rid of house flies! I live in the country, and like to leave the door open, but can't always because of all the flies! Please help! rebelady Answers: RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I learned from an old lady in a fruit stand how to keep flies away. She had plastic bags of water hanging all around her fruit stand. When questioned about them she replied. The sun shines on the water and reflects a "spider web" effect. The flies will not enter for fear of getting caught in the web. It works! Hang some around your door to slow the flies down, they will be afraid to enter your door. (09/26/2004) RE: Home Remedies for House Flies Try lavender. Bunches hanging near open doors and windows, bowls of it scattered around, or oils in a burner. (09/27/2004) By veronica RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I like the water bag idea! Meanwhile, I don't know if this works but my Grand Aunt told me hanging tomato vines will keep them at bay. I tried flypaper once and that worked. LOL (09/27/2004) By ILuvDobes RE: Home Remedies for House Flies Flyscreen doors allow the sunlight and breezes in but keep the flies out - they are very common on houses in Australia. (09/27/2004) By Jo RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I, too, heard the tip for hanging clear plastic bags filled with water near your door. I thought it was a great tip, inexpensive and "non-toxic". Sadly, it did not seem to work well for me. Maybe I did something wrong, but the flies still came around. Hopefully it will work for you. (10/04/2004) By Donna in Kansas RE: Home Remedies for House Flies You have to put a penny in the bags of water. Only put like an inch of water in a pint bag. (10/04/2004) By lillofromms RE: Home Remedies for House Flies Hanging a bag of water with some foil in the inside should work too. Something about the reflection the foil gives off will keep them away. (10/16/2004) RE: Home Remedies for House Flies We've used the water in the clear plastic bag trick (we did not use the tin foil though) and the number of flies have been reduced dramatically. Now if there was only as good as a method to keep the mosquitoes away. I have still not seen the scientific reason why it works but the empirical evidence is overwhelming. (10/17/2004) By Stephen RE: Home Remedies for House Flies We had clouds of flying critters, similar to fruit flies, only smaller. This remedy works very well: Take a small jar, add about an inch of water and a quarter cup of sugar. Then set a funnel on the top. The sugar water attracts all manner of flying things, and once they get into the water, they can't get back out through the funnel's opening. (10/21/2004) By Micki RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I believe that the bags of water is a great idea, but I'm going to go right now and put the tinfoil in mine. I know that it doesn't work for me the way my door faces because the sun doesn't hit the water. It makes sense that it make a kind of spiderweb illusion that the flies are afraid to be caught in. (10/31/2004) By HaleyM RE: Home Remedies for House Flies The water bag works, but grow some Basil by our door, very effective. (01/12/2005) RE: Home Remedies for House Flies We live across the street from two cow pastures. Tonight, as we let the dog in, hundreds of flies flew in. Aside from living in the dark at night, is there a method as effective as the water bags for night time control? (06/06/2005) By sick of horse flies in Michigan RE: Home Remedies for House Flies The "spiderweb" theory isn't quite right when it comes to explaining why bags of water deter houseflies. Hhouseflies, being highly edible and defenseless, are nervous types, and don't like to sit still when they see something moving nearby, because it could be a predator. The water bag acts like a lens in which the movements of people in the area are reflected. Even if the fly is too far from the action to see it directly, it can see a shifting of light and dark in the water bag, which it interprets as nearby movement, and it will fly away from the bag. The reason it doesn't work on any other insects is that the other insects listed don't have eyesight worth a darn. (07/26/2005) By Fly Girl RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I've heard about the water in the bags. Many campers at my parent's campgrounds use these on their screen doors. I heard the theory was flies think it's a hornet's nest. Hornet's eat flies, so they won't come near. I've also been told to take a ziplock bag and just put a penny in it, with no water. A woman told me it works in her horse barn. I myself haven't tried it. (08/09/2005) By Tina RE: Home Remedies for House Flies After seeing bags of water hanging from the trees of a nearby popular restaurant (outdoor tables), I searched "penny in water bag". The reflection idea and movement makes more sense than the spider web. Pretty cool idea I must say. We were quite perplexed by those bags! Happy fly hunting. (02/17/2006) By Len RE: Home Remedies for House Flies A very effective fly dispensers at the doors: A clear sandwich bag filled 3/4 with water is tied at the top and hung above each side of the doorway. The flies get disoriented by the reflections, and can't fly into or near the buildings. These are also common on many porches, and mom and pop restaurants where flypaper is distasteful. This is very inexpensive and good for keeping the flies out. (06/01/2006) By Kris RE: Home Remedies for House Flies Here's my recipe for outside use: The best way to keep flies out of your house is to not have anything that attracts them close to your door. I set this on a stand out in my yard and also set them around my farm buildings. Safe Non-toxic Fly Catching Recipe 6 to 8 inch casserole or dog dish 1 - 2 cups milk 1/4 cup water 1 Tbls sugar 1 (scant) Tbls vinegar (I use Braggs) 1/4+ cup canola or corn oil Use a heavy flat bottomed 6 to 8 inch pan or bowl that sits squarely on the ground and has straight up and down sides. I use an old crockware casserole dish. Those heavy ceramic dog dishes work well too. Fill the bottom with 2 inches of milk, add 1/4 cup water, a scant Tbls of vinegar, Tbls sugar, then 1/4+ cup of canola or corn oil. Mixture should stay liquid, not curdled to make a solid. Top should have a thin unbroken layer of oil. Set near fly problem, but far enough away that it isn't attracting them toward the same area. The sweet/sour milk smell attracts them, the top coating of slippery oil catches them. This works till it gets rained on. I always re-do mine after it rains. (07/28/2006) By Jill RE: Home Remedies for House Flies Ok I too had Fruit flies indoors. I put 1/2-1 cup of Apple cider Vinigar in a custard dish along with 3-4 drops of dish saop. I put it on my countertop over night. You should have seen the dead bugs in the dish. they are attracked to the smell then they get "stuck" by the sticky soap and then drown. I did that for 2 nights, I have a fruit fly free home now. It works! (08/11/2006) By Becky RE: Home Remedies for House Flies We recently went on a 10 day trip and on our return the house was FILLED with flies. To get rid of them we used fly strips and they kind of worked wonders... The majority of the flies were close to the floor, and we could not hang the strips that low (Ask our cat's tail why) and the higher ones were simply not working fast enough. One thing that did work however, was hanging a strip above our compost bucket (unlidded for a day, we made sure there was nothing too stinky in it). Of the 6 stripps hanging with only a handfull of flies on them, the one above the bucket was covered in a matter of hours. When I walked by the bucket I'd give it a small kick, rousing the flies and often causing several to give the strip a test ;) This should likely be done in moderation, as the contents of the bucket will not only attract the flies to the strip, but it'll also likely become quickly infested with maggots. So while the bucket was likely a contributing factor in the fly problem we faced, I honestly feel it was also part of our solution! (08/22/2006) By Qryztufre RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I have tried the plastic bag idea, and it was unsuccessful. I am, however, going to attempt the tin foil and see if that's a better remedy. Houseflies are a pain. I also notice that they tend to congregate in the early afternoon... I have a small studio, and seeing ten flies messing about makes the room look dirty. (04/14/2007) By Jessica. RE: Home Remedies for House Flies Fly spray works good too. (05/28/2007) By GA RE: Home Remedies for House Flies The water in a bag trick works, adding a penny in the bag acts as a bacteriacide to preserve the water longer. When Columbus came across the ocean he added a couple of silver coins to each barrel of drinking water to kill the bacteria, same principle. When we had a major problem we hung them in the house around the kitchen to keep them away from any food sources to keep them from spawning. We also hung them on each door to keep additional ones from entering in. A few days later we were fly free. (06/28/2007) By Steve RE: flies on dogs ears If you go to a horse store or feed mill you can buy a cream called SWAT. Put it on the dogs ears and no more flies. I have used it. It works great. (07/14/2007) By Tina RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I tried the Apple Cider Vinegar trick and dish soap and it works quite well! I will have to try the water bag and the milk, sugar and oil trick. We love to sit on our deck and we live in the country and the flies are so horrible that we can't enjoy sitting outside at all. Thank you for all your advice! (08/07/2007) By Cyndi RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I tried the water in the bag and it did reduce the number of flies around my door within minutes! (08/09/2007) By MONICA RE: Home Remedies for House Flies Great idea for getting rid of houseflies! Take an orange and "juice it" (just take out the middle) and fill it with salt. Place this anywhere in your home that you want to get rid of flies. They disappear! We have a room in our old farm house that we have been battling flies for years and finally have no problems. The oranges last for a couple of months, then you just get new ones. (08/20/2007) By Diane RE: Home Remedies for House Flies I also tried the water bag. There's a fly sitting on top of it as I am typing. Nonsense.. (10/30/2007) By Andrew RE: Home Remedies for House Flies THE BEST WAY to get rid of flies is simple and fun. Open a fruity alcoholic beverage like Smirnoff or mikes hard lemonade, drink half of it, and let the other half sit outside. Flies will find it irresistible as they die by the dozen. Last summer it filled to the top with dead flies. Very gross. (04/22/2008) By Wesley Dixon Report Spam or Abuse