Home Remedies for Flies

Home Remedies to Get Rid of Flies

Leave the kitchen door ajar or windows wide open, and you could face the irritating buzz of a couple of unwanted friends. Flies are pesky insects that torment you in the middle of the night and land on your food – ruining your appetite at the very least and spreading diseases at the most. Before you buy sticky strips and chemical sprays, consider fighting back with a couple of home remedies to get rid of flies.

FLY HOME REMEDIES

Getting rid of flies is important because they aren’t the cleanest of creatures. For example, houseflies can spread about 200 pathogens and parasites to humans [1]. To get rid of flies, consider the following remedies for flies:

a) Cayenne Pepper:

Add cayenne pepper to a spray bottle and fill with water. Halfway through, shake the bottle to make sure the cayenne pepper dissolves in the water. Around the house, spray the corners and cracks to get rid of flies.

b) Apple Cider Vinegar:

Fill a small cup with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and lemon-scented dishwashing liquid. The aroma and sweet scent of the contents will attract flies. When they come to investigate, they often get too close and drown in the liquid. Hopefully, this will help you decrease the number of flies in your home.

c) Plant and Herbs:

Flies tend to stay away from places where marigolds, lavender, basil or mint are growing. Plant items offensive to flies around the house and in windowsill boxes.

d) Put a Lid on It:

Flies follow the scent of garbage; therefore it is in your best interest to keep lids sealed tightly on your indoor and outdoor garbage cans.

e) Homemade Flypaper:

No need to waste your money on flypaper when you can make your own. The materials you’ll need is a brown paper bag, scissors, string, ½ cup of sweet maple syrup, two tablespoons of brown sugar, two tablespoons of white sugar, and a shallow pan. Combine the syrup and sugars together in a shallow pan. Cut the paper bag into 1-inch wide strips. In the top of each strip, poke a hole. Thread a string through each hole. Soak the strips in the sugary mixture for about eight hours. After removing the strips from the mixture, hang them in an area where flies frequent after they stop dripping.

f) Clean Up Animal Feces:

One of the biggest things to attract flies is animal feces. If you own a cat or dog that does their business outside, it’s especially important that you keep your outdoor spaces free of poop. Make sure to bury feces in the backyard, flush down the toilet, or seal in bags placed deep in a trash can to get rid of flies that may try to enter your home.

g) Plastic Bags:

Sounds odd, but some people have been able to get rid of flies by hanging clear plastic bags of water near outdoor entryways. This home remedy takes advantage of the poor eyesight and natural behavior of flies. Clear bags of water catch light, which actually mimics the appearance of a spider’s web. Others believe that the water causes the fly to feel disoriented, and can be used to repel and get rid of flies. Fill gallon-size bags of water halfway full and suspend the bags close to entryways, garage doors, and places where flies gather.

h) Old CDs:

Working in the same manner as the bag of water method, hang a couple of old CDs by the entrance of a door to discourage flies from entering your home.

i) Cinnamon:

Flies seem not to like the scent of cinnamon, which would make a good choice for air fresheners.

j) Dishwashing Liquid:

Mix two tablespoons of dishwashing liquid with water in a spray bottle and gently shake to blend. Whenever you see a fly, spray it. The soap will coat their wings and make it hard for them to fly. This home remedy is good for households with children and pets since it does not contain harmful chemicals.

Resources

[1] http://www.factmonster.com/spot/insects1.html

Source: http://www.grandmashomeremedies.com/get-rid-of-flies.html