Summer and hot weather come with their perks and advantages. You can wear comfortable clothing and hang out outside without fear of catching the chills. However, they also have downsides, such as excessive heat, sunburns, and too many flies.
It may look like there is an unbelievable amount of flies in your house and yard, especially if there is food around. Flies are almost inevitable in warm weather, and we all occasionally experience them. While seeing one or two flies is part of the norm, a swarm of flies can be frightening. So, what do you do?
This article explains a few ways to get rid of them. Note that house flies do not bite and are generally unharmful. The only problem is that they can be irritating, especially in large numbers. Moreover, they can contaminate food if left unattended. Therefore, getting rid of them is crucial for your general health.
Causes Of Large Numbers Of Flies
There is no one reason for seeing flies around the house or outside. Typically, they flock around when there is a heavy scent, or the weather is too warm. Sugary or sticky foods attract them, and food items with strong aromas draw them to houses. However, that is not the only reason you see flies around your house.
One or two fruit flies may enter your house, but they quickly multiply and spread everywhere. Houseflies, particularly, have a high reproduction rate, and while they need little to survive, they can live for some time in large numbers. The more they reproduce, the larger the numbers, even though the adult flies die within two weeks of life.
That is part of the reason there seem to be so many flies around you within a short period. If the weather is hot, you have foods with strong aromas in your house, or there is high humidity, it is only right to expect flies in your house or out in the yard.
Methods To Rid Your House And Yard Of Flies
Getting rid of flies around your house and yard may seem arduous, but it is not impossible. There are a few ways to combat flies and discourage them from flocking around your property, and we list some of them below.
Remove The Attractant
The primary step in ridding your house of flies is to find the source of their attraction. Typically, flies do not flock around anything for nothing. The weather may be hot, but they should only fly around without converging in any particular place. You may chalk it up to the weather if they fly around without direction. However, if they all seem to head in a particular direction, it is best to locate and remove the attractant.
Search the house and yard for anything that may be attracting them. It may be decaying matter, animal dung, or a rotting plant. It may even be food debris accidentally left out in the yard. Follow their movement until you find the source of the convergence. Then, you can remove it.
Regular clearing of the yard is crucial if you have a large yard or run a farm. Also, keep the house as clean as possible. Empty the garbage cans every night, throw out leftover and rotten foods, and ensure the plumbing functions optimally. Simply put, keep the environment clean to discourage flies from your property.
Use Predators
Nature gave us natural predators to take care of unwanted flies, and using them may be another excellent step in ridding your property of flies. If you regularly have a problem with too many flies in and around your house, you may want to attract these animals to your yard to eat the flies and reduce their population. Combine this with keeping your environment clean, and you may successfully eliminate the infestation.
Some predators to consider are dragonflies, frogs, and birds. Bats also have a penchant for eating flies, but not everyone is open to keeping them on their property. Therefore, use your best options which may be birds. Set out bird feeders to attract the birds, and use ponds to attract frogs to your property.
Note that bird feeders may attract squirrels in the long run, and squirrels are destructive rodents. They can nest under your house or in your car engine. Carefully select the bird feeders to use since some keep the rodents away. Use another alternative if bird feeders are not an option.
Use Air Conditioners
Flies do not like the cold, so air conditioners may serve a double purpose. Using an air conditioner means closing doors and windows, which helps to keep the flies out of your house. While this method can rid your house of them, your yard still needs protection from the flies. However, you may not need to worry if the problem is mostly with the house interior.
Many homes already use air conditioners, but only when the weather is too hot. Consider turning yours on if you notice a sudden increase in flies flocking into your house. Of course, you must have eliminated the source of their attraction before taking this step. If nothing else works, turn on the cooling unit and close all entrances and exits.
If you do not have an air conditioner installed in your house, get a portable one. You will get the same results without going into the trouble of installing it. A dehumidifier helps when the humidity is high; high humidity attracts flies. The device will lower the moisture in the air and cool the room, effectively reducing the number of flies.
Use Special Candles
Not everyone likes using candles, primarily because of the possible danger of a fire outbreak. However, if used correctly, special candles can keep flies at bay. For example, candles with the smell of citronella keep flies and mosquitoes away. So, you may want to light some of these special candles around the house or on the porch as you relax with people.
Deter Them With Smells
Some smells attract flies and make it difficult to clear the house of them. The smell may be your cologne, a meal you are preparing, or skin lotion. On the other hand, some smells repel flies and keep them from flocking around your house. If using an air conditioner or special candles is not an option, here are some natural scents to try.
One is basil flies detest the smell of basil, so it does an excellent job of keeping them away. The same is true for cinnamon; cinnamon air fresheners sweeten the smell of the air while ridding your house of flies. Also, try marigolds, lavender, and mint; if you cannot make a spray of them, plant them in your house or garden.
Cloves keep flies away from your house, so you may want to keep them around. Consider having a small garden with a healthy amount of cloves to create a strong smell. Alternatively, get dried cloves and put them in small bowls. Then, place them around the house, especially in areas with the highest concentration of flies. Note that cloves have a strong smell, and you may not like them, so they may not be the best option.
Some essential oils have the potential to chase flies away for good. Lavender, lemongrass, peppermint, and eucalyptus are the first choices for the job. Spray or place drops of them in strategic areas around the house. They will create an amazing smell for you and a repelling one for flies.
Employ Fly Traps
If you have this problem, you can use fly traps outside the house. While fly traps work excellently inside your house, they yield better results in larger spaces. They can catch an insane amount of flies at once, running in the thousands, which is only possible when used outside.
There are several fly traps to use. Consider using rotten eggs; put them in bowls and place them in different parts of the yard. We do not like the smell of rotten eggs, but flies love them. Keep them as far away from your house as possible to avoid getting a whiff of the bad eggs or drawing the flies close. You can use as many as possible according to the infestation level.
Another fly trap option is apple cider vinegar. The smell of vinegar and apples does not exactly nauseate us, but we can do without them. However, the same smell draws flies in droves. So, mix some apple cider vinegar and dish soap and set the container out. The smell will draw the flies, and the soap will trap them. Replace the bowl with a fresh one every time it gets full of dead or trapped flies.
Use Light
Yellow is one color that repels flies for some reason. They cannot stand seeing them, so you may want to capitalize on that. Install yellow bulbs in areas with the most concentration of flies to keep them away. Yellow light is the usual yellow light we use in some of our homes as opposed to white or other light colors. However, it may mean installing them in too many areas. These lights can be uncomfortable and may consume more energy than white light.
Another light method to try is to use blue light. Flies love blue light as much as they hate yellow light. The color blue attracts them the same way yellow repels them. So, what to do? Fix blue lights away from your house as fly bait. Consider employing other means of eliminating them once they leave your house instead of simply drawing them away.
Lay Fly Paper Around
It may be the time to find out what a fly paper is if you have never seen one. It is a piece of paper with a sticky residue that contains a strong insecticide. The usage instructions are simple, and the paper does not litter the place with flies. Roll out the paper and lay it in any location around the house.
The paper will trap and kill flies that perch on it. While they are trapped and cannot move, the insecticide will kill them. When the paper fills up, you can roll it up in a plastic wrap and throw it out far from your house. Use as many fly papers as needed around the house, depending on the fly infestation level.
Try A Fan
We are not talking about your typical fan blowing air around without much impact. Get a strong, high-powered fan that can produce a strong breeze. The breeze must be strong enough to dispel flies around the house. Of course, this method works best when used inside the house, in a small, enclosed space.
That way, the fan can create an uncomfortable environment for any house fly. They cannot move about when a high breeze blows around the house. A ceiling fan can work wonders, especially if you install a large one. You must not use the fan at its highest setting but let it run high enough to keep the flies away.
Use Carnivorous Plants
That means growing these plants to help curb the incidence of fly infestations on your property. If you already have a garden, growing these plants will be easy. Otherwise, consider starting a small garden on any patch of land in your yard to grow them. An example of a carnivorous plant is the Venus fly trap.
Note that these plants will not entirely eliminate the flies on your property but will reduce their appearance. Also, they are nice to look at, so they are excellent conversation starters. However, they will only work if other areas of the house and yard are clean. Otherwise, you may keep seeing these flies, regardless of the elimination methods you employ.
Set Electronic Insect Repellers Up
Consider using an ultrasonic insect repeller in the house; install several if there is a fly problem. It works when you plug it into an electric outlet; leave it to disturb the flies indoors without more work. The waves from the device upset their nervous system and drive them far away from the area. Therefore, set them up in enclosed areas without moisture; you may need more than one for the outdoor and indoor areas.
Conclusion: How To Get Rid Of Flies?
You no longer have to worry about annoying flies around your home. We’ve highlighted several effective methods to get rid of flies without much hassle.