The end of summer/beginning of fall marks the tidal wave of flies attempting to make their way indoors. Flies, like other insects, seek shelter during the winter and what better place than a climate controlled home with plenty of food?
Flies aren’t very sneaky. They barge right in whenever they get the chance. Open a door and whoosh – in comes a fly. Even if you do manage to keep your house sealed up tight, chances are, flies will still find their way in through small gaps under outside doors or through small openings in window screens.
Flies are the one insect that drive Rasta Daddy batty. He will chase a fly through the house for hours. As entertaining as this is, I decided to help him out a little and research some of the better ways to rid our home of the half dozen flies that seem to find their way in daily.
I tested out 6 different natural-minded ways to get rid of house flies. The results were interesting. What I thought would surely fail actually worked well. And what I thought was a sure fire win, failed miserably. You ready for the results?
6 Ways To Get Rid Of House Flies Naturally
1. Mint
I placed small piles of fresh crushed mint around my house to discourage flies from sticking around.
Verdict? Failure. The flies didn’t care about the mint. Possibly because my daughter kept eating it all.
2. Basil
I planted a small basil plant and put it in the kitchen close to the garbage can. This seems to be a hot spot for fly congregation.
Verdict? Total win! I was shocked. I figured this was pretty out there but it worked. The flies hated the basil smell. The downside is that the flies just moved on to another room where there was no basil. But if you have a problem with fruit flies, this might be a really good kitchen solution.
3. Clove
I read that flies abhor the smell of cloves. In doing my research, it appeared that clove oil and fresh cloves would work equally well. Cloves have a pretty strong smell so I decided to not use clove oil since that is very concentrated. Instead, I placed bowls of dried cloves in a few rooms of our house. This brand is the exact one I used.
Verdict? This seemed to work. In fact, flies that I saw come into our home were nowhere to be found. They just vanished. The only issue with the cloves is refilling the bowls with them once the scent is gone. You get used to the scent so you kind of stop smelling it. This means you don’t necessarily know it is time for a refill until more flies start coming in.
4. Apple Cider Vinegar
Apparently flies love the scent of apples and vinegar. I put some apple cider vinegar in a bowl and in order to create the “trap” I added some of my favorite liquid dish soap. The idea is that this will attract flies towards the solution because of its aroma. They land in it, get trapped, and drown.
Verdict? This one is a huge winner. I actually thought it would fail but wow – flies sure do flock to this concoction! You don’t have to change it that often either unless you have a fly graveyard going on. The aroma seems to last a long time. I used this brand.
5. Essential Oil Room Spray
Lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, and lemongrass essential oils can be mixed together to create a powerful fly-be-gone spray. Spraying this mixture all over your home will keep the flies from wanting to get in.
Verdict? Hit or miss. You need to make the spray very concentrated and you need to spray it often. It wasn’t worth the cost of the oils in my opinion.
6. Do It Yourself Fly Paper
I made my own fly paper with this recipe:
- 1/4 cup syrup
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
I mixed everything together in a small bowl. I then cut strips of heavy paper and soaked it in this mixture. I let it dry overnight. Once it was ready, I punched a hole in the top and hung it up.
Verdict? Awesome for catching flies. Those suckers were singing Jailhouse Rock like they were on Alcatraz. The downside? Ants. Ants love the smell and they apparently could care less if they have to climb walls, cross ceilings, and then meet their own sticky demise to get to it. So you catch flies, attract ants, and catch said ants. Eh – maybe not worth the effort.
So for me, the real winner to get rid of house flies naturally is the Apple Cider Vinegar in a bowl!
What have you tried when it comes to getting rid of pesky house flies? Please share your tips and tricks here. Be sure to check out my other natural pest control posts.
Whoa! Never thought to use Apple Cider Vinegar. It really is a miracle worker isn’t it? It’s good for EVERYTHING. What a great idea! We’ll have to give that one a try.
One thing that worked for us too believe it or not was a Pitcher Plant! We love plants, so I got a pitcher plant for my man simply because it looked so cool and within a few days all of the flies in our home were gone 🙂
As always, thanks for the interesting post!
peace and love,
Katie
A Pitcher Plant! Now there is an interesting idea. You have me curious…
What an awesome idea! I will have to try this in our own home because the Hubby is always getting mad at me for leaving the doors and windows open all the time lol….he HATES flies!
Thanks for the great tips, perfect timing, we were just getting a bunch of flies, & my hubby is just the same as you described yours about those flies! I got a basil plant last night & haven’t seen anymore flies!
I’ve mostly had success with ACV with fruit flies, not so much with house flies. I do a used water bottle, top cut off. You turn the top over to make a funner. Put a little ACV, a couple drops of dish soap and for bonus: a chunk of fruit. The more it rots, the better. The funnel helps keep them from escaping. When we had the worst problem, I made a few of these and they definitely turned into fly graveyards!
We also tried a Venus Fly Trap… not that useful. Go figure.
House flies are common carriers of diseases all over the world. Thus, require adequate methods to keep a control on them. As, you said this natural pest control spray of apple cider vinegar is most effective in keeping flies away from our homes. Do you have any ideas for bed bugs removal? If yes, kindly share that too.