Healthy Living 9 min read

How to get rid of house flies naturally in 2022

1. Best Quick DIY Fly Trap Fly Trap Supplies Water. Overripe fruit. Sugar. A tall bottle. How To Make DIY Fly Trap Cut off the top third of the bottle. Fill the bottom with sugar water or other bait such as spoiled wine, a blob of honey, or a few pieces of overripe fruit. Remove […]

Jimmy Ho
Published 23 Sep 2022
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1. Best Quick DIY Fly Trap

Fly Trap Supplies

  • Water.
  • Overripe fruit.
  • Sugar.
  • A tall bottle.

How To Make DIY Fly Trap

Cut off the top third of the bottle. Fill the bottom with sugar water or other bait such as spoiled wine, a blob of honey, or a few pieces of overripe fruit. Remove the cap from the top and nestle it, upside down, into the lower part of the bottle to create a funnel. 

Why The Fly Trap Works

The house flies will be drawn to the attractant through the funnel but won’t be able to escape once inside. 

Best Quick DIY Fly Trap (Source: Internet)
Best Quick DIY Fly Trap (Source: Internet)

2. Quick DIY Fly Spray

Fly Spray Supplies

  • spray bottle
  • 6 oz. apple cider vinegar (the cheap kind)
  • 6 oz. water
  • 12 oz. Avon Skin So Soft

How To Make DIY Fly Spray

Combine the three ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake well and use as desired and shake the bottle often as you use it to keep the ingredients mixed.

Stronger Spray For Big Flies

If you are facing some kind of big-size flies and  wish to make a stronger version of this recipe, prepare the herbs as a tincture in alcohol and use this straight as a spray after straining out the herbs.

Instruction: 

  1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, then add 3-4 tablespoons of dried herbs in any combination from the list above. I mix in 1 tablespoon of peppermint, spearmint, catnip, and lavender, as well as a couple of dried cloves.
  2. Mix well, cover, and set aside to cool (covering is essential to keep the volatile oils in!)
  3. Strain the herbs and combine them with 1 cup of witch hazel or rubbing alcohol. Keep in a cool location in a spray bottle. We frequently keep ours in the refrigerator for an extra cooling spray.
  4. Use just as needed. It also smells wonderful and feels fantastic on the skin.

3. More DIY Fly Traps

Bottle Fly Trap

Materials:

  • Wine or beer bottle with a bit left in the bottom
  • Dish soap
  • Paper to create a funnel
  • Syrup
  • Tape

Instructions: 

  1. Grab a bottle with wine or beer in the bottom.
  2. Add a squirt or two of syrup.
  3. Add a few drops of dish soap.
  4. Create a funnel out of paper.
  5. Fit the funnel into the top and tape it into place.
  6. Sprinkle a bit of syrup on the funnel.
  7. Set it out on the counter.
Bottle Fly Trap (Source: Internet)
Bottle Fly Trap (Source: Internet)

Cling Film Fruit Fly Trap

Materials:

  • Pour a splash of juice into the bowl
  • Add a few drops of dish soap
  • Mix to combine
  • Cover bowl with cling film
  • Punch small holes in cling film with skewer, fork or tiny screw driver

Instructions: 

The flies crawl in via the holes for the juice but the dish soap suffocates them and damages their wings so they can’t escape.

Bread Bag & Banana Fly Trap

Materials: 

  • An empty bread bag. 
  • A piece of banana.

Instructions: 

Place a piece of banana into a bread bag all the way in the back, sometimes smashing it up just a bit will help as well. Just a slight squeeze with your hand to soften up the fruit more. 

The trick here is to lure the fruit flies in and make it as difficult as possible for them to get out. That is why the long bread bag is the perfect trap. Bread bags work best since they are long and skinny.

DIY Fly Paper

Materials: 

  • Paper
  • Honey
  • Water
  • Tape

Instructions: 

Creating a DIY sticky fly trap is nearly as simple as grabbing the materials. There are only a few steps to fly removal.

  1. Warm ¼ cup of honey and water.
  2. Cut paper into strips.
  3. Coat one side of the paper with the honey-water mixture.
  4. Lie these on the counter or tape them to windowsills.
DIY Fly Paper (Source: Internet)
DIY Fly Paper (Source: Internet)

Best Bait To Put In a Fly Trap

Sugar, honey, syrup, and old fruit work perfectly to attract flies. For example, a cheap and easy fly trap bait is a bit of sugar in water. Additionally, you can use apple cider vinegar, old wine, and even rotting foods like fish or shrimp.

Best Bait To Put In a Fly Trap (Source: Internet)
Best Bait To Put In a Fly Trap (Source: Internet)

How To Trap Flies Without Killing Them

Empty a 2L pop bottle to trap insects without killing them (or drink it, then save the bottle). Cut the bottle’s cap approximately a third of the way down. Inside, place something that flies will be drawn to, such as an apple core or some leftover food leftovers. Then, place the bottle’s top upside down inside the bottle’s bottom. Tape it down and remove the trap. The flies will enter and will be unable to exit. Then, and this is the important ‘harm-free’ part, take the bottle outdoors and release it all away from your house.

4. How To Find Out Where Flies Are Coming From?

Flies On Windows

Windows with warmth and dust can be a place for flies and even a home of many new-born flies. 

Flies In Drains

Drains are humid most of the time with some leftovers, it is an ideal place for flies so keep it clean. 

Flies On House Plants

Sometimes, the plant you choose for your room is an attractant of flies, especially flies which lay eggs in the soils. 

Flies In Loft & Attic

A warm and airtight attic will be a perfect home for flies in the winter. 

Flies Under Floorboards

Flies under the floorboard may be a sign of some death there.

Flies Behind Washing Machines & Dishwashers

Drain gnats can also hide behind the washing machines and dishwashers.

Flies In Chimneys

Sometimes, flies may come from your chimneys if there are any dead birds or insects accidentally fallen into your chimneys. 

5. How To Get Rid Of Flies Outside

Keep Flies Away With Citrus & Cloves

To keep flies away outside, cut a lemon (or other citrus fruit) in half and stud with cloves, then place it in the center of the table or wherever you are sitting in the garden.

Keep Flies Away Outside With Just A Few Pennies

Follow these steps:

  1. Add a cup of water to a ziplock bag
  2. Chuck in a few copper pennies
  3. Hang bag near where you’re sitting

DIY Fly Repellent Spray

If there are mosquitoes around, spraying ourselves with fly repellent spray is a smart idea. Obviously, DEET-based repellents are available, and the EPA believes that they are safe for human use and that DEET is useful for combating diseases such as Lyme disease. If you want to avoid DEET, you can easily produce your own DIY fly repellent spray with basic materials. Combine the following ingredients in a small spray bottle:

  • 1 tablespoon rubbing alcohol (or vodka)
  •  droppers (100 drops) of any of the following essential oils:
  • Lavender
  • Eucalyptus
  • Citronella
  • Rosemary
  • Geranium

Both witch hazel and rubbing alcohol are effective natural substances. Witch hazel cures blackheads naturally, while rubbing alcohol eliminates ink and grass stains.

Keeping Flies Away From Food Outside

Some large flies are more drawn to the smell of meat than they are to lemon or lavender or similar scents. Eating outside might become a nightmare as a result of this.

If you have a problem with huge flies buzzing your table, place a trap with meat in it as far away from where you plan to sit as feasible.

You can place the shred of meat – or fish – in a jar and cone trap like the one below, which is filled with water and dish soap. Raw shrimp is used as bait by certain people.

6. How To Recognise Different Types Of Fly

Phorid Flies

The Phoridae are a family of small, hump-backed flies resembling fruit flies. Phorid flies can often be identified by their escape habit of running rapidly across a surface rather than taking to the wing.

Fruit Flies

Fruit flies is a species of small fly. Adults are 3 to 4 mm long with red eyes (though some are dark eyed). The abdomen is black on top, gray underneath. Fruit flies can appear to be brown or tan in color.

Phorid Fly and Fruit Fly (Source: Internet)
Phorid Fly and Fruit Fly (Source: Internet)

Drain Flies

Drain flies have a tuft of fur on their heads and a moth-like appearance with fuzzy wings and antennae. Feed and breed on decaying organic matter in drains, sewers, and garbage cans.

Fungus Gnats

Fungus gnats are small, dark, short-lived gnats. The adults are 2–8 millimetres (0.08–0.3 in) long, and are occasionally pollinators of plants and carriers of mushroom spores.

Fungus Gnats (Source: Internet)
Fungus Gnats (Source: Internet)

House Flies

House flies are gray to black, with four dark, longitudinal lines on the thorax, slightly hairy bodies, and a single pair of membranous wings. They have red eyes, set farther apart in the slightly larger female.

Cluster Flies

Cluster flies (a.k.a grass flies or attic flies) are completely harmless to human health because they do not lay eggs in human food. 

The typical grass fly Pollenia rudis is about 7 mm long and can be recognised by distinct lines or stripes behind the head, short golden-coloured hairs on the thorax, and irregular light and dark gray areas on the abdomen. Cluster flies are typically slow-moving.

Cluster fly (Source: Internet)
Cluster fly (Source: Internet)

In terms of biology, flies play an important ecological role in breaking down and recycling organic matter, house flies come into regular contact with some pretty nasty stuff. However, they spend much of their lives eating, living, and reproducing in rotting food, animal carcasses, and feces. Thus, flies can be a disease-causing factor to humans so it is important to keep them out of your house. Sparkling and Beyond has shown you all the most effective methods to get rid of flies from your house, let’s apply them now and check the result!

When to Call a Professional?

In some cases, using natural methods to banish flies out of the house can not bring you effectiveness in the long term. The flies may come back after a short time and breed again. In that case, it is better that you get advice from experts to resolve the issue.

If you have successfully applied any solutions above or need further advice, please comment below this post, Sparkling and Beyond is willing to help you.

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