Intrusive and annoying flies - they wake up in the spring and it seems that they immediately fill everything around. There are quite a few different means to combat them: from chemicals to homemade traps. We won’t touch on the first ones today, but we’ll talk about how to get rid of flies using folk remedies.
Why are flies dangerous?
A favorable environment for the breeding of flies is compost pits, containers with garbage, heaps of manure. They swarm there, breed, and eat food waste. The feet of insects are covered with tiny hairs. They easily retain bacteria and worm eggs. When pests fly into an apartment, they scurry around the table, sit on dishes and uncovered food, dropping dangerous microflora.
House flies do not bite people. Their mouthparts are not designed to pierce skin. This is done by another variety - zhigalka flour. The population increases towards the end of summer, so in August people complain of painful bites.
It is necessary to get rid of flies in the house urgently, because they are a potential threat to health. By eating food that a fly has sat on, you can get an upset stomach and become infected with a parasitic infection, salmonellosis, jaundice, and cholera.
Development and reproduction cycles of flies
There are 4 stages of development in the life cycle of this insect.
- Egg deposition. One individual can lay about 150 eggs at a time. They are deposited in a humid environment. These are compost pits, manure or garbage dumps.
- The larva develops. Very little time passes from the moment the eggs are laid until the larva begins to develop. The approximate time period is from 8 hours to a day.
- The larva pupates. Before this stage begins, the larva moves to a dry place in the house, where it turns into a pupa. The process takes three to four weeks.
- The birth of a fly. Approximately one individual lives for a month. During this time, she lays from 500 to 2000 eggs.
Why do flies appear?
For insect control to be successful, it is important to determine where they are coming from and block entry routes.
As soon as the spring sun warms up, pests begin to multiply and increase the population. Clouds of flies easily fly into open windows, doors, and through ventilation holes.
Sometimes individuals appear in an apartment when it is still cold outside. This suggests that in the fall they hid and hibernated, but the warmth in the room woke them up ahead of time.
Flies can smell food waste and dirt from afar, so if hygiene rules are not followed in the house, they seep in through the smallest cracks, multiply and feel at ease in favorable conditions.
Prevention
The main thing is not only that after disinsection the flies do not appear again, the main thing is that they do not appear at all. And this is prevention.
What should you do first? Start by preventing waste from accumulating. It is a favorite place for flies.
Second, it’s hot in the summer and you often have to keep the windows open. To prevent anyone from flying into the apartment through them, it is necessary to hang mosquito nets and make sure that they are intact.
Each apartment has ventilation holes in the kitchen. They must be closed to prevent insects from entering. Moreover, cockroaches can also enter through such holes.
There should be no leftover food left on the table, much less rotting fruits and vegetables. Dishes should be washed after meals and not piled up in the sink.
It is necessary to regularly ventilate the room. And if a fly appears in the room, then it must be destroyed before it lays eggs.
First actions
If flies appear in the house, act immediately.
- Conduct an audit in the kitchen.
- Throw away food waste, pack food in sealed bags, hide it in a closet or refrigerator.
- Wash work surfaces, trash cans, and floors with a mild rinse of table vinegar.
- Install a mosquito net on the windows and vents. A durable product with small cells is a reliable barrier not only for flies, but also for mosquitoes.
Clean regularly, do not allow food to spoil, and take out the trash can every day. Such actions significantly reduce the number of flies in the apartment.
In a private house and country house, a breeding ground for insects is a cesspool and a toilet. To neutralize sewage, use bioactivators that process waste, feces into liquid, reducing their volume, and call a sewer truck more often.
Fighting flies on the street
In some summer cottages, insects especially like to breed. To avoid this, consider a number of recommendations:
- Remember that parasites lay eggs and multiply in areas where cesspools and compost heaps are located, so regularly disinfect these areas with a bleach solution.
- Keep your yard clean.
- Mow your lawn regularly.
- Remove piles of leaves and grass.
- Avoid creating areas with standing water.
- Along the perimeter of the site, plant shrubs and plants that repel pests: elderberry, tansy, bird cherry, basil, lavender, wormwood and others.
If insects are already infested in the garden, then use proven methods of combating them. Explore several effective folk remedies:
- Take castor oil and rosin in equal quantities, mix, heat a little, add 1 tsp for stickiness. jam or honey. Apply the prepared product to paper strips and hang traps in places where pests accumulate.
- If after a feast there is a bottle or can of unfinished beer left, do not throw it away. Pests will flock to the intoxicating smell, penetrate inside the container, will not be able to get out and will die.
- Take 2-3 tbsp. l. dry flaxseed, add 0.5-1 liters of milk, boil, cool, pour the poison into bowls, place the dishes in the right places.
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Useful plants
Beautiful greenery and flowers will not only decorate your home or garden, but will also scare away and some will “catch” uninvited guests. Plant on the windowsill, in the garden:
- sundew or Venus flytrap - a carnivorous plant can serve as an excellent exotic home decoration; it feeds on flies, pinching them in the foliage and not letting go;
- eucalyptus - use fresh herbs, dry grass, essential oil: apply the product to paper and place it in the right places;
- elderberry - flowers and foliage of the plant are effective against insects;
- bird cherry - the flowers repel flies, but it is not recommended to place them at home, because headaches may begin; it is better to use crushed or mashed leaves that contain insect repellent phytoncides;
- tansy - contains toxic substances that repel flies and have a paralyzing effect on them;
- geranium - the specific aroma is unpleasant for midges, flies, moths, the plant contains bactericidal substances, the smell perfectly purifies the indoor air;
- tomatoes – you can choose miniature varieties for your home; tomato leaves effectively destroy pests;
- fern – beautiful foliage will decorate any space, place the branches of the plant around the perimeter of the room, change them periodically;
- basil - grows well in pots and outdoors, fresh herbs can be replaced with dry herbs, essential oil;
- Noble laurel - place the leaves on the tables, near the garbage can, treat the places where pests accumulate with a decoction: when using the plant, flies, midges will disappear, mice, rats will go away;
- lavender - dry herb, essential oil is effective, place pots with the plant in the kitchen, near the gazebos;
- peppermint - the smell is unpleasant not only for flies, but also for ants, midges, mice, rats;
- wormwood - place bunches of grass at home, in the attic, growing the plant on the site, you will get double benefits: having a repeller for flies, blood-sucking insects and a medicinal plant for gastritis, ulcers, insomnia, burns, bronchitis.
Homemade traps
A good folk remedy for flies is homemade traps.
- For bait, mix heated castor oil, rosin and natural honey in the same ratio in a plate.
- Prepare long strips of thick, light-colored paper. Apply a thick layer of bait with a brush and spread the paper on the windowsills.
- Flies will be attracted by the delicious smell of food. They will fly to the trap to feed and get stuck in the sticky mass.
- Do not forget to throw out the trap with dead insects and put in new sheets of paper.
If you don’t want to spoil the appearance of the room with unaesthetic sticky strips, use other methods. Take a 1.5 liter plastic bottle. Cut off its neck. Pour 100 ml of warm water into the bottom and dissolve a spoonful of sugar or honey in it. Turn the neck over and insert it into the bottle. The fly will smell the sweet smell, crawl into the narrow neck and will not be able to get back out.
Fill a pint jar halfway with apple cider vinegar. Close the lid by making 3-4 wide holes in it. Place the container in a room where flies live. Insects will flock to the smell, penetrate through the hole and remain trapped.
Solutions
Effective folk remedies for fighting flies are poisonous solutions.
- Stir 100 g of sugar in half a liter of water.
- Pour 1 tablespoon of formaldehyde into a separate container, add 5 tablespoons of sweetened water and 3 tablespoons of warm milk.
- Place the solution in a saucer, soak pieces of bread in it and place on the windowsill. Flies that taste the poison die within 2-3 minutes.
- Penetrating into the body of humans and animals, the product causes poisoning, so protect children and pets from it.
Buy chlorophos powder. Measure half a teaspoon, mix with a spoon of granulated sugar and dissolve in 200 ml of water. Pour into deep plates and place on the balcony, closet, windowsill. Make sure that children and animals do not try the liquid. The poison retains its properties for 2 weeks. It is useful to use it not only in the apartment, but also in the country, placing the plates on the veranda.
Diseases carried by flies
The main disadvantage is not only that they are annoying in everyday life, but they are carriers of a large number of diseases.
Diseases carried by flies:
- Dysentery
- Typhoid fever
- anthrax
- Parasites in the intestines
- Eye pathologies
- Tuberculosis
- Cholera
Lots of flies
Black pepper
Black pepper helps get rid of flies in the house.
- Buy 50 g of ground seasoning, combine with the same amount of sugar.
- Pour 150 ml of heated milk into a bowl and add the prepared ingredients.
- Soak paper in the solution, dry it, put it on the windowsill and hang it around the apartment.
You can mix pepper and sugar in equal proportions, pour it into plates and place it in places where pests accumulate. Flies do not tolerate the smell and taste of pepper, so they quickly leave the room.
When you need help from relevant services
Usually you can control harmful insects on your own. However, sometimes moments still arise when you have to turn to special services for help. This is mainly due to the fact that there are so many insects that conventional methods no longer work on them.
If you get rid of flies yourself, the result is only repelling. The result of the work of exterminators is the complete destruction of insects. More powerful and highly concentrated insecticidal preparations are used here. All surfaces without exception are subject to treatment, i.e. the entire room.
Cloves and tansy
The aroma of cloves is unpleasant to insects. To keep them away from human habitation, measure out 5 g of cloves, add 250 ml of water, put on fire, boil and simmer on low flame for 15 minutes. Disconnect, cool and strain. Add 50 ml of Triple Cologne to the decoction and pour the liquid into a spray bottle. Spray window frames, window sills, entrance doors, work surfaces with the product and wipe with a dry cloth. The pungent smell quickly drives flies out of the house and prevents them from flying in from the street.
Tansy emits an odor reminiscent of camphor, which is unbearable for mosquitoes and flies. The repellent plant is a popular folk remedy for insects. To repel them, chop up dried flowers. Coat strips of paper with glue and sprinkle with tansy powder. Dry the paper and hang it near the window, balcony and front door.
Preventing the appearance of flies in the house
It is always easier to prevent a problem than to try to get rid of dipterans in the house. To avoid infection and spread of infections, you will need to limit their access to:
- Install mosquito nets on windows;
- Do not leave food, crumbs, or fruits outdoors. Remove food from the table in a timely manner or cover it with lids, napkins, and gauze.
- Keep the trash can clean and closed.
- Keep the kitchen clean and tidy, wash dishes promptly.
- If there is a trash container located outside, it needs to be closed and washed out occasionally.
- Treat cesspools with chlorine at least once a month.
- Use insect traps and adhesive tape.
- Use repellents and insecticides in case of high concentrations of insects.
Warning! One individual can quickly produce up to 3 thousand larvae. Therefore, you should get rid of insects in a timely manner.
Plants from flies
Herbs with a persistent odor are good helpers in the fight against insects. To keep flies away from your home, plant the following in decorative pots:
- basil;
- mint;
- rosemary;
- lemon balm;
- thyme;
- geranium.
Place plants in the kitchen, in the rooms, on the veranda.
To prepare a repellent spray, pour 150 g of fresh basil leaves into a glass of boiling water. Cover with a lid and leave until the liquid has cooled. Strain, pour in 120 ml of alcohol or vodka. Place the product in a spray bottle. Treat window frames, door jambs, and window sills.
To protect your private home from pest invasion, plant lavender and wormwood under the windows. The persistent smell will prevent mosquitoes and flies from entering your home.
Tie fresh branches of elderberry and fern into bunches and place them in the corners of the apartment. Once a week, throw out dried branches, replace them with new ones and there will be fewer flies.
How to kill flies in the house using folk remedies
A modern city dweller will immediately use professional means with appropriate compositions, commercial traps and dipteran exterminators. However, despite their effectiveness and popularity, many people trust proven and familiar home remedies more. Folk methods that are not harmful to animals and humans will help you get rid of flies in a country house or apartment.
How to quickly get rid of flies in an apartment with vinegar
You can wipe all surfaces in the room with vinegar, paying special attention to the table in the kitchen. The product lasts for 3 hours. After which the procedure must be repeated.
The smell of the substance is unpleasant even for humans; it has a similar effect on insects
Vinegar is used to treat door slopes, window sills, and window frames. You can pour it into a spray bottle and spray the mesh on the window.
If the food product is heated, the smell will become stronger, and the folk remedy will better repel flies.
How to fight house flies with formaldehyde and milk
The poisonous mixture helps drive flies out of the room at night and during the day; to prepare it you will need formaldehyde, sweet water and milk. Mix the ingredients in a ratio of 1:5:3.
Pour the solution into unnecessary plates, which will not be used for food later. Place a piece of bread in the middle. It will absorb the solution. Flies that taste the bread will receive a sufficient dose of formaldehyde and die.
The resulting liquid is also used to treat door and window slopes, window sills and other places where they flock.
How to kill flies at home with kerosene
Kerosene helps to control flies in the house. Insects cannot stand the smell of this product and fly away. When washing floors, windows or ceilings, add a little kerosene to the water. The optimal ratio is 80 ml of product per 2 liters of liquid.
Attention! Kerosene smells bad. Even people living in an apartment will feel uncomfortable living in it.
You should leave the room treated with kerosene for a while.
How to get rid of flies in a private house with black pepper
You can get rid of them using a trap, which will require 10 g of ground black pepper, 40 ml of milk, honey or jam. The sweet smell attracts insects. Black pepper is a slow-acting poison for them.
We recommend reading: Benefits of bell pepper, properties
After tasting the pepper, the fly will die
The mixture can be poured into saucers, soaked in bread, or used for a homemade bottle trap.
How to drive flies out of your house with indoor plants
Natural enemies in the house are plants. They not only help get rid of insects, but also decorate the room.
Attention! Their secret is essential oils, which act as an aversive agent.
Houseplants are readily available and can be found on the market and quite cheaply. They will also help get rid of mosquitoes and other annoying insects.
Winged ones are repelled by chrysanthemums, marigolds, nasturtiums, petunias, and geraniums. You can buy carnivorous plants. For example, Nepenthes is an excellent trap. The plant lures them into the jug with its aroma.
When the fly flies in, the “doors” of the plant close and it ends up in a puddle of water.
If there are flies under a suspended ceiling, dried herbs will help remove them. Basil, lavender, lemongrass, lemon thyme, mint, and rosemary help get rid of dipterous insects.
To drive flies out of the house without chemicals, just spread these herbs in the corners of the house.
You can plant tomatoes in a pot. They are a poisonous plant for flies. They are also repelled by bonsai trees, ferns, and decorative eucalyptus.
A gardener's favorite is geranium. It is unpretentious, healthy and purifies the air.
A nice bonus - geranium helps cope with headaches
How to kill flies in the house with potassium permanganate and matches
This method is suitable for flies that live on plants and leave larvae. A faint pink solution of potassium permanganate is made for treating flower leaves. Matches are stuck into the ground, gray down.
Potassium permanganate helps destroy larvae in the soil
How to remove flies from an apartment with garlic
To fight flies at home, you can try garlic, which insects cannot tolerate.
It is necessary to determine in which place they are most often found. Peel the garlic and crush it in a garlic press. Spread the pulp in insect habitats. After 3 hours they will disappear.
Garlic is a good means of fighting flies, but with one drawback - the smell will linger throughout the apartment.
How to deal with flies in the country with citrus fruits
Wings do not like the smell of citrus fruits. It's easy to get rid of them. It is necessary to arrange citrus fruits around the apartment, for example, put the citrus fruit in a bag, fill it with cloves and hang it close to the habitats of flies in the house.
Advice! It is not necessary to use the whole fruit. You can take the zest.
How to get rid of flies in a cold room
Diptera fly into the house for a pleasant aroma and warmth. Insects do not like the cold, so in winter there are practically no insects.
To get rid of flies, you can turn on the air conditioner or fan in the house, close the windows with a thick film that does not allow light to pass through. In cold autumn weather, open windows and doors to create a draft.
Essential oils
Good home remedies for flies are essential oils. Their use does not harm children, animals and does not have a negative impact on the environment.
Houseflies hate the smell:
- bay leaf;
- anise;
- cedar;
- carnations;
- juniper;
- tangerine
Use oils separately, adding 5 drops per liter of water, or combine with each other, mixing in the same proportion. Wipe window frames, doors, tables, kitchen cabinets with fragrant water daily and use floor cleaning liquid.
To drive flies out of your home, add 2 drops each of laurel, lavender and eucalyptus oils into a half-liter pan filled with water. Boil the liquid for a quarter of an hour. During this time, the apartment will be filled with a specific aroma that repels insects. Open the window, the flies will quickly fly out into the fresh air.
Effective means
The most reliable means for quickly controlling adult flies and their larvae are chemical insecticides. These products are practically not dangerous to humans, but a number of precautions must be observed when using them: when processing, use a respirator, eye protection, and avoid contact of substances with food. Almost all insecticidal products are dangerous for bees, therefore, if you have an apiary nearby, you need to approach the choice of a drug to combat flies more carefully so as not to harm beneficial insects.
Agita
A very effective means of killing flies in animal premises. Agita attracts flies thanks to pheromones, and kills insects thanks to the insecticides it contains. The insecticide is not dangerous for humans, but is toxic to fish and bees.
The drug solution is applied to walls, window frames, and ceilings. Animals, feeders and drinking bowls must be removed while the premises are being treated.
The drug is intended for professional use; persons suffering from allergic diseases should not work with the substance.
Get
A wonderful product that has proven highly effective in killing domestic insects, including flies, fleas and ants. Get is an active toxic substance, which is enclosed in capsules, which is why it poses virtually no danger to people and animals. The advantage of Get is that the product effectively acts on all forms of live flies - adult insects, larvae, and fly eggs are destroyed.
The method of application is as follows: the substance is diluted with water in the required proportion, sprayed in places where insects accumulate and reproduce. The effectiveness of the product is extremely high; a single use is enough, and you will get rid of flies for almost the entire season. The product is suitable for independent use, you just need to carefully read the instructions for use.
Alfatsin
Alfacin is perfect for controlling insects in residential areas. This insecticide is a concentrated emulsion for killing flies, ants, and other insects commonly found in the home. The duration of the drug is quite long - more than five weeks. Please note that Alfacin is intended for professional use.
Evil TED
This is a Russian-made product designed to exterminate flies and wasps. The area of application is very wide - from country houses to industrial premises and crowded places - restaurants, hotels. The product contains pheromones that attract flies and an insecticide to kill insects.
The drug solution should be applied to surfaces that can be washed later (for example, window sills), or to sheets of paper, which are then laid out in the room. The insecticide is effective for up to 8 weeks. Suitable for independent use.
Cucaracha emulsion concentrate
Cucaracha fly repellent contains two poisonous components and is effective when insects are eaten or come into contact with the body. The product has a sharp, specific odor and is suitable for independent use.
Fly Byte
Fly Byte is a poisonous bait for flies, intended for the destruction of adult flies in residential premises, used independently. The bait is laid out indoors on saucers or cardboards, the flies eat it and die. The drug must be placed in places inaccessible to children, animals and birds.
Minap 22
Minap 22 is an insecticidal agent in microcapsules intended for professional use. The drug does not change properties even when frozen. Destroys flies, as well as cockroaches, ants, fleas and other insects within 24 hours after spraying. Working with the drug requires compliance with all precautions.
Executioner
Executioner is a tool for independent use. Designed to kill adult flies and larvae, suitable for residential premises, can be applied to furniture and clothing. To combat larvae, their habitats are treated - cesspools, garbage heaps, etc.
Velcro
Velcro against flies works due to two factors: the tape is impregnated with an aromatic substance attractive to flies, which attracts flies. When an insect lands on a sticky surface, it sticks and cannot fly away. Adhesive tapes are hung indoors in the required quantity, at a convenient height. It is advisable not to hang Velcro over food preparation areas, as flies may come off the tape and fall down.
The disadvantage of adhesive tapes is that their appearance, a long strip covered in flies, does not look very attractive.
Fumigators
To get rid of flies, electrofumigators are suitable, which are a heating element on which a plate is placed, coated with a substance toxic to insects. The fumigator is plugged into a power outlet and acts on all insects entering the room for 12-24 hours. Theoretically, the concentration of the toxic drug is safe for humans, but if there are children, people with allergic diseases or the elderly in the room, caution should be exercised and the room should be ventilated after killing the insects.
If there are no electrical outlets, you can use coils impregnated with insecticide. The spiral is set on fire, then you need to blow out the flame and leave it to smolder on a non-flammable surface - the smoke released will destroy insects. The spiral is best used outdoors.
Calling a pest control service
If your home or local area is very heavily infested with flies, you can call a pest control service. Specialists will spray effective insecticides in all habitats and breeding areas of flies; in particular, they will be able to treat all deep crevices in a wooden house, which will help get rid of flies and their eggs for a long time.
During the work of pest control services, people and animals should not be in the treated area. The disadvantage of this method is its price and the need to leave the house for several days.