Flies seem to be everywhere this time of year. Some people prefer to use homemade fly traps. What if you want to simply repel flies instead of trapping them after they’ve already become a nuisance?
I was out at a local farm just yesterday and the flies were very noticeable and quite annoying as I went about my work. Seeing all those flies reminded me of a simple, non-toxic, and very effective fly repellent that I observed in action at one of my children’s field trips a couple of months ago.
The class was visiting a petting farm with a large open barn where donkeys, horses, goats, and other livestock were available for the children to observe and interact with.
Despite so many animals in a small semi-enclosed area, there were no flies buzzing around! Curious, I asked the owner about this, and he pointed to the heavy-duty plastic bags partially filled with water hanging over every stall.
He explained that a clear bag of water with a penny at the bottom would repel the flies very effectively. He went on to explain that the “eye” of a fly is actually hundreds of eyes and the reflection of light on the bag of water keeps them away.
“Why the penny at the bottom of the bag?”, I asked.
Grandpa the farmer answered that he wasn’t exactly sure but the penny did seem to increase the effectiveness of the hanging bag of water alone. He added that he didn’t know how many square feet each bag covered so he just put a bag over every animal stall to keep as many flies away as possible.
He also had put up a few bags over the picnic area and it was so nice to be able to eat lunch without flies swarming everywhere!
Note that the clearer the water, the more effective this trick is. If you use rusty well water, it won’t work as effectively as ultra clean and clear filtered water.
Try this fly repellant method for yourself! If you do, please check back and let us know how it worked for you!
Fly Repellent Only Works for Flies
Please note that this fly repellent trick only works for flies, not mosquitoes, and other insects. It also works very well for flies in the Southern United States. However, it may not work as well for flies from other geographical areas such as blowflies in Australia.
If you need to repel other insects like mosquitoes, ticks, or horse flies, this article on natural herbal insect repellent can help.
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Just tried this and hoping it would work. Nope, the flies just fly around it and ignore it!?
Where are you located? It works great in Florida!
if i put this under my patio door would it stop them from flying in? we live near a horse barn and they just fly right in every day!
Tried this and I’d did work for a few days, then the flies seemed to come back.
We have a problem with fly’s and is tryed the one that you burn like a candle in a tin as a non profit organisation its a bit stinging in a pocket but I will try both the methods and see how it works.
I did it with pennies in it and it worked excellent! I have an outdoor room in backyard and had a flying bug of multiple kinds problem… Haven’t had any flies or others since. Just a large wife freezer bag with 1/3 water and about 10 pennies. Poked a metal clothes hanger through the bag, hung it up and eventually they are just gone!
Tried this yesterday as we’ve had a bad episode with the flies down here in NZ. It works!! Couldn’t see a fly around approximately a 15 meter area.