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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Spider Repellent Guaranteed to Work
Mosquito Bite Remedy
The reason this works (from what I’ve always been told) is because it looks like a hornets nest to the flies. My dad keeps them on his back porch.
We HAD a terrible fly problem every summer. Dozens of flies on the back screen door – every time you open it they would all come in. It drove me wacky. WELL FOLKS, I put a ziplock bag filled with water and added four pennies and I DID NOT HAVE ANY FLIES. Here is the really great part………….I have a small area where my dogs do their little poo-poos – fly city right? Wrong! For the whole summer I kept sticking my head out the back door in disbelief!! I have lived in my house for 30 years…this is the ONLY time I have not had a major fly problem. I put the bag in the sand in the dog-potty area.
My mother tried this at her home this summer. It didn’t work at ALL and we all just laughed at her. In a nice way. We’re not unkind to our mother, really.
I was told that the bag of water with the pennie looks like a spider web and a spider to the flies. They avoid going by it. I have seen this work in restaurants
NOT TRUE. The Mythbusters busted it!!!!!
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/db/animals/repel-flies.html
Yeah, sure. I watched it. As usual, they overthink everything. A three compartment cupboard in a warehouse WITH bait is not the same as my backyard, patio or clothes line, in the sun, making a prism to REPEL the flies, where I can assure you it is working a treat. (and yes, much to my surprise)
WOW! This sounds like a fabulous idea… however i don’t live in The States anymore so am wondering if other coins would work? I’m in New Zealand, we get loads of flies during the summer, but we only have one “copper” coin or silver, or gold…. Which do you think would be most effective?
I’m very curious about this hanging bag idea, flys are just EVERY WHERE “inside” my house, no idea why, counters get bleached constantly, trash always removed , garbage disposal cleaned, i just cant fig out where they are coming from and why. If any comments or assistance is available please dont hesitate to inform me 🙂
Also i noticed several of you asking about mosqitoes- i’m a army vet and one thing we did and i swear by this method, a day or two before going into the field we would eat x4 match heads from match books (not the stick/wooden kind lol) – what it does is when digested your body begins to emit the sulpher from the matches and completely repel a vast majority of bugs.
Will It Work i you put it in a Mason Jar? I want my porch to still look good and not have flies. If it is possible…
Didn’t do anything in our llama barn. Flies were zipping all around the bag. Maybe I need a new penny or a new dime!
We hang ours with a nail through the bag. It doesn’t rip for us.