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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Shannon
The light resembles what a spider web looks like to a flys vision.throws light that “looks” like a web to them. To my logic the penny would be a dark spot in the web thus tricking the fly into believing it is a big ole spider! Pretty cool! Will have to try this and see if it works.
Brad
It must take a special fly for this to work. My flys were not attractive
Darci
I will if it’s the reflection of light on the bags of water that makes it work, does that mean it doesn’t work at night? And how many are needed and where should they be placed?
Debbie
My mom and dad swore by this for years! When we finally tried it, it worked very well. We used about three shiny pennies in about an inch of water thumbtacked to the top of the patio door jam on the outside. It truly truly works.
Virginia Lovett
Does this method repel hummingbirds or butterflies ?
Darryl
Does it need to be a penny? We don’t use pennies in Canada anymore.
Andrew Hardin
Ha! I first saw this very effective technique in Costa Rica. It works! Another, somewhat more elegant bug repellent, popular in outdoor restaurants and patios is to slice an orange in half, and stick three cloves in the freshly sliced fruit. Attractive as a table ornament, and very good at keeping pesky flies away from the area. I prefer it to incense, thanks.
Michelle Finlayson
Do you leave bag open and how do you hang
cheryl
We have been using ziplock baggies with water & 4 shiny pennies for 3 or 4 years outside entrances to the bldg & it really works. Had loads of flies coming in in years past. We hang a few baggies inside to keep tje stray fly away from food. WORKS!
sarah
I am going to try a small mirror hanging to see if that will repel flies. We have cows and have a terrible fly problem by the barn. I also would like to hang small mirrors in our apricot and peach trees to see if that will keep the birds away. If anyone has ideas how to keep the birds from ruining the fruit let me know!