Fly deterrents?

[Scottieoutdoors]

Hi all,
As the weather (kinda) warms, flys..or is it flies? start to come out and be a figurative pain in the behind.
We find our little roof garden seems to attract these small fruit fly type things which we've discovered can be dispatched by leaving out a small glass of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of fairy in... the little ones love it and proceed to drown themselves in it - probably mean I guess but hey ho....

The issue we have is with the bigger blooming ones! We have a vestibule which we leave open and you can see them when the sun shines dancing around with each other, as soon as you open the door in they come! I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions that we could use to prevent them from hanging around our vestibule? (other than shutting the door )
I was wondering if a citronella diffuser would work? I know they're not keen on candles, but aside from the fact it might blow out, can't really have one flickering away all day. Or if anyone else has any suggestions?

 

[Toddy]

Screens.
I live under trees, we get huge moths, and I am not keen on moths, and we get every blasted kind of fly too.
If you have a campfire you can smoke stuff like mugwort and that keeps them off, or if you have electricity and don't mind wholesale murder of every insect....mind that includes bees though....then the zapper thing works, but for keeping them out of the house, I find only screens work.

Lots of different types available, I'm using a sort of string curtain over the back door when it's open and that seems to mostly work. Just the occasional intruder from that.

I'd love a kind of insect repelling forcefield Something that just kept them away without any fuss or bother.
I don't think we have the technology yet though

 

[TeeDee]

Tansy apparently works.

 

[Pattree]

Interesting. In the dozen or so years we’ve had an ultra-violet zapper we’ve never caught a bee. I empty the thing. I also catch bees and put them out of the kitchen door when they are banging against the window. We have caught the odd moth and that can set off the smoke alarm and stink for twenty minutes or so.

Hardly a scientific observation but we are catching only a fraction of the flies that we got a decade ago.

We have positioned it so that it doesn’t actively entice insects through the open door.

 

[Toddy]

Tansy......It's growing at the corner of my house......the flies love it when the sun shines on the flower heads.......I'll take a photo when it blooms, it's not there yet.

 

[Toddy]

Interesting. In the dozen or so years we’ve had an ultra-violet zapper we’ve never caught a bee. I empty the thing. I also catch bees and put them out of the kitchen door when they are banging against the window. We have caught the odd moth and that can set off the smoke alarm and stink for twenty minutes or so.

Hardly a scientific observation but we are catching only a fraction of the flies that we got a decade ago.

We have positioned it so that it doesn’t actively entice insects through the open door.

I'd a friend who was so upset at the number of bees...they're 'big' and they make a big flash and you can smell them being zapped apparently....that she threw the thing in the bin.

Maybe it's how you have it positioned ? Her's was on the patio table.

 

[Pattree]

Maybe it's how you have it positioned ? Her's was on the patio table.

That’s not fair!!!!!
She set up the biggest and most enticing flower for miles and it was fatal!

 

[Broch]

Tansy......It's growing at the corner of my house......the flies love it when the sun shines on the flower heads.......I'll take a photo when it blooms, it's not there yet.

It's only the leaves that were/are used as an insecticide.

 

[TeeDee]

Tansy......It's growing at the corner of my house......the flies love it when the sun shines on the flower heads.......I'll take a photo when it blooms, it's not there yet.

I wonder where the disparity comes from then? Genuine question.

 

[Broch]

As far as zappers are concerned, their effect on other insects may be down to the frequency of the light they transmit - we know that different insects respond to different wavelengths of light.

 

[Broch]

I wonder where the disparity comes from then? Genuine question.

View attachment 88879

The flowers do attract a wide range of insects especially hover flies. As mentioned above, it's only the leaves are used as an insecticide to my knowledge. I don't know if the flowers lose their attraction once cut and wilted though.

 

[Toddy]

I wonder where the disparity comes from then? Genuine question.

View attachment 88879

The plant has a really distinctive smell, and I'm pretty sure that might discourage some, but the flowers end up almost like magnets for others.
Broch's right about the hover flies, I counted eight different types one day, but the blue and black flies seem to like them too. Funny enough though, for all the bees I have in the garden, they don't swarm the Tansy, they adore the foxgloves though

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

We actually have a zapper in the kitchen, it mainly catches flies, although a moth has been known to head to the forbidden light before... Never caught a bee, but then to get to the kitchen they'd have to go through quite a maze and I think there is more interesting things for them outside.

The whole thing is kinda gross, if you get a big fly then it does smoke and stink, but I really do not like them, so idk, can't say I mourn them.

I just wish I could detract the flies from coming in the vestibule itself.

 

[Ystranc]

We open a window and eventually they leave. The window needs to be closed again before the light goes on or we get a disturbing number of moths, cockchafers and occasional hornets attracted by the light.

 

[The Frightful]

Hi all,
As the weather (kinda) warms, flys..or is it flies? start to come out and be a figurative pain in the behind.
We find our little roof garden seems to attract these small fruit fly type things which we've discovered can be dispatched by leaving out a small glass of apple cider vinegar with a couple drops of fairy in... the little ones love it and proceed to drown themselves in it - probably mean I guess but hey ho....

The issue we have is with the bigger blooming ones! We have a vestibule which we leave open and you can see them when the sun shines dancing around with each other, as soon as you open the door in they come! I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions that we could use to prevent them from hanging around our vestibule? (other than shutting the door )
I was wondering if a citronella diffuser would work? I know they're not keen on candles, but aside from the fact it might blow out, can't really have one flickering away all day. Or if anyone else has any suggestions?

Have you tried catching them with chopsticks?

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

@The Frightful

Oh I'm a master at that, it's just the errr... wife is asking cos errr...when I'm out she gets annoyed by the flies....

 

[Chris]

I want something like Israel’s Iron Dome, but on a smaller scale. Is that so much to ask?

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

I mean the above would be fantastic, but I suppose I was after a mild friendly deterrent like diffuser sticks on the windowsill as an alternative to a spray can of raid...