How does spring "fly" with you?

Happy belated Spring day:) I LOVE spring! The longer, warmer days, the beautiful little green sprouts coming out of plants you thought were long dead and dried up, the smell of rain in the air, the flowers that suddenly start to bloom, everyone seems more happy and positive and there's a general feeling of something new, fresh and exciting in the air.  But warmer days also bring unwanted guests, like flies and other 6 legged creatures! I was asked, the other day, by one of my subscribers, how to get rid of flies without having to rely on doom or sticky flytraps (Can I just say eeeeeuuuwwww?!)


You definitely don't want long strips of dead flies hanging in your kitchen. Those things have always grossed AND freaked me out. Flies are not particularly clean insects. They aren't fussy about what they land on or eat, so the knowledge that those sticky little feet may have been in my cat's litter box before they landed on my salad, is extremely disturbing to my virgo brain! Having all kinds of germs hanging around your kitchen attached to sticky strips can't be hygienic, or aesthetically pleasing. Purposefully attracting those flies to the kitchen with their dirty, germ-ridden feet, to stick on those strips just seems like a bad idea all round to me.

Spraying insect repellent is also not an option. Or, it wouldn't be if you had any idea just how bad that stuff is. An ingredient you want to avoid at all costs in bug sprays is DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) Bug spray is "not supposed to be bad for you", according to the SABS, BUT what they don't tell you is that long term exposure to the stuff is very bad for you AND, if it gets on your skin, or you breathe it in, (which you can't really avoid) it will enter your bloodstream and that's where things get really messy.

It makes its way through your nervous system, and it's been proven to kill brain cells, causing neurological damage. Longterm exposure to DEET leads to memory loss, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, shortness of breath, kidney and liver damage, birth and developmental defects and even death. DEET is a poison but small doses are considered ok by the SABS. The problem is, DEET is found in things like Peaceful Sleep and Tabard, which we apply directly to our skin. Some people do it daily throughout summer to avoid mosquitos. We spray bug sprays in our houses, mostly in our kitchens where flies gather, and where we cook and eat food. The surfaces in our house are covered in it and we unwittingly ingest it. Large traces of DEET have been found in our groundwater as well so, its not only bad for you. DEET has also been found to be toxic to birds, fish and aquatic invertebrates. Remember that trickle down effect I've spoken about before? What you do affects EVERYTHING around you, from people to wildlife to the environment.

So what can you do?! As we've established, flies are annoying AND unhygienic. Well, if you can open your mind to trying different options, maybe one of these natural options will work for you.

Money in a bag

This one is going to sound bizarre but anything is worth a shot. Get yourself some heavy duty ziplock bags. Fill them with water and stick a silver coin in the bottom. Hang them outside the doors you want to keep the flies away from, like your kitchen door, or the room with the cat litter box. The theory is that the eye of a fly is actually hundreds of eyes and the reflection of light on the bag of water discourages them from coming nearer. The coin seems to add to the power of the reflection but other than that, it's hard to confirm why it makes it work better. I've seen this done on farms where flies are abundantly annoying and it seems to work. There are some flies that don't seem to be taken in by this as well so it's a case of just trying it out. You have nothing to lose really!

Make your own fly trap

You will need an empty cooldrink bottle. The bigger it is, the more flies you will catch so I'd go with a 2 litre.

Cut it into two pieces making the bottom part of the bottle a bit bigger than the top piece.




Grab the following ingredients:

• 4 Tbs of any sweet fruit juice, 1/2 cup sugar, a few pieces of over ripe fruit and 2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
• Place the juice, sugar and vinegar in a pot and heat on medium heat until dissolved
• Allow to cool
• Pour the cooled fruit juice mixture into the bottom piece of the bottle and add the pieces of over ripe fruit making sure they stick out of the liquid

Place the top half upside down into the bottom half making sure there is enough space between the liquid and the small hole of the bottle top for flies to get in. Once the flies go in, they will not be smart enough to get out and if, by any chance some of them do, they are not smart enough to learn the lesson. They will go back for more! If you want to hang it somewhere just punch holes on either side of the plastic and tie some string to make a handle.

Incidentally, the vinegar is to dissuade bees from joining the flies because bees are GOOD!



Now, I have a serious moral battle when it comes to killing anything. I even sweep parktown prawns out of the house much to most people's shock and horror and GLM will call me whenever there is a spider because I simply refuse to kill them and she's not a fan of them. Fortunately I don't find them too scary although I treat them with a healthy respect! I also know that there comes a time when you have to choose between your own health and the life of a fly! As I said, flies can be a real health hazard. It'd be for the best if you can keep them away from your food and this is a really good way to do it. Just be sure to clean it out regularly depending on how full it gets and rinse it with hot water to get rid of any fly larvae.

One way to look at it is that the fly will die very VERY happy in a pool of sweet, sugary heaven;)






Make your own bug spray using essential oils (this works for all insects)

The following oils are unappealing to bugs: 

Citronella, Clove, Lemongrass, Rosemary, Tea Tree, Eucalyptus, Catnip, Lavender, Mint
Natural Witch Hazel
Boiled Water
Glycerin (optional)

Method:

• 1/2 fill a spray bottle with boiled water
• Add witch hazel to fill almost to the top
• Add 1/2 tsp glycerin if you're using it
• Add 30-50 drops of your chosen essential oils. The more oils you use, the stronger repellent the spray will be. Choose oils that you like to make sure you can live with the scent, especially if you are big attracter of bugs;)

You can make this same spray using herbs instead if you don't have all the oils on hand. Herbs are pretty cheap from Dischem so you may find it a more appealing route. Some the herbal options you can use are peppermint, spearmint, citronella, lemongrass, catnip, lavender. Always try and put at least one member of the mint family in like peppermint, spearmint or catnip.

Four Thieves Vinegar (This also works for all insects)

This is a very strong one and will be very handy for when you're going into a tick-infested area or an area where malaria is a big problem or just for a really bad insect problem at home. It smells pretty strong but the smell does disappear when it dries. It is reported to have been used to protect people from the black plague and there are many variations of this recipe but this is the simplest and seems to work just fine.

1 litre bottle Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tbs each of dried Sage, Rosemary, Lavender, Thyme and Mint
1 litre glass jar with an airtight lid

Method:

• Put the vinegar and dried herbs into the glass jar
• Seal it tightly and leave it on the counter where you will see it every day
• Shake it well every day for 2-3 weeks
• After 2-3 weeks, strain the herbs out and store the liquid in bottles in fridge
• When you are ready to use it, half fill a spray bottle with it and then top up the other half with water, shake and spray as needed

There you have it! Easy, safe, environmentally ways to get rid of your bug problems!

Good luck!