Testing: 10 Odd Ways To Get Rid of Flies

by Brie Dyas, Posted Jul 8th 2011 8:00AM

You don’t always have to be on swatter duty in order to get rid of flies. Whether the pests are bringing your picnic down or calling your living room home, I tested 10 ways to deter flies using stuff we all have in our homes. And I promise, you won’t have to squash anything (unless you want to, of course).

If you’d “never hurt a fly,” then you’ve never experienced the…pleasure…of having to run inside from a lovely picnic because flies kept bumping into guests’ heads while on a quest to eat their potato salad. Then the flies followed everyone inside. And that, in case you were wondering, was how I spent my Fourth of July weekend.

For me, the problem comes from living in a house that dates back to 1825. Yes, it’s charmingly covered in ivy, but the floors and windows are at a subtle angle. Which means that a. you can look taller if you stand in certain areas of the house, and b. windows and doors don’t always have a seal against the outside world. The small openings are the portals to housefly Narnia as they try to find relief from summer heat. Really, even scrupulous cleaning isn’t enough to deter summer flies.

To get rid of them, I tested the following home cures that promise to get rid of flies (either by repelling them away from you and your guests, or by trapping them). Like my tests for controlling ants, these cures were culled from internet boards and well-meaning friends. And for good measure, I tested them indoors and out.

Here’s what worked…and what didn’t:

to read more, go to:    http://www.diylife.com/2011/07/08/get-rid-of-flies/