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.
More Natural Pest Control  Ideas
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Nontoxic Pest Control Ideas that Work
Natural Fire Ant Killer that Works FAST
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Natural Flea Infestation and Prevention Strategies
Attracting and Using Ladybugs for Garden Pest Control
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Spider Repellent Guaranteed to Work
Mosquito Bite Remedy
I am very interested and excite to try this, however I do have a question? How and what do you use to hang the bags with?!? Please let me know, thank you
Maybe the bags have to actually be in direct sun or something to get a good reflection off the water – that being said, I do wonder if the prisms would work just as good? I’m going to try some of the mosquito ideas on here as one of my kids and my DH are both really allergic. I love the idea of something organic instead of more chemicals. The water/vanilla extract sounds really promising. For the wasp/hornets thing around a porch, I’ve seen several places that say to paint the underside of the porch roof a sky blue as the wasps/hornets are then tricked into thinking there is not a top. It’d be worth a try I guess.
I have been using Bounce Dryer Sheets on myself and my kids for years to repel mosquitoes. You can rub them on your skin and then tuck them in your pockets and the mosquitoes won’t bite you.
Any particular scent?
Absolutely works.
Believe it or not, it also works on bees and hornets. My entryway has been infested with bees for over 15 years. This year, i hung the baggie, water and penny, and we have no bees. 🙂
Bees are harmless and we need them. Hornets and wasps serve no purpose and should be nuked!
Just put one up today on our screen porch. LOL, it stops our big Rottweiler dead in her tracks. Afraid to pass under it. Hope it works as well with flies!
Can I hang these around the cows necks?LOL
Can I hang these around the cows necks?LOL
didn’t work for me either
How do you hang the bags up?