Controlling flies using bags of water.

[gsim]

I just read a piece that claims flies tend to shy away from areas where clear plastic bags of water have been hung. It is thought that the way the light refracts and can amplify other movements spooks them. Anyway, the first thing I thought about was that it could be beneficial for any coop large enough, or for any barn.

I did not have a fly problem my first year, but I imagine that could change without warning. I do employ poop boards which are scraped daily

around dawn, into a plastic tote bin for the garden. I suspect that is why I never had fly infestations last year.

Who knew?

Gerry

 

[LeezyBeezy]

Someone sent me that email/article too- I guess it's worth a shot!

 

[Foleys]

So dose the bag of water really work???

Quote:

 

[flakey chick]

Well I'm glad to hear an explanation. I heard of the bagged water trick on this board with a twist: put a penny in it.

 

[TatersChickens]

Has any body tried it? We`ll we will see cause I`m going to today Imogene

 

[JasperCountyNative]

I tried it a couple of years ago with no luck, but my in-laws swear by it.

It's worth a shot; maybe you will have better luck, after all it's cheap and easy.

 

[fiberart57]

How big do the bags need to be? I wonder if clear water bottles would work as well? It seems to me that the bags would wear out pretty quickly and we'd be constantly replacing them.

Along the note of the penny in the water: I knew a gardener who would put neon pink golf balls at the base of her tomato plants to keep the hornworms out. I don't know the theory behind it - but it seemed to work as she never had hornworms. I wonder if the penny's the same sort of principle.

Mary

 

[JasperCountyNative]

The one's I have seen have been gallon ziploc.

 

[turtlebird]

I have a sandwich ziploc with water and 5 pennies hanging from the ceiling of my coop. I, too, received the email - filed it in that incredulously ridiculous folder.....

Then, when I was painting the interior of my new coop, readying it for the ladies, wasps moved in. I considered that silly email and tacked up a baggie with water and a few pennies. The very next day, not a wasp was to be seen.
Now we haven't really entered fly season, so I don't know about that - but hey, works for wasps!
I have no idea the logic/science behind this practice.

 

[gsim]

Just got a post from a friend I sent it to. They say that they use Spalding Fly Control. You send for it and it comes in the mail. You just hang the bag up, open it, and let them hatch out. They live 21 days and do not reproduce. All they do is look for fly larvae to eat.

It is new to me, but I suppose worth a shot if you have troubles and the plastic water bags work. I did not have flly troubles last summer.

There are some strange-sounding remedies out there for sure. Some include putting a bar of soap under covers for leg cramps at night. (I always thought that taking a magnesium supplement or sulphate supplement would do that well enough.) Also rubbing Vicks Vaporrub on the soles of your feet at bed time to eliminate dry cough. I know that taping a piece of baconfat to a splinter will likely cause it to come out overnight. At least it does for me. I know also that taping a potato peel over a plantars wart repeatedly overnight and during daytime if possible will rid you of it painlessly, permanently, and free of charge too. I know two people that has worked for. I suppose it is the potassium in the potato. I would bet some poor GI found that out by accident while peeling potatoes on KP duty. LOL!

Gerry