I'll file this info away until summer when flies are a problem. Who knew it was so easy??? ZIP LOCK BAG - Good tip! We went with friends to Sweety Pies on Sunday for breakfast and sat in the patio section beside the house. We happened to notice zip lock baggies pinned to a post and a wall. The bags were half filled with water, each contained 4 pennies, and they were zipped shut. Naturally we were curious! Ms. Sweety told us that these baggies kept the flies away! So naturally we were even more curious! We actually watched some flies come in the open window, stand around on the window sill, and then fly out again. And there were no flies in the eating area! This morning I checked this out on Google. Below are comments on this fly control idea. I'm now a believer! Zip-lock water bags Ann Says: I tried the ziplock bag and pennies this weekend.. I have a horse trailer. The flies were bad while I was camping. I put the baggie with pennies above the door of the LQ. NOT ONE FLY came in the trailer. The horse trailer part had many. Not sure why it works but it does! Danielle Martin Says: Fill a ziplock bag with water and 5 or 6 pennies and hang it in the problem area. In my case it was a particular window in my home. It had a slight passage way for insects. Every since I have done that, it has kept flies and wasps away. Some say that wasps and flies mistake the bag for some other insect nest and are threatened. Maggie Says: I swear by the plastic bag of water trick. I have them on porch and basement. We saw these in Northeast Mo. at an Amish grocery store & have used them since. They say it works because a fly sees a reflection & won't come around. DJ Says: Regarding the science behind zip log bags of water? My research found that the millions of molecules of water presents its own prism effect and given that flies have a lot of eyes, to them it's like a zillion disco balls reflecting light, colors and movement in a dizzying manner. When you figure that flies are prey for many other bugs, animals, birds, etc., they simply won't take the risk of being around that much perceived action. I moved to a rural area and thought these "hillbillies" were just yanking my city boy chain but I tried it and it worked immediately! We went from hundreds of flies to seeing the occasional one, but he didn't hang around long.
I'm going to have to test this one up north...some people up there are having horrendous problems with black flies... I had issues with the yellow jackets/wasps/hornets, whatever those flying dive bombers are called! They would land on you and bite...? Not sting, but interested in what the heck you were I had to guess.....They were very attracted to anything shiny, and I had 5 drown at one time, in a dish pan of soapy water, while trying to wash some dishes....They went from aluminum foil, to glass lids, even the solar panels seemed to get their attention ( I'm guessing, they thought it was water from the reflections?) Locals use 1 liter and 2 liter bottles to trap them, using mountain dew as the attractant...? They put a piece of window screen into the neck of the bottles shaped like a funnel so they can fly in easy, but can't get back out....? This sounds like a heckuva a solution!
So far, I have been told it's working with yellow jackets, hornets, flies, black flies, and more.....
