No business can afford to deal with a fly infestation, especially if it’s impacting your customers.
While flies are most often attracted to businesses that handle food and food waste, flies can swarm any business that is dirty or located close enough to a dirty dumpster.
Unfortunately, flies can be notoriously pesky, and there are very few long-term solutions to keep them away for good.
Learn what attracts flies and how to get rid of them quickly using simple solutions we’ve uncovered in the field.
What Causes Indoor Flies?
Flies can make their way indoors for several reasons, including ripped screens and unsealed cracks in windows and doors, rotting food, and excessive warmth.
Flies can also enter a building that has a lot of foot traffic. For example, many restaurants tend to leave their kitchen doors open in the summer to reduce temperatures because they don’t have adequate ventilation systems. This leaves a wide open area for flies to enter, especially if there are tons of food scraps and waste lying around.
What Causes Outdoor Flies?
Like rodents and other pests, flies are attracted to dirty places, particularly garbage. This is why you may see a couple of flies buzzing near your outdoor trash cans or dumpster, as they are looking for places to lay their eggs. They may also linger around porches and patios, so be sure to regularly clean any excess clutter or debris to keep flies away.
Tips to Get Rid of Flies Fast
If you’re dealing with a large presence of flies, try any of these DIY tips to help reduce the number of flies in or around your home or business.
1. Dish Soap and Vinegar Trap
Using a homemade dish soap and vinegar trap is an easy and effective way to kill flies. Using this specific mixture will lure the flies to the trap thanks to the vinegar, and the dish soap will cause the flies to sink and die once they come into contact with the solution. You might be surprised to see how many flies you catch with this easy DIY trap!
This concoction is effective against small insects, such as grasshoppers and ants.
2. Flypaper
Flypaper traps offer a large-scale solution for getting rid of flies, though they don’t necessarily look the prettiest. Flypaper traps work to attract flies to the paper and trap them with a super sticky substance coating the trap, making it impossible for flies to escape once they land on it.
Hang them around the interior of your business to stop swarms of flies from bothering your or your customers. Just be sure to be discreet about it.
3. Soda Bottle Trap
Soda bottle traps are easy-to-make DIY traps that can be used to capture and kill flies. To make one, simply cut the top off of a soda bottle and flip it facing upside down at the bottom of the bottle. Next, add something that will attract flies to the trap, such as sweetened water or old fruit. When flies enter the trap, they won’t be able to find their way out through the narrow opening, causing them to eventually perish.
If you’ve ever used the outdoor reusable fly trap, it’s basically the same principle. You can even construct your own DIY trap outdoors to kill large numbers of flies that may be swarming around your dumpsters.
4. Pine Sol
Flies are known to hate the smell of Pine Sol, making it an effective repellent for these pests. To use Pine Sol as a fly deterrent, simply add it to a spray bottle with water using a 50/50 ratio and spray the solution anywhere flies hang out around your property.
Pine-Sol is also effective at keeping stinging insects at bay.
5. Use Natural Predators
Fly predators are tiny insects that feed on fly larvae and prevent them from developing into adult flies. This method is typically used for larger fly infestations but can be extremely effective. Many people with horses also use fly predators as they seek out the moisture and protein in horses’ eyes.
Fly Prevention Tips
- Keep doors, windows, and screens closed to prevent flies from entering your property.
- Take the trash out before it becomes full or overflowing.
- Close dumpster gates.
- Clean outdoor areas (porches, patios, etc.) of any excess clutter or garbage.
- Keep the air in your building moving to eliminate any odors that may attract flies.
When to Call an Exterminator
One or two flies around your property aren’t usually a big deal. However, if you notice new flies replacing the flies you’re swatting away, you may be dealing with a larger problem and should reach out to a pest control professional for help.
An exterminator will identify the source of the infestation and apply safe and effective treatments to get rid of flies in your home quickly.
For many businesses, the difference between a pest-free building and one swarming with flies could be more costly than they even realize.
FAQs
What smells keep flies away?
There are several smells that flies are known to dislike, including cinnamon, lavender, eucalyptus, and lemongrass. Many find that diffusing these essential oils around their home or business effectively repels flies.
Does vinegar keep flies away?
Vinegar on its own does not keep flies away. In fact, it is known to actually attract them! However, using a homemade trap consisting of vinegar and dish soap may be effective in trapping and killing flies.
Does bleach help with flies?
While many people assume that a strong chemical like bleach will kill flies instantly, this is not always the case. Nevertheless, using bleach to clean certain areas of your home and business regularly is a good idea for general cleanliness, as it may repel flies from your home.