Summertime brings many joys, but dealing with the influx of bugs is definitely not one of them.
Encountering insects while enjoying the outdoors is expected, considering it’s their natural habitat. However, it becomes rather frustrating when your home is swarmed by a multitude of flies.
Fortunately, the Southern living experts at Homesteading Off the Grid have come up with a few suggestions to assist you during this summer.
Being a homesteading community focused on promoting horticulture, they’ve created a video showcasing a simple technique to rid your house of flies.
To begin with, you won’t even require an extensive list of supplies.
All you need is a single plastic bag and precisely four pennies.
Chances are, you already have these items on hand, so you can readily start implementing this solution.
You’ll also need some water.
Whether it’s tap water, a hose, or bottled water, the source doesn’t matter. The last item you’ll require is a piece of rope.
Once you’ve gathered these supplies, you’re all set to start assembling your fly repellent.
To begin, open the Ziploc bag and place the pennies inside.
Next, fill the bag halfway with water.
Make sure not to completely fill the bag with water, as you’ll require some space for the next step.
Now, grab your piece of rope.
Fortunately, you didn’t fill the plastic bag to its brim, as you’ll now need to wrap a length of rope around the bag to seal it.
Leave a substantial amount of length on the rope so that you can easily hang up the bag, as you’ll need to do that later on.
Lastly, hang up your bag.
Since flies tend to enter the house through open doors or windows, it’s advisable to choose a location near your front door that’s suitable for hanging the bag.
You might already have a nail or a hook outside your door, or perhaps there’s a light fixture nearby. Utilize whatever you can find to securely tie the bag and let it hang in place.
Another crucial tip is to ensure that the bag is positioned in an area that receives some sunlight.
Ensuring that the pennies are exposed to the sun is crucial, as it constitutes a fundamental aspect of this hack.
An additional strategy for deterring flies is focused on prevention. It’s advisable to avoid having anything within your house or its vicinity that might allure swarms of flies.
The video guide recounts an experience from the previous summer where the household faced a significant fly issue due to the proximity of their chicken coop to the house, which attracted the flies.
Furthermore, flies can also be attracted by a considerable accumulation of food or other substances they find appealing. This serves as a motivation to maintain a clean and organized living space.
Why does this work?
Several theories exist regarding this phenomenon.
When you hold the bag up to the light, you’ll observe that the sun’s rays intersect with the pennies, refracting through the water and the bag itself.
Flies are deterred by this bag due to the interplay of light refraction and reflection. However, their aversion isn’t solely due to their dislike of light.
While the video’s presenter contends that flies are repelled because they mistake the light’s appearance for spider eyes, not everyone subscribes to this notion.
The Tennessee Farm Bureau acknowledges the effectiveness of this method but suggests that the light likely bewilders the insects rather than having them believe it resembles spider eyes.
Homesteading Off the Grid strongly advocates for this technique, and they’re not alone in doing so.
“Did it work for us last summer? It did, otherwise we wouldn’t be showing you this and we wouldn’t be doing it again this summer.”
This advice has been ingrained in Southern summer living for an extended period. Nevertheless, with a handful of uncomplicated materials, it’s a strategy worth trying regardless of your geographical location.