ZipLock Baggie Fly Control

[Tobina+1]

(Maybe this should be posted under Natural remedies, but Teresa can boot it over if she wants.)

Has anyone heard of this and does it actually work???  Pasted from e-mail.

We went with some out of town friends to Sweety Pies on Sunday for breakfast, and we sat in the enclosed patio section beside the house.   We happened to notice a couple of 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 Goggle.  Below are comments on this fly control idea.  I'm now a believer!  More comments not included here were about pet dogs and fly problems. 

  Zip-lock water bags

Sue says:
Many people swear that a zip-lock bag filled half-way with water and attached over entry-ways will repel flies. No one yet knows how or why it works, but there is speculation that it has something to do with the way the moving water refracts light. If you have tried this please use the comments form at the bottom of the page to share your results with the rest of us.

ann Says:
October 5th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I did tried the ziplock bag and pennies this weekend. I have a horse trailer with full LQ. The flys were very bad this weekend 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:
September 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
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 but significant 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 sort of other insect nest and are threatened by this.

maggie Says:
June 7th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I swear by the plastic bag of water trick I have them on side porch ( our house entry) and all around the basement door. 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.

Just DJ Says:
May 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Regarding the science behind zip log bags of water? My research found that each of 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 basically 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 ant thought these "hillbillies" were just yanking my city boy chain but I tried it, worked immediately! We went from hundreds of flies to seeing the occasional one, but he don't hang around long.

[Ole Granny]

Hope the person with the horse trailer put one over the door with the horses.  That would be the true test and the horses be more comfortable.  Savings in fly spray would be subsantial.

[dnalexander]

I have used this fly control method where you use a baggie full of water. I have seen it said to use a penny also, but never tried it myself. The theory supposedly is that the sunlight shines through the baggie of water and is diffracted. Since flies have compound eyes the diffracted light hits them and causes the flies to be disoriented. Then they move on to other places. I can't tell you whether it actually works or if it is just a "placebo" effect where you think it works. I still do it and some of my neighbors do it after seeing my hanging bags of water.  I think it helps. Even if it doesn't it is a good conversation starter, I can't telll you the number of people that ask what the hanging baggies of water are for. Some of my friends think it is just some type of Midwestern voodoo and I don't discourage those beliefs. Give it a try and tell me what you think. I can't prove it works, but I put them up every year.

David

p.s Sorry for repeating info from the original post. I posted before I read it all. The baggies work for me.

David

[sixdogsmom]

So, if it is the refraction, then the shinier the pennies the better? I,m going to try it around my back door. The old dogs take so long to get in and out over the threshhold that I invariably get a housefull of flies every few days. I have been using disposable traps with attractant all summer. Many many flies bit the dust I might add.  But a repellent around the door couldn't hurt. BTW, I have two dogs over 17, and two 16 and older. Getting on up there.

[Tobina+1]

I typically use an insect/worm/ect spray called Tempo.  My mom gets it for me at their local garden center.  You mix about 2 Tbs with 1 gallon of water and it has a residual effect once it dries.  I think you're supposed to reapply every 4 weeks.  Seems to really work well for all types of insects, even in my garden and lawn.  They say that once it dries, it's safe to children and pets.  But this baggie idea is interesting and I wonder how many I'd need to hang in the horse pen?

[Teresa]

So, if it is the refraction, then the shinier the pennies the better? I,m going to try it around my back door. The old dogs take so long to get in and out over the threshhold that I invariably get a housefull of flies every few days.

That the same with my cats! They want in but when I open the danged door.. they stand and look and rub and just seem to contemplate on how long I will stand there letting the cool air out and the flies in..
Cats!! ugh.. I sometimes don't know why I have them.!
I'm going to go make me some bags right now before my next massage client gets here.. ( hope it doesn't keep them away too    )

[dnalexander]

I typically use an insect/worm/ect spray called Tempo.  My mom gets it for me at their local garden center.  You mix about 2 Tbs with 1 gallon of water and it has a residual effect once it dries.  I think you're supposed to reapply every 4 weeks.  Seems to really work well for all types of insects, even in my garden and lawn.  They say that once it dries, it's safe to children and pets.  But this baggie idea is interesting and I wonder how many I'd need to hang in the horse pen?

Here is my suggestion for what I think works, but like I said I can't prove it, I just believe it works. For the horse pen just use the fly attractant  traps that SDM mentioned.  I order mine from Valley Vet in Marysville, Ks. They have a website. As far as the baggies go  my suggestion is to hang them around the perimeter of the pen and hang them high enough and frequently enough that you get a good, wide light barrier. You can kind of judge this from the light patterns that shine on the ground from the light that is refracted through the baggies. May be Midwestern Voodoo but I am convinced enough to do it every year. Let me know your results.

David

[dnalexander]

Also, I believe Valley Vet has natural fly control that is a series of applications of small wasp or insects that you release that are a natural predator control of flies.

David

Also, check out Spalding Labs

http://www.spalding-labs.com/Horses/Default.aspx

[sixdogsmom]

As an aside, two years ago I sprinkled the boric acid type of insect control on the insides of my trash cans. This was the 99 cent kind from Dollar General. Haven't had any fly larvae in there since then. Just dusted the inside walls and bottom with it.