HELP its only March and with the warm weather(I'm not complaining) the flys have come alive in the house .We have had this problem since we bought the house.Its horrible , we have fly tape hanging every where! I also have the windows cracked on the tops hoping the decide to venture out.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), March 09, 2000

Answers

Patty- I hate to admit this but last year we had HUNDREDS of flies in the house. I blamed it on the new , unfinished construction but I guess they were a problem all over here. My solution was to vacuum them as they gathered at the windows. Every day, sometimes often a day, depending on how many there were. Then I stuffed something in the end of the hose just to make sure they couldn't get out again. I hate flies! It worked eventually.

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), March 09, 2000.

Yes, seems like this is a common problem no one likes to admit they have...like the Amityville horror. We also have a swarming of ladybugs every fall...somehow they find a way into the house. I read where "cluster" flies can live up to 7 years...perish the thought.

-- Jim Roberts (jroberts1@cas.org), March 09, 2000.

I'm glad to know others have the same problems! We use the fly tapes and vacuum them up as well. My mother-in-law says thats just the way it is on the farm, but sure wish we could keep them out of the house. We have lots of ladybugs in the house too. How about you?

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), March 09, 2000.

Ladybugs, YES. But I collect them and release them outside when the weather is nice. Somewhere else on this forum someone thought it was very strange to keep ladybugs in the frig. so, of course, I didn't mention what I did with mine. So I'm strange- so what. In cold weather I found clusters of ladybugs between the insulation and the outer walls. As I work on the sheetrock, I check to make sure they are all gone before I close the walls up.

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), March 09, 2000.

It sounds like the type of fly that plagues you is a common fly that lays eggs between the cracks of the house. This happens in my attic.

All I do is open the attic window and out they go.

A few months ago, Organic Gardening magazine had a article on fly parasites that can be ordered by mail.

-- walt (longyear@shentel.net), March 09, 2000.

Patty, we don't have a fly problem, but I recommend that you identify the type of fly, and learn as much as you can about is life cycle. Most likely you can remove whatever its maggots (the little darlings that fly parents love so much) are using as a food source, and eliminate the problem.

As far as lady bugs, I have this problem, too, insofar as they like to come into my house every fall in large numbers. I learned from the county agent, among other sources, that they are just looking for a place to hibernate for the wintter. After learning that, I decided to leave them in the house all winter. When they start trying to get back outside (this happened this year about a week ago) I gently loosen their grip from the window panes, or wherever else they are looking like they are active, with a spoon, causing them to fall into my waiting (empty) coffee mug. Thence out the door.

Remember--lots of people PAY for these little cuties; they are totally carnivorous, feeding on all sorts of garden pests.

Viva la lady bug!

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), March 09, 2000.

Hi Patty, we have pretty much eliminated our fly problems. We go to the source, the animals! We fill a mans-tube sock with Golden Marlin, it comes in a can and is very poisionous. We hang these tubes in the air up in the barn. I squirt them down with a catsup bottle full of water, every evening (your aim will get very good). In the evening the flys will land on these tubes and are then sterilized. We have 3 tubes in our 30x40 Dairy barn. I don't hang them in with kids, the poison will drip intially every night after you squirt them and kids would be stupid enough to lick these drips. My older stock is fine. I have never had a problem with my hens or any other animals. I also have them high enough that even my biggest does can not reach them standing on their hind legs. We also clean, clean and clean the barn. No bedding during the summer, just a rake, a scoop shovel, a wheelbarrow and a compost pile. Talk to you soon, Vicki McGaugh

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 09, 2000.

I love lady bugs ,I hate flys!!!!!! I cant stand them!!!!!! I want them all gone!!!!!! Vicki I'll try that and anything else .I do suck um up .I do fly tape , I let them out the window . Its kinda like loosing that extra 10 lbs , they just keep coming back .Thanks guys. Patty

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), March 09, 2000.

The little brownish lady bugs are actually a government experiment that got out of hand. If I remember right, they were released in Washington state several years ago. They have made their way across country. This information was in the Indiana DNR mag and I think one of the gardening mags I get. We could have a lot worse problems from a government experiment. Lady bugs will bite.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), March 09, 2000.

Go to your local farm supply store, and get some fly traps. They are gallon jars with lid designed so that the flies can crawl in, but not out. You fill the jar about half way with water, and throw in a handful of stew or hamburger meat. Let it sit and ripen a few days out in your barn area, and the flies will flock into the jar. It gets really gross--all maggoty and smelly; just put the jar in the sun so the heat will kill the occupants, then bury the contents where the dog won't dig it up, then fill it up and do it again. The year that we did this early in the season, we got rid of a LOT of the flies before they could continue their life cycle, and noticed a big difference by the end of the summer in the fly population. Gets rid of them before they get in the house, without the poison. We just live with the lady bugs in the winter; Hubby occassionally gets mad and drowns them in an old plastic cup with water and a drop of dish soap. I draw the line at ladybugs fallin in my dinner fixins'. Or my dish water.

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), March 09, 2000.

I don't know much about house flies, but the best thing I've found for fruit flies is a shallow dish of white wine. My husband and I don't drink so a small bottle lasts a while for us. The other thing I've tried is to take a banana peel and place it in a wide mouth plastic bag. After a few hours, or when the bag is full of flies, tie the bag shut and dispose of it. Good luck!

-- annette henry (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), March 09, 2000.

I accidentally discovered that flies don't seem to like the smell of mint. I harvested a bunch, and gave the stems to the goats. They didn't eat them, but it was a week before I saw another fly in the barn. I was using apple mint, but other types will probably work too.

-- Connie Christoffer (Connie@lunehaven.com), March 09, 2000.

We have flies too, they seem to swarm around on our back porch summer kitchen, I just open the windows on the sunny side and take out the screen, most of them go out. Some I shoot with a Crossman C02 pellet gun without the pellets, the force of the air kills them without squashing them on the walls and glass. We have the ladybugs too but not many, we live with them.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.neth), March 10, 2000.

I noticed on the older messages that "Walt" left one about Shofly plants, seeds available from PineTree Gardens, 207-926-3400. Says that for 60 cents, you can get enough seeds to solve your fly problem for ever, as they reseed themselves. Plant close to the house, barn, etc. Flys will die or stay away. Plan to try it myself this year, as anything that helps is worth it! Jan

-- Jan B (Janice12@aol.com), March 11, 2000.

The first year in my house in OK I had more flies than I'd ever seen in one place before. The second year was even worse. I sprayed and vacuumed till I was blue in the face. It was GROSS! The third year along came some wasps, the kind that build mud nests. They like fly eggs and don't bite unless they're provoked. Less flies. Now I have more wasps and NO flies at all! My wasps are friendly and I learned they are very beneficial insects. If you're interested I could mail you some.

-- paulette mark (kiwi333@ipa.net), March 12, 2000.

Thanks but no thanks ,I'm scarred to death of bees and wasps.I would rather move than have them.Yes I know the are good creatures and dont just sting for the heck of it .They are fine as long as they are not to close to me.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), March 12, 2000.

I have used a mason jar( or something similar) with a funnel set into the top so the small part of the funnel is down in the bottle. Put some meat scraps and water in it and let it ripen just like the commercial traps. The flies can get in but have a hard time finding their way out the little funnel opening. It catches a lot of flies but I started to wonder if maybe I was just attracting flies that wouldn't have normally come to the area.?

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), March 12, 2000.

parasitic nemetodes along with fly parasits work well but get expensive, the nematodes get rid of the hatching larva and the parasits get rid of the eggs and adults, gardens alive carrys them as does harmony farms and aribco.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), March 12, 2000.