You guessed it: flies despise cloves and lemon due to their strong smells. For us, however, these natural repellents are quite aromatic. To create this decorative and natural repellent, you'll need a lemon and 6-12 cloves.
Cinnamon – use cinnamon as an air freshner, as flies hate the smell! Lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint and lemongrass essential oils – Not only will spraying these oils around the house create a beautiful aroma, but they will also deter those pesky flies too.
Citrus fruits emit a complex bouquet that is attractive to flies, and microbes that grow on fermenting fruits also emit attractive volatiles 14, 15.
Other ways to naturally repel flies are potted plants, apple cider vinegar, or good old-fashioned fly traps. Lavender, eucalyptus, and citrus are also good fly repelling scents, so you can use an essential oil to help keep flies away.
Flies hate the smell of essential oils like lemon grass, peppermint, lavender and eucalyptus – put a few drops in a spray bottle and use around the house daily. They also hate the smell of camphor (a traditional moth deterrent) which you can buy online, cloves and cinnamon.
A mixture of apple cider vinegar and dish soap can help you trap flies and kill them. Mix about an inch of apple cider vinegar and a few drops of dish soap in a tall glass. Cover the glass with plastic wrap, secure it with a rubber band and poke small holes in the top.
One of the most common predators of flies, including fruit flies, is the frog. Although frogs eat a diverse diet, they feed on flies as often as they can. The spider is also a common predator of the fruit fly. These arachnids spin their webs as traps for flies.
Use Citrus Peels
House flies – along with ants, fleas, roaches, silverfish, mosquitoes, and many other insects – abhor the smell of citrus oils. The peels and zests from oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, and other citrus fruits contain limonene, a potent insect repellent that kills on contact.
Keep Bugs Away Lemon and Cloves
Bees and wasps do not like this smell combo and will stay away.
The lemon scent, which repels the bugs, is powerful.
These flies lay eggs on the surface of the fruit, causing small scars in the lemon peel. The eggs hatch into small maggots that enter the lemon to feed on the soft, juicy flesh, ruining the fruit. Monitoring and sanitation in the garden are crucial steps to preventing Medfly attacks.
Afraid of shadows
The flies looked startled and, if flying, increased their speed. Occasionally the flies froze in place, a defensive behaviour also observed in the fear responses of rodents. The shadows even caused hungry flies to leave a food source, when that was presented during another phase of the experiment.
Common house flies are attracted to decaying organic filth such as feces and rotting meat, whereas fruit flies seek sugary substances and feed more commonly on overripe fruit, spilled soda, and alcohol.
Scents that they're particularly opposed to are the strong, pungent odors, like clove, lavender, mint, lemongrass, eucalyptus, rosemary and citronella. Apply a few drops of these oils to strips of cloth to make DIY fly paper, or spray your deck and patio to keep flies away from the periphery of your home.
Keep pests away
Many common insects such as ants, spiders and cockroaches are sensitive to smell, which is why lemons are so useful at deterring these and other insect pests. Mix a 50/50 solution of lemon juice and water in a spray bottle and use in your kitchen, baseboards and windowsills.
The taste and smell of garlic or lemon juice can be pleasant, but bugs don't react well to it. Most bugs are offended by the scent of allicin, a component found in garlic. The acidity and odor of lemon juice serve as an unpleasant boundary no bug wants to walk across.
Pour in at least 1 US tbsp (15 mL) of apple cider vinegar, then add about 3 drops of any liquid dish detergent. The soap breaks the surface tension so the flies can't get out once they fall in. The vinegar is the bait, and the apple cider scent attracts plenty of flies.
Vinegar (or acetic acid) is the ultimate product of the fermentation process in fruit, which is why fruit flies are attracted to vinegar odor. However, both low and high concentrations of vinegar odor leave flies indifferent (left).
1. Orange peels – Flies hate the scent of citrus fruit (like oranges and lemons). Leave orange peels around window sills and doors to keep flies away. Another related trick (especially for the outdoors) is to place cloves into oranges or lemons.
✔️Mix apple cider vinegar and dish soap.
Combine equal parts of the two in a small bowl and add a pinch of sugar to the mix. Ideally, the dish soap will have a fruity smell. “The fermented smell from the vinegar can attract flies,” Pereira says. “But the soap is really what will kill them.”
Things Flies Hate
Basil, bay leaf, cedar, cinnamon, citrus, citronella, cloves, cucumber slices or peels, lavender, marigolds, mint, peppermint, pine, rosemary, and vanilla oils and air fresheners are a few popular choices for fly repellents.
Place some bait inside a glass jar —overripe produce, ketchup or a fermented liquid like apple cider vinegar, beer or wine will all work. Then place a funnel over the opening of the jar with the spout pointing down to create a tiny entrance that is easy for the flies to get into but almost impossible for them to exit.