Hi It's not even summer and we are getting sick of the flies. I remember seeing on gardening shows, how to make flycatchers from soft drink bottles. Unfortunately I never paid attention to what is to go in them. I made one years ago, but it just went mouldy. Is there someone out there who did pay attention. Nathan
here you go : Fly Catcher: 3 cups of water ¼ cup sugar ¼ cup white vinegar Fill a quart jar with mixture and punch hole sin the lid. Leave jars where flies are annoying! hope that helps sam
The idea ol' Cob, I think, is to get them into the trap where they eat so much sugar they die of sudden onset insect diabetes or something similar, and it breaks their breeding cycle. It does seem counter intuitive, doesn't it? but they say it can be pretty effective. Never tried it myself. Got the trusty lap dog, you see.
Thank you everybody. I shall be making jars tomorrow. Not too many frogs about. Lots of cane toads and there is only so many flies a gecko can eat, if they can catch them. They seem to be quite stupid around here. Nathan
Another alternative for bait is a little wet canned pet food in a jar as described...I thought they die because they can't get out. We have a very fussy old cat so we just use what she won't eat in a jar...works extremely well.
Those fly baits are a great idea....But they attract the flies not repel them.. Dont put near where u sit..........Put id say within 5 meters away then the flies go there, not on you... Another way could be to collect the flie blown material,and turn it into maggots for your chooks,or for your fish in an Aquaponic set up Tezza
Flies live in a small area and have a short life span. You can clear an area with fly traps...and not attract other flies. The traps STINK big time so yea dont put them near where you sit or work a lot. The best one I use is a plastic cover...goes over a 2litre bucket....the bait is fresh meat...liver is the best. Clears up to an acre of flies over about 2 weeks. Its australian made...about $20. No Bugs International Pty Ltd P.O. Box 4043 Forster 2428 (02)6557 6606 Have the receipt cause I just did the tax thing...lol I think they might have a web site so someone with faster net connection than me might google it. Cathy
fly traps Hi, I bought some fly traps from our local hardware store. They are clear plastic containers about the size of a large jam jar and have a yellow lid, with a hook so you can hang them up. They come with this green powdery stuff you mix with water, it really stinks and I think it might contain a ferrimone too. Then hang the traps in a warm sunny spot. I can tell you they work really really well. We hang them around where our sheep gather and have one above the compost bin. In just a few days the trap was full of flies, eeeeeeewwww! You can buy the green stuff and re-fill them when needed. It claims on the packet that the green stuff is food grade so it can't be too toxic. Good luck Teela
Re: Catching flies I autopsied some ducks yesterday and laid out the organs separately. The flies found the liver and blood most attractive, so I loaded my trap with a small piece of liver ... it works quite well. While I liked the sachet baits at the shop they cost money and did not work as well as liver. I also tried sugars and yeast etc and these also did not stack up either. I anticipate I will bait over the water of my fish pond with some complicated trap to aid my fish as well. Hope this helps
Re: Catching flies In an old audio track I listened to, Bill Mollison suggested boiling a brick in water with some livers. He reckoned the porous brick absorbed the liver smell, and for years afterwards attracted flies whenever it got wet. I've also heard that Vegemite is good for attracting fruit flies - the yeasty smell brings them looking for fermenting/rotting fruit.
