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Best outdoor fly trap
Get rid of flies
In order to remove flies from the inside or outside of your home, fly traps and fly control methods will be required. In most cases, this isn’t a quick fix either. Some methods may work, some won’t. It’s important to understand what type of battle you’re facing. This starts with the type of fly that’s invading your home. Some homeowners jump right in without doing the necessary research. Purchasing any old fly trap won’t work if the type of fly isn’t suitable.
With a few small methods and a smart approach, there’s no reason why flies should ruin your home and summer. We will suggest various options within the blog, but It’s up to you what methods you choose. We suggest doing your own research to see what works best over time. Our hope is that we build the foundations so that you can win your battle against the flies.
Before we cover the best outdoor fly traps, let’s cover some of the flies that may be flying around your property.
Fruit flies
As their name suggests, fruit flies are attracted to sweet and sticky substances. This includes rotting and fermented fruit, as well as vegetables and other sweet items like soda and candy. These pesky insects can find their way into your home from various different entry points, including the tiniest of cracks in ceilings, as well as open windows, doors, and even the sink. It’s important to take the necessary precautions to ensure that fruit flies don’t arrive in your home. This includes things like storing food in airtight containers, covering your fruit bowl and ensuring old fruit and veg aren’t left in bins for too long. You can also clean your worktops and surfaces, as residue from food can sometimes be left around without people noticing. These may not bite, but fruit flies can certainly transmit and spread disease, often depositing nasty material on your food. These are also capable of reproducing rapidly, meaning time is key if you want to stop an infestation.
Fruit flies can also lay up to 500 eggs at a time — mainly in fermenting fruit or other decaying, sweet, organic material. This means that, if the problem isn’t resolved quickly, then the infestation may be too large to handle. As with all fly problems, we suggest moving quickly to remain in control of the situation. If you're looking for a full detailed breakdown on how you can make a homemade fruit fly trap, this article has everything you need to know.
House flies
House flies are one of the most common insects on the planet, meaning they are much less picky on what they feed on, but equally annoying. You can find house flies on just about anything in your home. From food to rotting garbage, to long grass and even pets! These annoying b*stards are usually the unwanted guests that arrive at a BBQ or outdoor function. You know, the ones you can’t seem to shoo away when the food arrives? Similarly, with the fruit flies, these won't necessarily hurt you, but the risk of disease is just as common. Clean up after yourselves and take the necessary steps to ensure they don’t ruin mealtimes (and any other occasion), particularly during the summer period.
The worst part is, house flies like to pick up bacteria, fungi, and viruses. They then spread these pathogens by contaminating food and water around your home. Through this process, several health problems can occur. This includes serious problems like food poisoning, dysentery, and tuberculosis. Regular cleaning will limit this problem, but you must remain on top of it.
Gnats
Gnats are a nuisance. Granted, they may not cause major damage to homes. However, they can certainly threaten human health as they transport pathogens from their unsanitary breeding sites. Gnats can harm potted plants too. As a homeowner, you must eliminate potential breeding zones as fast as possible. These unwanted guests like to multiply and create an unclean environment, meaning time is of the essence if you want to successfully remove them.
The female variety also loves to feed on blood. They have the potential to carry parasites and spread diseases to humans and livestock. Due to the spread of health concerns, numerous programs have been established throughout the world to control gnat populations. Please do your homework, as these can be nasty critters. Their bite also packs a punch too!
DIY
Now we’ve compared the three most likely enemies you’ll face around your home. It’s important to also tell you how to stop them. Your first step may be a DIY approach. Before you click off the page, hear us out! Although DIY gets a bad name, homemade traps can be really effective. This is particularly the case if the infestation is smaller.
For fruit flies, use apple cider vinegar and some dish soap in a small dish or raised plate. Leave on the counter and watch flies arrive. Once they try to ingest the cider, they sink as the dish soap cuts the surface tension of the liquid. You can also use old wine or beer bottles to attract them, leaving them trapped inside as they are unable to navigate outwards.
Try doing the same thing with water bottles too, using a range of sweet sticky fruits the bait. Candy will also work just as well. Flies are almost useless at climbing up the sides of the bottle, meaning escape is impossible. Simply cover the bottle with cling film and poke holes in it, before watching the magic take place…
For other types like house flies, natural remedies can help. Try using citronella oil candles around your home. These will form a natural forcefield around your home, deterring flies and leaving your home smelling fabulous. A good tip is to place them by open windows or other entry points, this will increase the chances of flies staying away for good.
You can also get really creative and construct a ‘disco ball’ trap. Grab a zip lock bag and some water, fill the bag and close tightly. Finally, hang outside in areas around your property and let it works its magic. This is effective as flies have very sensitive eyesight. When the wind catches the bag, the water will begin to shine against the sunlight. This blinds the flies, causing them to move elsewhere. Pretty neat right?
If your creative juices are still flowing, then try a cone trap too. Dissolve a quarter cup of sugar in one cup of water inside a jar. Then, roll some paper into a cone long enough to reach from the top of the jar to just above the level of the liquid you’ve placed inside. Then snip off the tip. Afterward, tape the cone inside the jar with the wide end filling the jar’s mouth. This paper cone will then act as a gateway and entrance hub for the traveling flies. The trap will funnel all the pesky visitors right into the jar, making escape impossible.
Fly control
As we mentioned previously, a good attitude to adopt is prevention. It’s all well and good killing flies and removing them from your home, but wouldn’t it be better to prevent their arrival entirely?
Through simple behaviors like keeping your house clean and ensuring there are no-fly attractants left out, you can reduce the chances of flies arriving by a considerable amount. Try these simple tactics and let us know how you get on…
Clean all countertops and kitchen sides regularly.
Clean up after pets, ensuring no feces are left in the garden.
Cut the grass. Flies love to reproduce in long grass so a short lawn will stop this from happening.
Store and dispose of food properly. Seal garbage in tight bags and store fresh food in air-tight containers.
You can also make changes to your garden that will go a long way. For example, try adding various plants in order to repel the flies entirely. Plants like basil, lavender, and mint can help to repel a whole range of fly species. Flies hate the smell, leaving them to breed and cause havoc elsewhere. These plants will also have your garden looking great, providing various herbs for cooking too!
When it comes to fly control, it isn’t just your home that you should be thinking about. Like we said before, some flies can bite and pass disease, meaning we should take the necessary precautions to stop this from happening.
A prime example is clothing. We suggest wearing white, beige, khaki, or other light colors as biting bugs are attracted to darker items. Another more obvious piece of advice is to cover up. The more skin you have on show, the more chance the flies will have to leave their mark.
You can also try other handy tricks like keeping a fan in your pocket. Flies find it incredibly difficult to battle against the wind. Therefore, if you’re in a bar or restaurant, keeping a fan with you should help to deter any unwanted guests. These are also great during the warmer season to keep cool.
Finally, consume garlic! This may sound strange but hear us out. Consuming garlic leads to the release of a sulfur compound known as allicin. This is otherwise recognized as the strong smell we have on our breath and skin when we cook or eat garlicky food. Ultimately, this helps to mask your overall scent, making you much less attractive to the surrounding fly population.
Indoor fly traps
When it comes to indoor fly traps, you should choose things that aren’t too obtrusive. Some traps are great when it comes to catching and killing flies, but if they make a mess and look unsightly, then it kind of defeats the object. We suggest subtle traps that will do the job, but won’t ruin your house in the process.
The most common you’ll find is the dish soap trap. With a little apple cider vinegar and a mix of dish soap, flies will travel to the substance before becoming trapped with nowhere to go. We suggest placing this in a windowsill and emptying and re-filling regularly. You can also try old soda, wine, or beer bottles too. This is particularly effective with fruit flies as they love the sweet and sticky substance inside. Once they arrive inside the bottle, they are too stupid to navigate their way out, eventually dying in the process. Similarly with the dish soap trap, empty and re-use regularly!
Besides traps, you can also use prevention items such as natural oils. In our experience, citronella oil tends to work best, but you can try lavender, basil, and eucalyptus too. With a simple google search, you’ll find a range of citronella products, including candles. We find these to work best. Place a few around your home and watch the fly population dwindle. The best part is, not only will they help to repel the flies, but they make your house smell great too.
There are many more traps you can try, but we think these are the best. However, like we said in the previous paragraph, the best strategy is fly prevention. Keep your property clean and you’re onto a winner.
Outdoor fly traps
Similarly, with outdoor traps, you’re spoilt for choice on what type to choose first. You can range from small-scale items to more industrial traps to take care of larger infestations. Let’s cover a range…
First of all, you can try small-scale tools like the good old fly swatter. Before you scroll on, listen to the benefits. Although it may seem ancient, the fly swatter is still extremely effective. Particularly the electric variety that kills flies instantly. However, their limitation lies in the fact that this method is very labor intensive and requires you to kill flies individually. If you’re suffering from an infestation, this is unlikely to solve the problem.
If you’re thinking of using electricity. Then EV traps can be very effective. Simply hang in your desired area and watch the flies arrive. The general consensus is that these are better suited to nighttime contexts, but we’ve seen good results in the day too.
If electricity isn’t your thing then don’t worry, there are plenty of traps out there that don’t use any energy. A prime example is flypaper. You can purchase this online via outlets like Amazon or make some yourself. The choice is yours. Hang this around your property and collect it after a few days. Flies will arrive onto the paper but will be unable to escape. This is a great method that has been used for decades but please dispose of them regularly. They can gather flies quickly and they don’t make for a very decorative house piece!
There are also various flytraps that use bait to achieve your goal. However, the most important thing is to find a trap that has seen proven results. When searching the internet, you’re bound to find the latest craze. But if they can’t show concrete results, then we suggest avoiding them entirely. We strongly believe that our products are the best way to keep flies at bay outside. With over 30,000 customers across the world, we're confident that our traps are the most successful on the market. Just take a look at what a customer in Canada had to say about our fly traps she set up on her farm.
Venus flytraps
When it comes to the Venus Flytrap, many homeowners underestimate and overlook the potential of this seemingly ‘harmless’ plant. However, for smaller-scale fly problems, this plant can be your secret weapon when it comes to dealing with the fly population outdoors. Using digestive enzymes, the plant will attract, catch and kill flies. Better yet, you won’t even notice it happening. Simply purchase a plant and place it somewhere desirable and let it work its magic. Please note, as we said before, this won’t be your saving grace, but it will still deal with a small number of flies that should help your overall battle in the long run.
Repellent
When you are outside, it’s also a good idea to opt for bug spray. Just make sure it’s the right one. Our advice is that you should search out sprays that have higher levels of DEET. Store-bought sprays tend to have 25% DEET, but if you can find a spray that is higher then great!
Picardin is also very effective, giving off no odor or color. It also isn’t as harmful to the environment as DEET which is an additional upside. Regardless of the option you choose, try to find a small, compact spray bottle. This makes it much easier to transport, meaning you’ll always find space to carry it on outdoor walks or hikes.
Apply the spray to problem areas like the scalp, neck, and other exposed areas like the ankles frequently. We know this is a nuisance, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run. Nobody likes itchy bite marks!
The Ranch Fly Trap
Hopefully, we’ve inspired you to create the foundation of a solid fly prevention strategy for this summer and beyond. However, we can appreciate that none of this advice may work for you. You may be thinking, ‘I’ve tried all these things and I’m still suffering, what do I do now?’, well, if this is you, then don’t worry just yet.
Many of the trap suggestions above have been created for the market without any concrete research. This means that some work, some don’t. However, the consensus is that most fly traps online don’t deliver reliable results over time.
To truly defeat the fly problem, you need a trap that will work around the clock to ensure they don’t reproduce and become a serious issue. That’s where we come in. We created the Ranch Fly Trap a few years ago with the hope that farms and homeowners all over the world can use our product to defeat the fly once and for all. Not just from a nuisance perspective either. Many flies deliver and transport disease, harming our beloved livestock and pets. As animal lovers ourselves, we hate the thought of animals suffering. This was the driving force behind our product development, leading to the launch of our barrel trap last summer.
Using patented technology, our barrel trap uses a screw top design, meaning you can re-use and re-fill all summer long. We genuinely believe we have the best fly trap on the market, helping thousands of homeowners to live in fly-free environments.
Better yet, we have developed a bait recipe following months of research and development. Using valuable feedback from our customers, in addition to a LOT of testing, we’ve now created a bait recipe that is designed to attract tonnes of flies. Gone are the days are putting poo and other nasty substances into your traps. Simply purchase a fly bundle from our store and you’re ready to go!
Our hope is that homeowners can monitor and remain on top of fly problems all across the globe. With the help of the Ranch Fly Trap, there’s no reason why you and your livestock should suffer. The feedback we’ve received over the last two years inspires us to continue our mission of fly domination. We will continue to innovate, delivering fly solutions of various shapes and sizes.
The question you must ask yourself is...if you can’t cope with the fly problem, then why should your wonderful animals?
Grab your fly traps today. Just click that large green button below to be directed to our shop!