How to get rid of flies in the house this summer

To get rid of flies in the house, stop them breeding first, then keep them out. Keep bins closed and clean, get food scraps, pet droppings and lawn clippings out of the yard quickly, and put screens on the doors and windows you use most. Inside, traps and swatters handle the stragglers. If flies are still thick around the house and outdoor areas, a professional treatment of the surfaces they rest on brings the numbers down.

A Barossa summer is made for eating outside, and so, unfortunately, are flies. If you’ve wondered why there are suddenly so many in the house, it usually comes down to two things: somewhere nearby is giving them a place to breed, and the house is giving them a way in.

Why are there so many flies in my house?

Victoria’s Department of Health pest control technical note on flies explains that female flies lay their eggs in moist areas that will feed the larvae, and that the common pest flies breed quickly in warm weather. Household waste is one of their favourite spots. The note describes a large number of house flies in an area as a sign of poor waste disposal, because that’s where they prefer to breed.

So a sudden rush of flies usually means a breeding site close by: a bin that hasn’t been emptied, dog droppings in the yard, a pile of lawn clippings, compost, or something that has died under the house or in the roof.

Know your flies

• House flies: the most widespread fly in Australia, 4 to 8mm long and grey with four dark stripes on the thorax. They move between waste and food, which is why they’re a health concern.
• Blowflies: bigger at 8 to 12mm, often metallic green, brown or blue, with the loud buzz. Females are drawn to exposed meat, so they turn up around bins and anything that has died.
• Fruit (vinegar) flies: tiny flies, 2.5 to 4mm, drawn to fruit and vegetables, especially anything starting to spoil. They’re small enough to get through normal fly screens.
• Bush flies: the ones that land on your face outdoors. CSIRO says a single large cow pad can produce up to 3,000 bush flies in a fortnight, which is why they’re worse near paddocks and livestock.

Stop flies breeding around the house

The technical note is clear that cutting off breeding sites does the most good, because adult flies will keep arriving otherwise. Around a typical home that means:

• Keep bins closed, and make sure the lid sits flat.
• Keep bins clean and dry. Flies prefer moist breeding spots, so a dry bin is far less attractive.
• Wrap meat and fish scraps before they go in the bin, and get rubbish out on collection day.
• Pick up dog droppings regularly and don’t let lawn clippings pile up, since both give larvae somewhere to feed.
• Cover the compost and turn it regularly.

Maggots in the bin?

Maggots in the wheelie bin are just fly larvae, and they mean flies got to the rubbish. Once the bin has been emptied, rinse it out, let it dry in the sun, and keep the lid shut from then on. Wrapping food scraps and keeping the bin dry stops the cycle starting again.

Keep flies out and deal with the ones inside

Adult flies will keep coming, so physical barriers matter. The technical note lists screens on windows and doors, removing attractive smells, good ventilation and cleaning up soon after handling food. For the flies that do get in, swatters and traps, such as sticky paper or scented bait traps, are simple non-chemical options.

Fly sprays knock down the flies in the room, but they don’t touch the source, and the note points out that flies can build resistance to products used over and over. Baits also work less well when there are competing smells nearby, like an overflowing bin. That’s another reason to sort out breeding sites first. If you do use a spray, read the label and keep it away from food preparation surfaces.

Fruit flies need a slightly different approach. Put ripe fruit in the fridge, empty the kitchen scraps bin often, and wipe up spills, because they breed in the fruit and vegetables they’re feeding on.

When a professional fly treatment helps

If you’ve cleaned up the breeding spots and flies are still thick around the patio and doors, a professional treatment brings the numbers down where it counts. Our fly and mosquito control treats pergolas, verandahs, patios and outdoor entertaining areas, external walls, eaves and the shaded spots flies rest on, plus indoor spaces where fly activity is a constant problem.

No treatment can promise to stop every fly outdoors, and we won’t pretend otherwise. It does substantially reduce activity around treated areas. Spring is the time to book it, ahead of the entertaining season, or fold it into their annual general pest treatment. The same visit can take care of mosquitoes too, and our guide to stopping mozzies breeding at home covers the yard checks that help.

Fly control from Gawler to the Barossa

We work all around the Barossa Valley, mainly Nuriootpa and Tanunda, plus Gawler and Evanston. Call Garry on 0403 018 325 for a free quote before summer sets in.

More on Nuriootpa and Tanunda pest control, including what turns up around the mid-Barossa through the year.