You're not going to believe this. I went through quite a few websites, reading all the hints about getting rid of houseflies. One of them mentioned lavender amongst quite a few other options in one simple sentence. I latched onto the lavender idea when I remembered that I have a small bottle of Lavender Essential Oil in my cupboard and thought I'd try it, not that I really believed it would work.
My bedroom window is always open for any hungry stray cat that might find its way to my cats' bowls of dried catfood. I always cover the fish bowl immediately after my cats have eaten, but still there would be lots of flies buzzing around. In my study where they would land on my arms or on my computer and they would mostly be just too fast for me to swat them!
I put a few drops on an ordinary small piece of typing paper and put it in my room where I feed my cats. Now this is the you're-not-going-to-believe-this part! Within 5 minutes - as in almost immediately - all the flies were out the window! I was flabbergasted. So I put another small piece of lavender paper on my desk and the same thing happened. Then I went to the kitchen and put down one there. All the flies gone. One or two would come in the windows or door, fly around a bit and fly right out again! I had to laugh. I found a fly sitting on the kitchen counter and I brought the piece of lavender right up to its nose - so as to speak. It flew away like a bat out of hell. One thing is for sure, flies HATE lavender! And it's really so cheap too. Two or three oily drops on the paper spreads into a huge oily spot.
I am so thankful to who-ever posted this tip that I went through all the palaver to fill in all my details to be able to post on this site because I felt that the world should know :-) But, on second thoughts, this is a very nice website and I've bookmarked it.
Source: Someone, somewhere on the Internet.
By Ellabelle from Cape Town
I am interested in knowing how to keep flies away from an outdoor event.
Is there any way to get rid of flies in a garage? There is nothing there to attract them. They just seem to fly in. I have tried fly paper and spray. This has just started.
