Bloody flies!

[Mrsknackered]

Every time I open a window/front door we welcome in a gathering of flies.
Any homemade traps? It's driving me insane!

For fruit flies old wine or hair conditioner seem to be best. Last year conditioner had the edge, this year they are more alcoholic. A good science project there.

Blue bottles you need a cat. Failing that they are drawn to the light so go through making the rooms dark and drawing them to the light. Or just get a cat - and not one which thinks you have found him a playmate.

I would do anything for a cat. But I'm horribly allergic! Not sure I can afford a hairless one...

Will port work? I have a bottle here from about 5 years ago wine doesn't last long enough to be considered old
Do I just put it in a lid? Or in a box with cling film and holes?

For fruit flies put wine / vinegar in a wine glass covered in cling film with a few holes poked in it. I caught over 20 today alone.
For large flies, fill a sandwich bag with water, throw in a couple of copper coins, and hand outside your house. We hung 5 around, and it really works. Just change the water every few days to keep it reflecting the light.

We have masses of the clear sticky fly strips on our windows. They're helping for the most part, but incredibly unsightly. They're supposed to be effective for 10 weeks I think, but realistically we'll have run out of sticky strip to land on within 4!

Net curtains have also helped loads. Not a fan of net so I actually bought some organza-type material cut it down to window sizes, hemmed the top and stuck some old ribbons through it. If you get the hooks in the right places and string it tight enough the damn things stay out or get trapped in between curtain and window frame til they figure it out.

Will deffo be trying these homemade traps out when my sticky strips fall off under their own weight....

I found this by googling bloody flies! So sorry about the zombie but I’m going insane, and it’s a relatively short thread.

Hopefully this bump will prompt some more good ideas...