What's with all the flies this year?

If it's not about plants, but it is about the natural environment of Death Valley, then this is the place to post your info or question.

What's with all the flies this year?

Postby surfsteve » Fri May 30, 2014 6:48 pm

Why do we have so many flies this year? Or better yet. What is the best way to get rid of them?
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: What's with all the flies this year?

Postby surfsteve » Fri May 30, 2014 8:34 pm

I did some research and it seems that food grade diatomaceous earth is the best thing to use around food, humans and pets. It needs to be applied with a duster or sprinkled. Safe and effective both indoors and outdoors

The other thing I found was Maxforce Fly Spot Fly Bait. This is strictly for outdoor use and toxic to humans and animals but they pretty much have to eat it. It comes in two forms. The granular form has a bitter flavor to discourage humans and animals from eating it. There is also a wettable powder that can be sprayed around windows and doors where flies come in and trash and areas where flies hang out. This product is an attractant. Do not use indoors unless you want a ton of dead flies all over the place. Do not spray it on door knobs or window latches where humans are likely to touch or where humans or pets feed or are likely to touch. Unlike insecticides you don't need to coat the entire area. Only the "spot" or spots where you want to attract them to as it's name implies. The product and testimonials say that it kills a fly within 60 seconds of them landing on it and licking it off the surface or their feet. It's also supposed to be able to attract and kill flies up to 30 feet away. Sounds almost too good to be true! Anybody tried it before?
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: What's with all the flies this year?

Postby BoraxBill » Sat May 31, 2014 6:39 am

Can't say I've noticed a surplus of flies. Seems like the numbers are normal as far as I can tell.
User avatar
BoraxBill
Lonesome Miner
 
Posts: 477
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:22 am
Location: Lake Manly

Re: Flies? What About Roaches?

Postby panamint_patty » Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:28 am

From what I've heard there may be a slight roach problem on Tuesday since some sort of insecticide is being used to kill off the roaches. There's a chance that some will attempt to escape the sewers by crawling up drain pipes and into sinks all over town. So, if you wind up with hundreds of roaches in your sinks on Tuesday, that's why. Such a scenario is supposed to be unlikely, but you never know!
User avatar
panamint_patty
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1203
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:23 pm
Location: T-Town

Re: What's with all the flies this year?

Postby surfsteve » Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:26 am

I've had very good luck using borax on roaches. It also kills ants. If you mix it 50/50 with sugar you can use it as a bait outside. When I use it outdoors I notice a significant decrease in the number of ants from inside the house the next day. It does a good job of drawing them outside and killing them. I like to use food grade diatomacous earth indoors around people, pets and food. Works for roaches ants (and flies in their larval state). Borax also works good indoors if you use it straight without the sugar.
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: What's with all the flies this year?

Postby surfsteve » Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:54 am

I also noticed that there were no dragon flies this year. Normally I see them buzzing around my goldfish ponds.
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: What's with all the flies this year?

Postby surfsteve » Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:58 am

I put some Maxforce Fly Spot Fly Bait down yesterday. Seems like there are way less ones bothering me today. I didn't see any dead ones but noticed one on his back jittering so it must be doing something.
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Re: Flies. Bugs.

Postby tronagirl » Thu Jun 05, 2014 9:21 am

I'm starting to notice grasshoppers and crickets around quite a bit. Pretty soon there will probably be those huge green caterpillar things. I'm not a big fan of bugs, but I don't like to use pesticides since anything that kills bugs probably isn't too good for humans to come into contact with.
tronagirl
Ancient Bristlecone
 
Posts: 853
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:55 am

Re: Flies. Bugs.

Postby desertrat » Sat Jun 07, 2014 6:47 am

tronagirl wrote:I'm starting to notice grasshoppers and crickets around quite a bit. Pretty soon there will probably be those huge green caterpillar things. I'm not a big fan of bugs, but I don't like to use pesticides since anything that kills bugs probably isn't too good for humans to come into contact with.

Speaking of grasshoppers...
Massive NM Grasshopper Swarm Shows up on Radar :ack:
I bet there are a lot of messy windshields in Albuquerque just dripping with the remains of smashed grasshoppers!!!
User avatar
desertrat
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 1256
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:22 am
Location: BFE

Re: What's with all the flies this year?

Postby surfsteve » Tue Jun 10, 2014 6:35 am

I've also noticed that there are no dragon flies and only seen one honey bee so far. I always used to see dragon flies around my pond. I haven't seen one the entire year!
Make Trona great again!
surfsteve
Prehistoric Fossil
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 9:57 am
Location: everywhere

Next

Return to General Environment and Nature

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 43 guests