Flies! In your house, your garbage, on your pets and livestock, even on your lunch! With the warm weather come hoards of pesky flies. There are over 110,000 different types of flies, and these invasive pests are not only bothersome, they can be vectors for disease. Typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and even anthrax are just some of the diseases flies have been known to spread.

Flies taste with tiny receptors mounted on bristles that are found scattered all over their body. As they land on your sandwich, the flies receptors are immediately sending information to the fly’s brain. The fly may choose to share some of you sandwich, or move on to other tastier treats. As the fly travels around, it is picking up and leaving bacteria everywhere it goes. There can be over 6 million different bacteria on the bottom of a fly’s foot, and after the fly samples your sandwich and flies away it leaves behind all sorts of things you don’t want on your food or in your body.

For years people have sprayed flies with insecticides in an attempt to control their numbers, and as a result flies have built up a resistance to many sprays. There is also concern regarding the use of chemical fly controls on cattle and other animals that will be used as food. Sprays also kill the good bugs that Mother Nature has used to control flies naturally for thousands of years. So have we resigned ourselves to live with the fly and put up with their despicable table manners and irritating fly-by’s? No way! We just have to take a different approach.

One of the first things to do is eliminate places flies like to breed.

Flies breed in places most of us try not to think about. Animal waste, carcasses, rotting food, and pretty much any moist area with organic matter (the stinkier the better) are great places to lay their eggs. Try to keep manure and other wastes in a central area rather than scattered all over the property, and try to keep it as dry as possible. Flies need the moisture to start their life cycle, and natural predators prefer the dry conditions. Fix plumbing leaks, mow grass to increase air circulation, and try to keep things generally clean and dry.

Over her 30 day life span, the average female fly can lay up to 900 eggs, usually in clusters of 100-200. The eggs hatch and the larvae (maggots) feed on whatever nasty, moist material they are living in.

After feeding for approximately 4 days, the larvae crawl to drier areas to pupate. Inside the protective pupae the larvae spend about 6 days developing into what we recognize as an adult fly. The adult fly breaks open the end of the pupae, and emerges ready to feed, breed, and start the cycle over again...unless a Fly Parasite intervenes.

Fly Parasites kill pest flies by laying their eggs inside living fly pupae. The Fly Parasite larvae hatch and eat the fly pupae before it can turn into a fly. Fly species effectively controlled include the common house fly, stable fly, blow fly, face fly, and horn fly, along with many others. Parasites live about 3-4 weeks, and each one kills up to 50 pest flies. A program of monthly or bi-weekly releases can greatly reduce the number flies around your home, animals, and garden. The Parasites travel in about a 300’ area in search of fly pupae, and burrow into breeding sites. Try to release Fly Parasites as close to breeding sites as possible, and evening is the best time for release because direct sunlight can be harmful.

There are commercial traps available that usually use an attractant or lure to draw flies in and catch them, and these can help when they are not competing with manure piles and garbage cans which are much more attractive to the flies. Be sure to keep screens on windows and doors in good working order. Yellow sticky traps can also be used in houses and greenhouses to catch flies that make it inside, but often a good old fashioned fly swatter is the best control indoors. Flies do help clean up waste and garbage that would otherwise pile up, and we will never completely get rid of them, but with a little effort and some help from Mother Nature’s own fly controls we don’t have to let them become overwhelming. GG

Nathan Jackson is the owner of Nature’s Control and Ladybug Indoor Gardens. You can send your specific bug questions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . For more information, to request a catalog, or to find a local distributor, check out www.naturescontrol.com or call (541) 245-6033.