Long days, warm nights, sunset drinks, beach weekends; there’s not much we don’t love about summer. But if there’s one thing we could change, you bet it’d be the flies (mosquitoes, you’re next).
With the warmer weather comes a new wave of buzzing flies, just waiting to land in your seafood, crawl into the corners of your mouth, and trap themselves behind the sunglasses you’re wearing. Disgusting, which is why every year we find ourselves Googling how on earth to get rid of them, fast.
Now, one Aussie farm-owner is reporting to have found the ultimate solution to getting rid of flies in summer. Posting a photo of her two-ingredient hack on the Mums Who Clean Facebook page, Vanessa Schilling claims a lemon cut in half and topped with cloves is the answer to deterring flies in her outdoor area.
“This works, we live on a farm it’s stinkin’ hot here today,” she shared alongside a picture of her homemade remedy.
“This may not work for everyone, but it works for me. I cut the lemon in half and place both halves on a saucer with cloves sprinkled on top. I then place it out on my verandah and the majority of the flies disappear within 1/2 hour.”
A quick fix, Schilling says she swaps out her homemade repellent with fresh ingredients once it starts drying up, or when the flies return. “This is the first time I’ve used it for this season as the flies are really bad today. I was looking for an [alternative] to using chemicals and discovered this, so far so good.”
Schilling’s Facebook post has blown up in popularity with fly-frustrated homemakers seeking a natural solution to summer’s most annoying caveat. The post has clocked some 3,000 reactions and almost 1,000 comments from thankful Facebook users.
“We bow down to you, for you are the master!” commented one user with another adding: “Omg stealing this idea we live on a farm and I think I’ve had about 100 go up my nose today”. One humourous comment reads: “I would but lemons are about $16000 a kilo at the moment”.
There are a number of other natural remedies for getting rid of flies, some more effective than others. While some people swear by cirtus, either with citronella or by planting lemon and lime trees, others stand by herbs planted on a veranda or balcony.
We’re yet to try this new lemon and clove hack, but hey, we’ll try anything if there’s even a chance we could have a fly-free summer BBQ.