Got Flies? Homemade Fly Paper

It's getting warmer, and flies are finding their way indoors. If you want to get rid of flies but don't have any fly paper on hand, make your own right quick and get to work getting rid of the nasty buzzing buggers! Here are a few ways you can make homemade fly paper to catch those nasty flies quick!

Use honey and strips of paper bags to get rid of flies. Simply spread honey on a strip of brown paper bag about 4 inches wide and 8 inches long, and lay the strip along the counter where flies are present. If you don't have the honey on too thick, you can also hang the homemade fly paper on your ceiling using a thumb tack. Just be sure to hang the strip above your sink to catch random drips as they occur.

Don't have any honey? Sugar and corn syrup works as well. Combine 1/4 corn syrup and 1/2 sugar in a bowl and mix well. Then spread the mixture on brown paper bag strips (don't use regular paper or newspaper- in my experience these types of paper either break under the weight or don't hold the sticky stuff well so they drip a lot) and allow to "set" for a half hour to an hour before hanging. I have noticed that the longer you leave the strip to "set", the less likely it is to drip when hanging, for both honey and corn syrup and sugar fly papers.

note: eventually, the strips will start to dry and lose their sticky ability to catch flies. I remedy this easily by spritzing the strips lightly with a spray bottle with sugar water. This makes the strips stickier and attracts flies yet again more successfully. These strips I prefer because if you touch them you don't get stuck in them, like classic fly paper. They also look more attractive in the home. Also, if you prefer not to hang the fly strips, then you can lay them flat on a counter or windowsill to catch flies more discreetly.

Sources:

experimentation making fly strips from scratch myself

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/repel-flies-naturally.html#