Posted on 08/26/2006 12:39:07 AM PDT by carlo3b
NewsTrack - Quirks
Bags of water hung to keep flies awayORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Restaurant operators along the coasts of Florida are trying a new, yet simple, way to repel flies on dining patios -- hanging bags of water.
Scientists say the method has no real merit, but restaurateurs on the Florida Keys and as far away as Texas swear by it, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
"It seems to be working," said Jeannie Eckbloom, a longtime server at Gator's, on the Seminole-Volusia line. "It's even keeping the birds away."
Some scientists believe the way the light shines through the water disorients the flies, which is why they are repelled.
The idea reportedly started in North Carolina a couple of years ago, where the bags were marketed as "Fly Fright." The company that sold those bags now appears to be out of business, the newspaper said.
I live in Florida, and I've never seen this.
I saw the same thing at Betty's Pies, Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Why chase them away? They are terrorists. Kill them.
Get a dog. Let it crap in your yard. Wait a few minutes and the crap will be covered with flies. Sneak up with a can of Raid and you've got 30 seriously sprayed flies. They will soon die. They won't land on the sprayed crap, so wait till your dog does another dump and repeat the process. I have taken out thousands this summer. It's great fun during breaks while painting the house.
Every one of the little sucker you kill is one less to breed and lay more fly eggs.
It's just like Iraq.
We use water balloons. Flies are hard to hit, works better on the neighbors.
Hmmmm. Large containers of standing water. So you can repel flies, but breed mosquitos.
Doesn't sound like much of a winner to me.
Does this work for ticks?
Here in Michigan we find the water bags work best in January after they have frozen solid. My back deck is loaded with them and I guarantee you wont find a single fly in the entire subdivision till at least April after the frozen bags melt.........I think the area of repelancy increases with the number of bags you have set out.
bump
Turns out that a certain silvery/white colored car parked right along the birds fly-way. The sun glinted off the car's surface. The birds -- esp. the geese -- got startled en mass and bombs away.
You bet! And as an added benefit those things keep away giraffes too. Ah me, isn't folk-science wonderful?
Attracts flies, repels humans (and cats, dogs, etc)
Now that we are back home in farm country we use fly stips. Will have to try the water bags next year.
I have a neighbor that grew up in Hawaii. She swears by this method.
I once had a blue-gray car that was a special target for birds. I couldn't believe it when, one day, I walked into the parking lot where approximately 7,000 cars were parked and only MY CAR was covered with bird poop. It was really strange.
Saw this at a restaurant in Kerrville overlooking the river in the late 80's / early 90's.
This is an urban legend. I had a very bad fly problem earlier this summer in TX and a native Texan neighbor suggested the bag of water trick. It did absolutely nothing. I stopped by our Sears hardware store and they were selling fly traps - it's basically a plastic cup and a lid with special holes that flies can get in to but not out of. You mix a green powder with water to produce a sometime foul smelling liquid and before you know the cup if filled with hundreds of flies. Works like a charm. The cup filled with dead flies does get disgusting after a while though.
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