Homemade Fly Spray With Garlic

Whether you are a horse owner looking for a way to keep flies off your mount or a homeowner looking for a way to keep flies out of your house, sometimes the natural approach is the best one. Garlic is one of the most effective natural fly repellents, and making a homemade mixture of garlic and water is often enough to keep those biting insects at bay.

Flies are naturally repelled by garlic, and you can use that fact to your advantage. If you notice flies converging at various points around the exterior of your home, you can spray those areas with your own homemade garlic-based fly repellent. While you can start out with a standard recipe, it might be necessary to tweak it a bit as you go along. Spraying various parts of your home with different concentrations of garlic and water can help you determine which formulation works the best.

For your homemade fly spray to be effective, you want to get as much of the garlic, including those fragrant natural juices, into the mixture as possible. Start by buying several fresh cloves of garlic at the local grocery store. Next, chop those garlic cloves very fine, using a sharp knife and a cutting board. You can place a bit of salt on the cutting board to capture the oil from the garlic and preserve it for use in your mixture. Chop the garlic as finely as you can. If you like, you can use a garlic press to chop the garlic for the fly repellent.

The standard mixture for repelling flies on horses calls for a mixture of one part finely chopped garlic to five parts water. It is a good idea to start out with that ratio, even if your goal is to repel flies around your home. Spray a few areas around the exterior of your home, starting with spots where you have seen flies congregate in the past. Spray the area thoroughly with your homemade fly repellent, using a spray bottle set to a fine mist.

When spraying around plants, it is important to monitor the condition of those plants carefully. Garlic can harm the leaves and flowers of some garden plants, so be careful when spraying the outside of your home. If you do see problems with your plants, you can dilute the mixture to preserve the fly-repelling characteristics while protecting your plants. It can take some time to get the mixture just right, but once you do, you will have an inexpensive yet very effective fly repellent for your home.