Do your kids like to stand with the doors wide open while they have a conversation with you too? Despite my best attempts, we get so many flies and gnats in the house every spring and summer.
For the smaller flies and gnats, I’ve tried the apple cider vinegar bowls with a drop of soap covered with saran wrap and holes. Yes, it works for a bit, but it’s had underwhelming results. Same with the little fruit fly catchers they sell in the grocery store.
To really get a handle on things, I’ve tried quite a few different products that others have recommended to help catch flies. And these ones actually worked.
All of these items can be purchased quickly on Amazon using the links below and are items I highly recommend!
Fly Magnet Fly Trap
This one has a huge ick factor, but is so incredibly effective. You mix a packet of the bait with water, hang it OUTSIDE, and let the magic work. You should check it periodically and re-fill with more water so new flies drown too, but otherwise it’s extremely low maintenance.
I hung mine on our recycling bin handle, which I couldn’t tell if that was a good move or not. It may have attracted more flies to the trash cans, but at least they weren’t going in my house!
Next time, I’m going to put it on the far side of my property instead of near my trash cans to attract them away from the house. There must be some scent it gives off, although I didn’t smell anything but it was also outdoors. I don’t recommend putting this indoors.
The pack comes with 3 bottles, which I thought would last all summer. Whew, was I wrong! These bottles were full in 2-3 days with what looked like thousands of flies.
I know it’s reusable, but I just took a trash bag, dumped the trap in, tied it and put it in the trash immediately. I couldn’t imagine how disgusting it’d be to dump out and re-use.
Katchy Indoor Insect Trap
The Katchy indoor insect trap is extremely easy to set up. Insert a white circle sticky pad at the bottom, snap it shut, plug in and turn on.
When you turn it on, there is a blue light at the top that attracts flies of all sizes to it. Then the fan sucks it down into the Katchy and the bugs get stuck to the trap and eventually die.
Katchy doesn’t make any noise or use chemicals or scents. It’s clean and self-contained. It comes with ~5 sticky pads so once it’s fairly full of bugs, just replace it with a new one.
We haven’t had a huge gnat problem this summer so the sticky pad of bugs shown is from about 5 months. It’s still sticky, just getting a bit of an ick factor. You’ll see though, it’s caught a few flies, and lots of little bugs too.
My gut says it’s more effective at night when the house is dark and the blue light attracts bugs of all sizes. I leave it near my bananas to catch anything that tries to get near them.
Since it is an electronic, I am cautious about leaving it running when I’m out of the house. The top part with the light does get fairly hot after 6-8 hours so I often turn it off for a few hours in the morning and at dinner time. I leave it on overnight and during the day if someone’s home.
Shop the Katchy indoor insect trap »
Garsum Fruit Fly Sticky Trap
I don’t know what these little bugs are, but I call them gnats. They’re so tiny, move quickly and they love my plants!
So, these Garsum fruit fly sticky traps have been awesome. About the size of my palm, these are a flat sheet, sticky on both sides, with a triangle to go down into pots. No chemicals or scents.
And, they are sooooo sticky that if you accidentally catch one on your finger or sleeve, they are stuck! I catch about 15 flies on a sheet before throwing it out (or until I can’t stand looking at them anymore). But it’s caught the little bugs and a few full-size flies too.
One box comes with 12 traps, so I’ve used a few each summer and still have many more to use.
If you get bugs in your plants, these are super easy to set up an actually work!
Shop the Garsum Fruit Fly Sticky Trap »
And of course, there’s always my trusty, basic fly swatter. Because at the end of the day, none of these other products are going to chase after a fly. But, you can!
Small thing but the hole on the end is so handy for hanging the fly swatter up out of the way, but easy to grab when needed.
Do you have any go-to summer tricks to keep flies from getting into your house or catching them once they’re there? I’d love to hear your thoughts on these items above or new items you highly recommend. Comment below!
Thanks for reading.
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