Homemade Fly Strips

It seems like the past few weeks our home is being targeted with annoying fly’s.  I found a place on the net that had a homemade recipe for making your own fly paper strips.  It stated to use equal amounts of honey, sugar and water to make a mixture for dipping brown paper bag, strips.  I followed the recipe exactly…except for one thing.  I did not have honey so I substituted Karo syrup.  After cutting bag strips, punching holes, attaching strings, cooking mixture and making my fly strips…they were ready to hang for some dripping and setting-up-time.  Where – oh – where to hang the strips.  Finally I thought to put newspaper on the floor by the stove and tape my fly strips to the oven handle to drip and eventually thicken up.

It was time to hang my fly strips.  I hung one in each of our dining room windows and one over the dining room table.

They look so much better than hanging regular fly strips.  After hanging for quite some time, I hadn’t noticed a single fly landing on the strips.  But wait…..the fly’s did come and they were all over the strips…………but nothing was happening.  I had just made a non-stick park/playground for my little fly’s.  Not a single fly was sticking to the fly strips.  It was really tacky, but not the kind of tack needed to catch fly’s.  I finally took them down, went to town and bought regular non-attractive fly strip, which ARE doing what they were made to do.  Some day, I will try again to make the fly strips but I will get some honey as the recipe called for.  Whether honey will do the trick as opposed to using the Karo syrup…………..Hope So!