If you are a Do It Yourself Pest Control Person the flies can be a challange as you need to know which species of fly you are dealing with.
The Fly is a common pest that can be found everywhere. Listed here you will find some of the most common and bothersome. In large numbers, flies can be very annoying to both humans and animals. They can transmit more than 20 human and animal diseases. Amoebic Dysentery, Anthrax, Cholera, Newcastle, Salmonella, Tuberculosis, and Typhoid fever disease are some of the diseases that can be transmitted by flies.
House Flies
The adult house fly is 1/4 inch long and gray in color, with a lighter abdomen and four stripes behind its head. The underside of the male is yellowish. The larvae are worm-like maggots, and the pupae are 1/3 inch long and dark brown. The house fly undergoes a complete metamorphosis, from egg to larvae, larvae to pupae and pupae to adult. This life cycle can be completed in just two weeks in warm weather, or seven weeks in cooler weather. One female house fly can lay nearly 1,000 eggs over a lifetime.
Fly Control
Proper sanitation is the best non-chemical approach to fly control as it eliminates their breeding area. Take out trash frequently to covered containers located preferably away from the home. Always use trash bags. and keep trash containers clean and dry. Pick up pet manure frequently since it is a choice breeding spot for flies.
We offer several different kinds of fly control products to suit your needs, from baits to fly catchers. These products are the best available and will take care of your fly problems. Fly Relief Trap, EZ Trap Fly Trap,Maxforce Fly Bait (Maxforce Fly Bait can only be shipped to commercial address) andMaxforce Fly Spot. Click here for all of the Fly Control Products.
Fruit flies are one stubborn problem for restaurants, food service establishments, and bars. Those are the little flies that you see in and around the food serving areas, bar areas, dining areas and kitchens. Fruit flies as their name suggests, like to breed in fruits, syrups, vegetables, and other decaying organic matter (potted plants). No matter where they breed, these pests are constant companions where food is handled, produced and stored. Adult flies can and will be seen in the most frustrating of places, such as soda machines, liquor bottle spouts, ice machine motors, and anywhere else the customer and of all people the health inspector wants to look.
Controlling these flies is not hard to accomplish but may be very frustrating. Fruit flies can breed in just a little bit of fruit or other crud which can be almost anywhere, so locating and treating areas that are prone to collect food (Cracks, behind appliances, and in and around booths in serving areas) is a must. These flies can multiply very rapidly and in a short period of time and can become a large problem.
Control:
One of the first steps when controlling fruit flies is sanitation. Fruit flies can breed in the smallest most inconspicuous areas. Locating where food, drink syrup, and mixers might collect is a good starting point. Bar areas, serving areas, and drains should be checked and treated as needed as part of a regular maintenance schedule. Sealing cracks and voids that collect food and other organic debris is a great way to eliminate places where these flies(and other pests such as roaches and ants) can breed
Once the cleaning and the caulking has been completed, we suggest you use a product that controls the larval stages of these pests. The product of choice for controlling fruit fly larvae is Gentrol which contains an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR), which will prevent the larvae from ever becoming adults.
Controlling the larvae is key to preventing the adults from ending up bothering customers and of course the health inspector
Fruit Fly traps are also great to help the adults that do get in
Control for Homes:
Same as above for commercial establishments
Check your drains for breeding sites, use a clear glass over the drain and you will see the flies inside the glass, others use duct tape and when they peel it off they can tell if they have a problem
If drains are infested use a good foaming product to clean like MicrobeMax Foaming Drain Cleaner and then use Gentrol Aerosol on a daily basis for 2 weeks. (use a 1 second shot of Gentrol into each drain each night)
Check for over-watered potted plants in or close to the problem area
Any Fruit in the area
Glue Boards and Trapsare a start, but you need to find the Source of the problem
Drain Flies are tiny (1/5 to 1/6 inch long), fuzzy, dark or grayish insects with the body and wings densely covered with hairs. The antennae are long. Wings, appearing too large for the body, are held roof-like over the body when at rest, giving a moth like appearance. They are weak fliers and make irregular, slow flights covering only a few feet in short, jerky lines. Drain flies reproduce in polluted, shallow water or highly moist organic solids. The eggs, larvae and pupae can be found in the muck, slime, or gelatinous film often accumulating on the sides of drains and overflow pipes in homes, or in sewage disposal beds, septic tanks and moist compost. They have also been found in dirty garbage containers, rain barrels and tree holes.
Drain flies sometimes appear suddenly and mysteriously, becoming a nuisance in restaurants, homes and sewage disposal plants. Adult flies may become so numerous indoors that they congregate at windows, darken lamp shades at night, fall into food and accumulate around showers, bathtubs, sinks and floor drains, especially in the basement. Outdoors they mar fresh paint and plug sewage filter beds (intakes and drains), getting into the eyes, ears and nose of people in the area. Bronchial asthma can be caused by inhaling fragments and dust of dead flies. Since these flies originate in filthy conditions, there is the possibility of human health disease transmission. The life cycle can be completed in one to three weeks. Adults live about two weeks, with old ones dying and new ones emerging. During the day, adults rest in shaded areas or on walls near plumbing fixtures and on the sides of showers and tubs. Most activity occurs during the evening when these flies are seen hovering about drains and sinks. They may breed in large numbers at sewage filter plants and then may be carried by prevailing wind to nearby homes up to a mile away. Adults are small enough to pass through ordinary window screening.
Control Measures
Concentrate on eliminating larval breeding sites from drains in floors, sinks, wash basins, bathtubs, etc. Sometimes the source of the problem is a nearby trash dumpster or grease pit. If a large population is present and drains are the culprit follow these steps.
Use a commercial drain cleaner like InVade Bio Drain or Vector Bio-5 Drain Cleaner to clean and kill the drain flies then use this product on a regular schedule
One of the first steps when controlling Drain Flies is sanitation. Drain Flies can breed in the smallest most inconspicuous areas. Bar areas, serving areas and drains should be checked and treated as needed as part of a regular maintenance schedule. Sealing cracks and voids that collect food and other organic debris is a great way to eliminate places where these flies(and other pests such as roaches and ants) can breed
Once the cleaning and the caulking has been completed, we suggest you use a product that controls the larval stages of these pests. The product of choice for controlling Drain Fly larvae is Gentrol which contains an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR), which will prevent the larvae from ever becoming adults. Use Gentrol every 2 weeks until problem is gone then treat using Gentrol as a monthly treatment
Controlling the larvae is key to preventing the adults from ending up bothering customers and of course the health inspector
Cluster Flies
Cluster flies resemble house flies in appearance (slightly larger, and slower flying) and are often a problem in both spring and fall seasons (problem are usually bigger in the fall. Cluster flies will land on the outside wall in large numbers (warm side of the house or building), will also enter houses, or other shelters, in the fall. The flies tend to cluster in large numbers at windows, ceiling or other high places, usually toward a light source. Adults feed on nectar while the larvae, or maggots, are internal parasites of earthworms.
The adult cluster fly emerges in late summer and early fall and seek protected places to spend the winter. In many cases, this is within the walls, attics and basements of homes. Window screens offer no protection from the flies because they crawl in the home through small openings in the walls of the building. The over wintering flies in you attic and walls will enter your home during the winter and spring months entering through window pulley holes, around the baseboards and through other small openings in walls.
Cluster Fly Control
Cluster flies, are difficult to control once they have gained access to homes because they hibernate in wall voids and other inaccessible places. Problems are common around well cared for lawns that support a healthy earthworm population. They can also be a nuisance in buildings surrounded by rich pasture land and turf.
The first step to control cluster flies is to treat the exterior of your home with Demand CS, Demon WP,Suspend SC. Application should be made in the first two weeks of August if practical. It may be more effective to concentrate the chemical on the sunny side of the house. These walls are warmer and generally attract more flies. Spray the exterior as a residual surface treatment.
Maxforce Fly Spot Bait can solve you fly problems in and around your business. Simple and easy to use each 2 oz. envelope makes 1 pint of finished product.
