Seriously though: Attack of the mutant killer cluster flies.
There was supposed to be a load of info and bemoaning of my fate going on in the last blog – but I put up the crying face and felt that was enough. But I guess I really ought to try and be more helpful.
So how are we doing?
Well, so far – looks like we are losing. You can spend a fortune getting “Pest controllers” to come and spay your house with Pyrethrins, but while it will kill the flies – it won’t keep them away, and they will just keep on coming. Then – if a local guy is anything to go by – they have the sodding cheek to try and sell you a service to get rid of the Mice you will now be inundated with cos they failed to stop the flies.
Note of interest – there ain’t one single mouse up in our large tasty-rodent-snack-filled attic – so thhhbbbt – I’m not getting you back in and paying you more money!
Trying to find a way to stop these critters is not hugely unlike bashing your head against the brick wall that is the Immigration Department. Just with even more “Ick” factor. Partly this is because we seem to be the only ones in our area even trying to find a solution to the problem. If no one else tries to sort our their own homes, you are always fighting a losing battle where cluster flies are concerned.
We are however still looking for solutions – and have several prongs of attack.
1. Changing the insulation.
New Zealand’s insistence of using such outdated technology as Pink Batts (RockWool or fiberglass) is even more hellish when you have cluster flies – cos they get stuck in the fibres. So we are looking for a different product. Unfortunately that consists of sheeps wool or polyester blankets, which have the same issue, or Polystyrene – which is a fire hazard.
We have spent weeks trying to find the kind of products that you see on UK home renovation shows like “Grand Designs” – a solid board that can be cut to size. The theory is that while it wont stop the flies – clean up is a whole lot easier. Thanks to a particular show we saw last night – we have a name – Kingspan – and shock-horror – they have an office in New Zealand. I’m calling them next week for a sample and pricing.
Note to Kiwi Insulation makers – sort out your SEO – this does not come up in a Google search of “New Zealand Insulation”.
We found some foil backed blankets (sort of like Bubblewrap with foil on it) in the UK, but the company won’t work out a price for the amount we need.
2. Spraying the garden.
You need to kill the worms that lay the Cluster Fly eggs. Kiwicare sell Lawnprills which are little pellets of poison, but its REALLY expensive, and hard to use. We have found a local guy who has the same chemical in liquid form and will spray the garden and paddock for about $180 – which is a bargain. Because its a liquid its safe for the sheep in the paddock.
3. Spraying the house.
While its not a solution – it does actually kill the flies – so its about time to get the outside of the house sprayed. It can last upto a couple of years inside the house, but on the outside, rain and UV light affects the way the spray works, so it needs to be done more often. I’m not using the guy advertising Rodent Killing on principle!
4. Blocking holes in the attic
Because we have cleared out most of the dead flies, we can now see where they seem to be coming in. So we are also looking at getting some large cans of expanding polyurethane foam to block those gaps. I don’t think it will cure the problem, because to do that you really do need to make the are airtight – which is a problem. But I guess as part of a multi pronged attack it cant hurt.
5. Aromatherapy.
Ok – here I’m going out on a limb and having an experiment. Since no one else is going to try and come up with a permanent solution other than we keep spraying insecticides in our homes that don’t work anyway. Of the main issues with cluster flies is that they secrete a pheromone which attracts other cluster flies. Thats why you have to keep hoovering the dead flies up.
So I thought – why don’t we try and mask the pheromones?
Worth a try I figured – as we are losing anyway. So I’ve made a mix of equal parts Lavender, Eucalyptus, Lemongrass, Citronella and Peppermint, then Ive just sprinkled drops all over the attic, and soaked some rags in a mix of the oil diluted with water, and put those in jars spaced round the attic.
The house smells very fresh now.
Like what Avalon has to say?
Click Here to buy Avalon's Guide or Click Here to buy the E-Book
Related posts:
Comments
4 Comments on Seriously though: Attack of the mutant killer cluster flies.
-
Domestic Executive on
Mon, 13th Sep 2010 7:01 am
-
Avalon on
Mon, 13th Sep 2010 1:45 pm
-
Deborah on
Mon, 13th Sep 2010 2:07 pm
-
Avalon on
Mon, 13th Sep 2010 3:25 pm
Sounds like a nightmare. We have an invasion of flies each year so I’m just about to order fly curtains for the doors to avoid it this summer. That is of course if we have a summer 
)
We use one of those automatic sprays which works but I hate cleaning up the corpses and the muck on the windows as they beat the heck out of themselves trying to escape.
We have used Magic Seal fly screens to cover our windows with. (The do a screen for doors but we haven’t done that yet). I’m really quite impressed with them to be honest – so its worth a look.
http://www.magicseal.com/
They won’t necessarily keep out Cluster Flies (they can basically crawl though the smallest gaps and will get in via other means, but they work brilliantly at keeping normal flies out.
we have actually added some of these automatic sprayers up in the attic, to “top up” the professional spray. Our preferred sprayer said they have had some success with this in keeping the flies away.
And early indications say the oil mix is working fairly well. You could try soaking some fabric strips in that and laying it round the door frames.
Its all costing a bloody fortune though 
Oh yuk!
Lawngard slow release diazinon prills are available from your rural supplies or hardware store. They should be cheaper there, somewhere like RD1 or Farmlands.
Hope they buzz off soon.
Hey Deb, we tried that – bought the biggest one we could get (from RD1 I think)- still hugely more expensive to cover the whole area than the spray – and apparently if you use the prills – you need to take livestock off the land whereas with the liquid spray you dont.
The insulation situation is looking up though 
Forman Building systems are the stockists for this Kingspan stuff, and they are sending me some samples, data sheets and prices And apparently its 2x the insulating power of pink batts as well.
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Avalon’s Guide On Facebook
-
