The old Zip Lock Bag with water trick to keep flies away....Who would think....

[DPBOB]

Zip Lock Bag for Fly Problem

This off the Internet.........

We went with some out of town friends to Sweety Pies on Sunday for breakfast, and we sat in the enclosed patio section beside the house. We happened to notice a couple of zip lock baggies pinned to a post and a wall. The bags were half filled with water, each contained 4 pennies, and they were zipped shut. Naturally we were curious!
Ms Sweety told us that these baggies kept the flies away! So naturally we were even more curious! We actually watched some flies come in the open window, stand around on the window sill, and then fly out again. And there were no flies in the eating area! This morning I checked this out on Goggle. Below are comments on this fly control idea. I'm now a believer!
Zip-lock water bags

Sue says:
Many people swear that a zip-lock bag filled half-way with water and attached over entry-ways will repel flies. No one yet knows how or why it works, but there is speculation that it has something to do with the way the moving water refracts light.
If you have tried this please use the comments form at the bottom of the page to share your results with the rest of us.

Ann Says:
October 5th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I did tried the ziplock bag and pennies this weekend. I have a horse trailer with full LQ. The flys were very bad this weekend while I was camping. I put the baggie with pennies above the door of the LQ. NOT ONE FLY came in the trailer. The horse trailer parthad many. Not sure why it works but it does!!!!!!!

Danielle Martin Says:
September 20th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Fill a ziplock bag with water and 5 or 6 pennies and hang it in the problem area. In my case it was a particular window in my home. It had a slight but significant passage way for insects. Every since I have done that, it has kept flies and wasps away. Some say, that wasps and flies mistake the bag for some sort of other insect nest and are threatened by this.

Maggie Says:
June 7th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I swear by the plastic bag of water trick I have them on side porch ( our house entry) and all around the basement door. We saw these in Northeast Mo at an Amish grocery store & have used them since. They say it works because a fly sees a reflection & won't come around.

Just DJ Says:
May 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Regarding the science behind zip log bags of water? My research found that each of the millions of molecules of water presents its own prism effect and given that flies have a lot of eyes, to them it's like a zillion disco balls reflecting light, colors and movement in a dizzying manner. When you figure that flies are basically prey for many other bugs, animals, birds, etc., they simply won't take the risk of being around that much perceived action. I moved to a rural area and thought these "hillbillies" were just yanking my city boy chain but I tried it, worked immediately! We went from hundreds of flies to seeing the occasional one, but he don't hang around long.

[Lowbatts]

Hey Bob, having done a lot of water work and finding all manner of carcass in water, along with all manner of one cent coins in all manner of water, well, water and mem cents do not repel flies.

Maybe these people got some magic baggies, but then again living behind a schoolyard and picking up scores of baggies with bits o' food and flies in them, can't be the baggies.

Maybe where these folks live the flies are smart and just find it too strange that people are nailing water-filled baggies with mem cents in them to stick around.

[diggummup]

The jury is still out as to whether it actually works- http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/flies.asp interesting nonetheless, i've never heard this one before.

[BuckleBoy]

My father did this to keep the bees away from the back deck. It has worked, and the bees are not a problem this year.

[thrillathahunt]

Does it work with corroded zinc pennies?

Seriously though, the pennies probably need to be shiny to reflect light right?

[CWnut]

ive seen this done before...never had enough of a fly problem to try it myself. Heck, i use kerosene to treat cuts with...so ,why not, if it works... it works

[twistidd]

As a scientist, I am somewhat puzzled by the fly-repelling properties of a simple zip-lock bag filled with water and pennies. To me, the concept that the light refracted off of the water and pennies confusing flies and wasps is a bit unscientific and flawed. I'll bet that if one were to place a nice rotting steak under a hundred baggies of water and pennies, the flies wouldn't give a damn. Though there are a lot of positive assessments of this method, I have to wonder just how many are really accurate. This thread kind of reminds me of the idea of dousing- the ability to find whatever you want to find underground- by holding a stick in front of you and waiting for the dip. Many swear by it, but until there is a grounded explanation for this, I don't believe it.

But what do I know. Maybe I should try it and prove myself wrong!

Joe

[kimsdad]

Hey Bob, see if it works with Chuck E Cheese tokens!

[Lowbatts]

"This thread kind of reminds me of the idea of dousing"
Hey Joe, "dousing" only works for those who want to get soaked.

I am thinking of marketing a pre-packaged fly repellant kit all of a sudden. Just add water. Want in? Lord knows we got the mems, and I got a school-year's worth of baggies coming soon.

[litefire56]

I saw this for the first time a couple weeks ago at the in-laws place. Couldn't help but ask what the heck the water bags were doing hanging over the entry door from the garage to the house. Also had pennies in it too. Apparently they swear by it that it works, but only if the pennies are included.

[Monty]

Biting flies try to eat me when I am working in my garage with the doors open in the summer time. I'd like to try it. Where do you hang them? Inside , outside the doors? Over the doors or just on the wall by the doors? Someone tell me and I'll report back. Stranger things have worked. I have a friend who has arthritis in his elbows real bad. He got a couple of copper bracelets and swears it don't hurt anymore! Monty

[p2c]

I too am skeptical. This sounds anecdotal at best. You would need to set up a controlled scientific experiment. This would not prove it, rather it would disprove or not disprove it. If there were enough controlled results that seemed to confirm the baggie thing, then you would need to find a theory to explain why and then try to recreate. I am not really sure how much refraction of light in water really would affect a fly. Water has a light index of 1.33. Air close to 1. Glass ranges from typically 1.4 to 1.7. The question stands why doesn't glass repel flies? Oh, it does when you keep the windows shut.

I would say If you want to try it Bob, rig a bag of water with a headband and rod (along with CC tokens) next time you go hunting. See if it keeps the bugs away.

[twistidd]

I too am skeptical. This sounds anecdotal at best. You would need to set up a controlled scientific experiment. This would not prove it, rather it would disprove or not disprove it. If there were enough controlled results that seemed to confirm the baggie thing, then you would need to find a theory to explain why and then try to recreate. I am not really sure how much refraction of light in water really would affect a fly. Water has a light index of 1.33. Air close to 1. Glass ranges from typically 1.4 to 1.7. The question stands why doesn't glass repel flies? Oh, it does when you keep the windows shut.

I would say If you want to try it Bob, rig a bag of water with a headband and rod (along with CC tokens) next time you go hunting. See if it keeps the bugs away.

[Mayo South Elgin]

Maybe it's not the baggie, or the water, or the pennies.
Maybe it's the nails or tacks or tape!
Could it be microscopic lettering on the baggies that says "Flies not allowed" ?
Or maybe it's just a person's belief that this device will cause the flies to go someplace else.

I wonder if this baggie trick will work on the bumblebees that are nesting under my deck...

[Monty]

Hey Mayo, hang a bag of water and pennies up on your deck and then reach back under there with a hoe and stir them up and see what happens! Have plenty of Benadryl and soda handy.
M nty