A cleaning fan has shared a simple four-ingredient natural solution to keep flies away from homes this summer. The method uses lemon, rosemary, cloves, and lemongrass essential oil, and requires no chemical products.
How to make the fly repellent
Fill a saucepan about halfway with water. Slice one lemon and add it to the pan, along with 10 to 20 cloves, one to two sprigs of rosemary, and 10 to 20 drops of lemongrass essential oil. Heat the saucepan on the hob until the water begins to simmer. Once bubbling and steaming, leave the solution to simmer for a couple of hours, allowing the scent to waft through the air.
Anna Louisa, a cleaning fan and TikTok creator known as Anna Louisa at Home, shared the hack in a recent video. She explained that you can top up the water in the pot as needed. For extended use, she advised refreshing the water and ingredients every couple of days, as the scent will start to fade.
Why the ingredients work
Lemon works as a natural fly repellent because flies have an aversion to citrus. The strong, pungent aroma of citrus oils like limonene is unpleasant to them. Lemongrass works similarly, with its strong citrus scent and active compounds like citral and citronella disrupting flies' chemical receptors and masking pheromone trails.
Rosemary repels flies due to its strong woody odour, containing aromatic essential oils such as camphor, eucalyptol, and cineole that overwhelm sensory receptors. Cloves contain eugenol, a potent compound with a strong, pungent aroma that disrupts scent trails and acts as a natural repellent.
Additional tips and precautions
This solution can be turned into a spray for use in other rooms. Simply add the DIY repellent to a spray bottle and apply it to entry points like doorframes and windowsills, or anywhere flies congregate.
Anna Louisa also shared other fly deterrent tips, including sprinkling cinnamon around bin bases and lids, placing cloves in half a lemon in fruit bowls, and putting mint near open windows. However, caution is advised when creating homemade repellents, as using the wrong ingredients could attract flies instead.
