Flies can be a proper nuisance, whether they swarm around you while you’re eating dinner or land on the TV screen. However, if you want to avoid using chemical products to get rid of any pests, you can look toward your store cupboard for an answer.
To help keep unwanted and annoying flies at bay while keeping your windows fully open during the summer season, there’s a particular herb which can do the job. AS.com described bay leaves as a “sure-fire” natural method to use in place of chemical products. This is what you need to do.
To prevent flies from swarming inside the house, place the bay leaves in key spots such as behind doors, windows, and even in kitchen cupboards. AS explained to help bolster the herb’s effectiveness, crush the dried leaves or boil a few in water, then use the infused liquid as a spray for hard-to-reach spots.
Bay leaves are a good natural insect repellent thanks to their essential oils content. Bay contains the likes of eucalyptol, which has insect-repellent properties.
It also contains essential oils like cineole and eugenol, which when released into the air, produce a strong scent that’s pleasant to people but highly off-putting to insects.
AS explained that flies rely greatly on their sense of smell to navigate, and therefore tend to steer clear of areas where bay leaves are present. Placing bay leaves around your home offer a “practical, non-intrusive solution and are an increasingly popular alternative to chemical repellant such as chemical sprays”.
According to Seep, the strong bitter aroma of bay leaves is often effective in deterring various insects, including flies and cockroaches. You should make sure you have the right type of bay leaves, ensuring the herb still has a strong fragrance before putting them in the cupboard.
Bay leaves can also help deter pests found in the pantry such as weevils and moths. This is due to the leaves’ strong, aromatic compounds, which are unpleasant to insects.
A 2006 study looked at how effective various essential oils were as pest repellents, finding that they can also repel insects such as cockroaches and mosquitoes. Although the research on bay leaves is limited, the study found that eucalyptus, basil and anise were the best deterrents.