Flies On My Shrubs

[r-englefield]

I have noticed loads of greenbottle flies on a couple of my shrubs. My daughter had the same problem last year with swarms of them on just one plant, she had to dig it out in the end, any ideas as to why and how to remedy the problem will be much appreciated. Many thanks.

[Old_Geezer]

Does the plant smell of fertilizer ?

Maybe there was a green-bottle clutch of eggs laid nearby and this is where the hatched flies end up ?

You could try moving a few spiders over to it.

[Chipchopper]

Do you know the name of the shrub ?, this may help explain the greenbottle flies.
Some plants and shrubs can attract flies as well as bees and wasps, Ivy springs to mind and also Euonymus.
If its not the plant thats attracting them, then maybe there is a dead bird, rodent or some scat nearby.

[r-englefield]

Thanks for your replies. The plants are in pots one is a small spikey palm and the other one is an euonymus, I will have a good look in the soil thank you.

[jomifl]

Flies gotta hang out somewhere are you trying to encourag them into the house?

[Chipchopper]

Euonymus, thats just confirmed my suspicions!
You might want to try to make a simple fly trap by cutting the top off an empty fizzy drink or water bottle and place it under the shrub during the day.

Remove the bottle cap and with a heavy duty pair of scissors cut the top of the bottle off about 1/3 of the way from the top (like a funnel shape). Turn the top part upside-down then tape it into position.
Now you need something that smells rank to humans but good to flies, ie rotten meat/fish, you can experiment but cider vinegar should work ok.
basicly the fles are lured by the smell and go down though the bottle neck, can't get out and end up drowning in the liquid. you don't need much liquid, just an inch or so in the bottom and this way, if it gets knocked over it should'nt spill.
Theres about 101 demos on youtube on how to construct these cheap traps.
Good luck

[jomifl]

err...why?

[Old_Geezer]

Because r-englefield considers the flies a problem ?

Maybe Euonymus does too.