Why Is My Hedge Full Of Flies? – 5 Causes

Categories:

A common housefly perched delicately on a shiny green leaf of a hedge, possibly indicating an infestation issue.

Flies can be a nuisance if they keep feasting on your garden produce and sticking to your hedge. They reduce plant growth and deteriorate the plant’s health and will cause your plants to have stunted growth, loss of vigor, wilt, and discolored leaves.

Let’s see what makes our hedges full of fruit flies and what we can do about this!

1. Dead Plant Materials

Dead plant material can easily attract flies to the hedge. This is because there might also be an open part in your plant that the flies can easily feast on or enjoy licking.

How To Solve This

Always maintain the area near your hedge or plants. Reduce the amount of mulch or manure you use on your plants in the garden and hedge. Whenever you notice infested dead parts of plants, remove them and dispose of them immediately.

Don’t use the removed plant materials as compost, as they can easily spread pests and diseases. Make your hedge as unappealing to flies as possible.

2. Manure And Decayed Matter

Many species of flies breed in decaying vegetation, compost heaps, and manure. If they infest your vegetation, you can be sure their number will continue to increase if you don’t take precautions. However, some tend to be beneficial.

How To Solve This

Always check for possible breeding sites in the area to help reduce their numbers. Moreover, spray exterior walls and surfaces to ensure you get rid of unwanted insects. It is essential to clear all the drains or stagnant water that may be anywhere in your compound.

Take good care of your compost heap to prevent it from breeding flies. If it does, be assured that it isn’t healthy compost.

3. Some Kind of Attraction

Some attractions can also cause the flies to hover around the area. For example, your trash cans should be a bit farther to ensure it doesn’t attract flies in your hedges. Put it further away and ensure anything that attracts them is taken far away.

How To Solve This

You can spray the hedge with soapy water for a while to ensure the flies’ getaway. Also, increase predatory insects in the garden. This will help prey on the flies and make them go away and reduce their number.

For example, lacewings, ladybugs, and pirate bugs can help solve this problem. This is safe for both the flies and the plants and may also increase their benefit.

4. Abandoned Nest

It may also occur that there is an abandoned nest. A bird may have lay eggs, and not all of them had hatched, and one was left rotting. Try and dispose of that to ensure it doesn’t easily attract flies. You can spot this by seeing where the flies mostly gather.

How To Solve This

For this, you need to keep the area clean and ensure that these flies don’t come around. Also, mow your lawn more often and rake under the hedge to ensure it is clean all through. Regularly remove any plant matter, dead flowers, sticks, and leaves that fall off the plants. You can also decide to make fly traps and use them to control flies in the area.

If you have pets and they leave their waste all over, this may attract flies so easily. Ensure you clean the waste as soon as possible.

5. Flowers In The Hedges

If there is any sort of flower in the hedges, this may be a key attraction for flies. This is because flies will easily want to explore that area and see the benefits they can get there.

How To Solve This

If any flowers are about to bloom, get rid of them before they attract too many flies. If too many flies come, be assured that it will be disastrous for your hedge.

However, if this doesn’t work and they still get attracted, the last option should be to get rid of the hedge.

How to Keep Flies Out of My Garden

Trying to keep flies out of your garden might be difficult. The little insects feed on plants, wreaking havoc on their health. Flies can be controlled via biological, cultural, and/or chemical methods.

Using biological methods to control flies in a garden necessitates raising the predatory insects in the garden. Those beneficial insects naturally prey on flies, lowering the pest population. Also, if you find spots on plants that are infested, damaged, sick, or dead, take them off and throw them away as soon as possible. Never compost plant debris that has been removed since it can transmit bugs.

When all other means of fly control have failed, a pesticide should be applied. If you must use an insecticide, select the least hazardous choice, such as neem oil or insecticidal soap.

Conclusion

Remember to always check the vegetation near your house and get rid of the ones that are a nuisance. Take all the necessary measures to ensure you live comfortably by maintaining the cleanliness of the highest order once the infestation is rampant. Flies can be distractive and make you uncomfortable. The use of insecticides should be the last option you opt for. This is because it can be harmful to both you and the plants. This should only happen if the case you are handling is severe.

You can also use a homemade spray soap that will go a long way in ensuring the flies go away from there.

Read More

Related Articles

4 Benefits of Organic Top Soil and Ways to Choose the Right Top Soil

In this blog, we will explore the subject of organic top soil, how it is made and how it can benefit your garden and...

Liquid Fertilizer That Will Liven Up Your Lawn

What's the difference between liquid and granular lawn fertilizers? Let’s introduce you to the world of liquid and granular fertilizers for your lawn. We will...