I'd definitely be interested in hearing if this has worked for anyone in the past. For whatever reason (something tells me it has to do with our upstairs neighbor), we get occasional house fly parties near our windows... no actual idea of how they're getting in, though!

This is interesting. I have a strand of cloves (like hundreds of them strung together) that my cousin brought back from Istanbul, and it's hanging in my kitchen not far from the back door. I haven't had a problem with flies, but I'm good about keeping the door closed so I'm not sure they'd be getting in anyway.

I haven't used cloves specifically for flies, but I lined the bottom of my kitchen window with whole cloves when I was having an ant problem and it was magical how quickly they disappeared. Now that I think about it, I don't see many flies around my house, either...

Thank you for sharing this tip, will try this method this weekend. We don't have a lot of flies, but some little moth like thingy sometimes. They provide great entertainment to our cat but not so much to the humans in the house :)

Hmm...do they only work for the big black flies? Or for fruit flies as well? Because those little buggers drive me crazy!

Or box elder bugs?

Here´s a tip for fruit flies; a small bowl with some water, a few drops of kitchen detergent and some vinegar. It attracts the little bastards and keep them in the bowl right where you can see them away from your old bananas!

the best trick i learned is (for outdoor bbqs & picnics) decorate the tables or picnic blanket with bowls of lemon wedges & stick whole cloves in the lemons. About 3 cloves per lemon wedge. Flies hate lemons and hate cloves. It works wonders & smells awesome! Did this for my daughter's birthday lake bbq party. Food was out. No flies. Amazed and grateful party guests.

Love it! Have had problems with ants and flies. How did you place it near a door? Hang it in cheesecloth? In an open bowl?

Oh, it absolutely works! We had a very large outdoor picnic and I made pomanders of green apples spiked with cloves for each table and there wasn't a single fly near the pavilion for the entire 6+ hours.

@LITTLE BONBON

I am afraid nothing works for box elder bugs, except getting rid of the trees.

Summer's over, kids...

This is great. Occasionally a fly or two will find its way into my kitchen through the exhaust fan. I'm going to get a string of cloves up near the exhaust to discourage them. Thanks for the tip!

Dear B.Leokt
'Summer is relative. We Texans are just now able to open our doors and windows. Open door and window season here lasts until November or December.

This is great because the flies absolutely love my flowering mints for some reason and attract them so much to my disgust. I will have to try this tonight! Thanks for the tip!

Fantastic! I'll have to try this. I work from home at least 3 out of every 5 days, and when I do, I have the sliding door to the patio wide open for fresh air and to let my cats in and out, so I naturally get a few stubborn flies buzzing about my desk or the kitchen from time to time (and last year, I had a shortlived invasion of flies for a couple days, ugh! really disgusting) ...

Regarding Clove oil...Clove oil, although natural, is known to be toxic in specific amounts. Clove oil may cause soft tissue irritation, which may include:
•A burning sensation in the tissue
•Pain in the area where the oil was placed
•Nerve damage
If ingested in larger quantities, clove oil may cause:
•A sore throat
•Vomiting
•Kidney failure and/or damage to the liver
•Seizures
•Difficulty breathing

I use to have a terrible issue with very large black ants in my kitchen. Each spring we'd get over run with them. I finally put whole cloves in all cupboards and threw some behind the oven. I haven't had an ant in two years!