Fly Paper Ingredients

One suspects that the manufacturers of <...fly paper...> have a few trade secrets that are needed to protect their businesses.

Honey and/or corn syrup...

I tried it,not sticky enough.They just fly off licking their lips with a smile on their face.

I tried all of the home made recipes for fly paper,none work very well.

I want to coat a large area,like a sheet of plywood.

I have a severe deer fly problem since I live in the woods.

I used to shoot them with my 22 but that just wounded them and made them mad,and I ran out of shells for my 12 gauge.

I am so far back in the sticks I have to ride a pregnant mare to the mail box just so I'll have something to ride back home.

I always figured it was molasses. They're so cheap I never thought to make my own.

For something as big as a deer fly, you need something as sticky as tanglefoot.

According to this, your trap should be blue and moving, for best results.

http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/pestalert/deerfly.htm

Internet says this about Tanglefoot: " The paste is made with all natural ingredients: gum, resins, vegetable oil and wax. It is non-drying, sticky and has a caramel color."

I would try cooking up some wax and oil for starters, try adding resins from your local trees if something more is needed.... Sugar isn't necessary, they are blood feeders after all. Color is key to attracting different flies/insects in many cases.

More diy examples of moving traps here: https://www.instructables.com/id/Deer-Fly-Traps/ The one with the garbage bag hanging below actually looks a bit like a human shape..

This guy has some ideas...

https://www.instructables.com/id/Deer-Fly-Traps/

It's black and white and read all over.

I think some sort of insecticide is used as well.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=uMH4XIO0K4f2tAWn67vYDA&q=making+bird+lime+&oq=making+bird+lime+&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i22i30.27538.36289..38066...0.0..0.203.2024.0j13j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j33i21j33i160j33i22i29i30.auVZzXdf_eM

I always think fly paper seems cruel as the flies must remain 'stuck' until they finally expire. Surely it would be more humane and better for the environment to kill them instantly with an electrocution device. At least death is instantaneous that way - and there is no fly paper to create waste.

Incidentally, while we all hate flies (and mosquitoes) there is a great need for them in nature, helping to pollinate plants and as a food chain element for higher lifeforms (bats, birds, etc.) so, while I'm in favour of killing these small (and hugely irritating) insects, I believe we should not kill more than necessary.

I'd hate to be stuck by my feet and unable to get away until I finally starved to death.

There are worse ways to die...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVnDJMjNySg

Small insects die quickly on sticky traps for some reason. It seems to compromise the exoskeleton. Even a larger insect, which takes longer to die, doesn't starve to death on a sticky trap. It is over in minutes, not hours.

A bigger problem with insect sticky traps is that they also capture non target organisms - beneficial insects as well as pests. They are only really useful in a closed greenhouse where no beneficials are present. One of the reasons for using a specific color of trap is to avoid non-target effects to the extent possible. Yellow traps and sugary substances would attract everything.

Horse flies and deer flies are a terrible pest. They are large and they target large animals including humans, and they are ferocious biters that go beyond irritating. So having a trap that's designed for them specifically is the best approach. Would a blue zapper be more humane than glue? Not sure. It's possible the right thickness/type of glue would also kill them quickly.

Sticky traps for mice are really inhumane because the glue doesn't kill them and they do struggle until they starve, as you suggested.

Since there is some concern about catching beneficial insects on glue or depriving other creatures of a safe meal, have you considered a different trap? My sister hung garbage bags with water and some attractant she got at the feed store in her barn for horse flies. The flies were still there, but they liked the stuff in the bags better than humans and horses.

Hmmm... who eats em?

"Deer flies natural predators include frogs and toads, spiders, wasps and hornets, dragonflies and some bird species." - Orkin

Predators of the deer fly (and other Tabanidae) include nest-building wasps and hornets, dragonflies, and some birds including the killdeer. - Deer Fly wiki

There are obviously more around my place than the predators can eat,'cause there are plenty eating on me.If you have never been bitten by a deer fly,it is easy to defend them.I do not fear putting a dent in the population of deer flies with a couple of traps,however,my wife is allergic to their bites,and the results are serious.Horse flies are even worse,kinda like a giant version of a deer fly.

I have had the displeasure of being bitten by a horse fly. It doesn't take many to ruin a day in the field. You certainly have my sympathy. Hope the traps work.

When I was growing up on the farm,there were some really HUGE horse flies,bigger than bumblebees,and there was a insect,a hornet of sorts that was called a mule guard or a super bee.It would follow the horse flies around and kill them.I had not seen one of the mule guards in years,then one day I saw one fly into a large garden spider's web.The spider rushed out,and they locked legs around each other.The spider spun a web,and they slowly descended to a lower limb and I could not see all of the action.I saw something fall to the ground;it was a leg.Then another,and another in total,8 legs.Then the spider's head fell.Then I heard the mule guard rev up his engines,and slowly began to rise up to a higher limb.He paused there a moment,as if to get his bearings,then flew off with his field dressed spider belly.I have only seen one since then,and it was deep in the woods while hunting.He hovered in front of me,then went side to side, checking me out,then left,never to be seen again.I don't know what type of a bee or hornet it was,but it was honey colored and larger than any hornet or bee I have ever seen.

Does anyone else remember the "mule guard"?It may be called something else in your area.

I don't know them, but may be this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_guard_wasp

Some actual recipes for sticky glue are given here:

http://whattheladieswantaladiesgrowblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/recipe-to-make-your-own-tangle-foot-to.html

Not too specific about the 'powdered resin'. I am fresh out of terebenthine too. Good luck.

The terrebenthine is turpentine,and I presume the resin in pine resin,since this looks like a very old formula.Thanks for the info.The dog fly problem is becoming rather intense;I can hear them howling at the moon at night.We used to have hawks around here,but the dog flies ate them all.I am thinking of using bear traps.

Turpentine makes sense. You'll want to boil that in the open air, no doubt.

We have a lot of balsam fir here. In July or August on a hot day the blisters swell with resin and I must say it smells amazing. "Snotty var" resin is certainly sticky and it doesn't harden that I know of, so I would use that to try for a tanglefoot diy. To get "en powder" it would have to be set aflame in a tin can as my father used to do, to make rosin for his bow. I believe the same was done with pine. Spruce resin is another story, it is dry and hard on the tree and could be powdered pretty easily. Makes a fair chewing gum in the woods.

Dog flies look nasty too! I don't know them. Blackflies are giving me a workout these days, just running for shelter when they decide it's time to feed. Tiny but swarming, waiting until you have both hands in the dirt, and presiding over garden tools as well as brush piles where you have been, they lurk and hover until they smell you somewhere else. The best trap of all for them is the hat on your head, as they will crawl inside it and then waste their effort trying to get out. Bug hats and bug jackets work the best for that, they always have holes somewhere for the getting in...

If you want something sticky enough, a political bumper sticker might do. I put one on my car as a teenager over half a century ago, and I suspect there is a junkyard somewhere with the sticker still firmly attached to a pile of rust.