Outdoor occasions, when planned well, are very beautiful experiences. They are more exciting when the weather is warm, and the environment is purely natural with birds singing from the trees. The freedom of movement and cooking is also great with all the fresh air, unlike in making meals in a contained room.
The open space also comes with other challenges that include bugs and flies that arrive uninvited. These insects can cause disturbance to guests when relaxing or trying to eat. Some flies are attracted by the aroma of barbeque, fruit drinks, and sugars. Pests that give event outdoor organizers a hard time include houseflies, fruit flies, flesh flies, ants, among others.
What brings flies?
Flies are usually attracted to light, heat, wastes, trash, and garbage or open places with uncovered food. Food and drink spillage during the event will also attract flies in their venture to look for food. Some species of ants love feeding on fatty and sugary foods like meat and can sense the presence of these foods on the ground. Within a few hours, you will find them crawling towards the eating area and can bite when distracted. Open grounds that are accessible by pets and other animals are also exposed to droppings that will attract flies within the area. The presence and the scent of food and drinks alone, whether cooked or raw, is enough to bring the uninvited guests.
During the cold season, flies would enter homes to find a warmer place. If you were to hold an outdoor event during this time, you would notice the atmosphere will be almost free of flies. However, a warm and humid environment during the day creates conducive conditions for houseflies. It is the best weather to hold a barbeque, picnic, birthday, and wedding events. Likewise, it is the kind of weather they need to breed faster and complete their life cycle. Hence, coincidentally, the flies will be enjoying the warm weather as your guest but causing a nuisance.
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Dangers of flies
The presence of flies at your beautiful event is very disgusting in the first place. Your guests might get the impression that your event is short of hygiene standards, or there is some foul smell somewhere. Flies and other flying insects can really mess up things on your party by dropping on the tables, on food, and even drowning in drinks. They make people uneasy and always trying to scare them away. This can make guests lose appetite for fear of getting infected with a disease.
By the time flies come to your garden, they will have contacted several other places, people, and animals. Hence if you thought their presence at the party would only cause physical menace, then you are wrong. Their movement makes them good carriers of many contagious diseases that affect the digestive system, eyes, skin, and other organs. Their method of spreading is very easy and painless as they don’t bite. Instead, they pick up disease-causing organisms and drop them when they crawl on foodstuff and your skin. What an embarrassment it will be when every guest from your event complains of a stomach disorder the next day!
How to control flies at your party
outdoor events are more likely to be invaded by flies without notice due to a lack of adequate enclosure. However, when planning to host a garden event with foods and drinks, you should be ready to deal with flies’ infestation. The more knowledgeable you are about flies and their behavior, the easier it is to get rid of them. There are easy remedies that can be applied to reduce the chances of flies and other insects from coming to the event. Read more.
1.Clear vegetation
When organizing for an outdoor event, the ground becomes your venue. Pay attention to the lawn, the flowers to the surrounding trees and bushes. Ensure the garden is well mowed to keep the grass short and to disperse any insects hiding below. The flowers should be neatly weeded and spaced to prevent flies and mosquitoes from hiding, ready to attack. If there are fruit trees, collect any decaying fruits that might have fallen on the ground.
2.Sweep clean the garden
If the ground is a public garden for holding events, walk through the entire field, collecting any leftovers from the previous event. Pick any tins and garbage that might be harboring ants and flies. Also, clean up dropping from pets that take a walk in the garden. To be on the safer side, you may opt to disinfect the lawns by spraying with a safe pesticide. It will assist in chasing away pests like mosquitoes and ants besides clearing any foul smell.
3.Cover foods and drinks
During the event, keep all foodstuffs and beverages covered with appropriate materials. Flies love sugary things like wine, cakes, sodas, and the rest. Keep then enclosed and only serve the necessary portions when needed. You may consider using cups with lids and wipe off any spills on the table immediately. Also, provide garbage cans for your guests and waiters to drop any food remains and trash collected from the stands, ground, and barbeque area.
4.Use repellants
Dress the ground tables with human-friendly fly repellants to chase away any flies that attempt to come to the setup tables. Incorporate some bouquet of natural flowers and herbs such as rosemary, mint, and lemongrass that assist in chasing flowers while smelling great as well.
Final Talk
partying and having events outdoors is one of the best experiences during summer. However, without the walls and windows to contain the flies, they can be a real headache. The buzzing around and landing on food and your face and skin is the most annoying thing. More so, their habit of flying from one point to another poses a health risk to your guests. It’s there important to keep them away for you to enjoy your day.
