Flies on balcony, can plants be the cause?

ProudDUB

Hope this is the right place to post this. Mods, please move it if it is not.

I live on a third floor apartment overlooking a body of water. Last week I found a dead pigeon on my balcony. I have no idea how long it was there as it was hidden behind a planter. I got rid of it and poured some Domestos bleach on the ground where it was laying.

Ever since then, I have had a really bad fly problem on my balcony. They are common house flies, the kind you'd see around bins. There is nothing on the inside that could be attracting them. There are no maggots (that I can see) where the dead bird used to be. But should I have treated the area with something stronger than bleach, and if so what?

I am doing nothing different out there. Even though I live over water, I have never had a problem with bugs or insects. I can normally leave my patio doors open and the odd moth might fly in at night, but that's about it. Not the case now ! I bought a few scented herbs at Bloom last week, a pineapple sage, lemongrass & chocolate mint. Other than that, there is nothing new going on out there that could be causing this.

Does anyone have any idea of what could be causing them to show up all of a sudden, and what I can do to get rid of them? Is it dead bird related? Could it be the plants? I really don't want to get rid of them, as they are just gorgeous. I just sprayed about half a can of RAID flying insect spray and have about 12 fly corpses on the ground. I really don't want to have to be doing that every 30 mins, so any ideas for a more permanent solution would be very much appreciated.

yoyo

ProudDUB wrote: »

I live on a third floor apartment overlooking a body of water. Last week I found a dead pigeon on my balcony. I have no idea how long it was there as it was hidden behind a planter. I got rid of it and poured some Domestos bleach on the ground where it was laying.

Ever since then, I have had a really bad fly problem on my balcony. They are common house flies, the kind you'd see around bins. There is nothing on the inside that could be attracting them. There are no maggots (that I can see) where the dead bird used to be. But should I have treated the area with something stronger than bleach, and if so what?

I am doing nothing different out there. Even though I live over water, I have never had a problem with bugs or insects. I can normally leave my patio doors open and the odd moth might fly in at night, but that's about it. Not the case now ! I bought a few scented herbs at Bloom last week, a pineapple sage, lemongrass & chocolate mint. Other than that, there is nothing new going on out there that could be causing this.

Does anyone have any idea of what could be causing them to show up all of a sudden, and what I can do to get rid of them? Could it be the plants? I really don't want to get rid of them, as they are just gorgeous. I just sprayed about half a can of RAID flying insect spray and have about 12 fly corpses on the ground. I really don't want to have to be doing that every 30 mins, so any ideas for a more permanent solution would be appreciated.

Is there any cracks in the wall/balcony area where they could be breeding? I had a similar problem with Moths, Raid will kill the flies but not the maggots/eggs/larvea whatever. You can get insectisides which do this in DIY shops, just ask for one that works out doors.
Also check all around the plant pots for any sign of fly activity, however I don't think flies could live off plants, they need rotting meat or vegitables/sugar stuff I think to breed fully, make sure they are not coming up from a lower balcony too (if people are leaving rubbish bins out on a balcony below/above then this will attract them)

Nick

Qualitymark

Look for another dead pigeon.

Xantia

Are you leaving any food out there for cats/dogs/birds?

Lately I have a lot of flies around cat food out in the back.

ProudDUB

Thanks for all the replies folks.

Xantia, no, there is no cat, dog or bird food outside.

QualityMark, I did that. I am 100% sure there are no more dead birds (or anything else) out there.

Yoyo, my neighbours are not doing anything that could be causing this. I can see their balconies. I can not see anything being stored out there that could be causing this. The flies are all over the place...on the walls, on the roof part, on the railings. They are not gathering in one specific spot (where there maybe larvae) that would indicate where the source of the problem is. It really is baffling.

I am moving out in August, so I am not really into doing anything all that labour intensive or expensive. My apt gets full sun all day, so it can get very warm. I just want to be able to open the patio doors to let a breeze in without a swarm of these little shaggers coming in too. :mad:

muckyhands

I would just get some netting, (like mosquito netting or something) to put in front of patio doors, so they cant fly into the apartment, but doors can be left open. Will stop moths at night too.

Qualitymark

You might try scrubbing down the balcony with biological detergent; I'd also change the soil the plants are in.