Homemade Fly Spray With Essential Oils

As the temperatures rise, flies – our old nemesis – begin to emerge and pester us and our horses.

This easy homemade fly spray is a quick and cheaper alternative to the store-bought brands you can find.

All About Flies

There are over 1,000,000 different species of fly, including the more common housefly, horse-fly, hoverfly and fruit fly.

To understand how to best fight flies, we need to learn more about their lifecycle.

Female flies can lay anywhere from 75-150 eggs in a single batch.

Fly eggs are laid on the food source for the larvae, so that when the egg hatches, the food is readily available and the larvae has a better chance of survival.

Depending on the temperature, eggs can hatch 12-24 hours after they are laid.

Once the egg hatches, the larvae will feed for approximately five days before becoming a pupa.

Once the fly emerges from the pupal stage, they can live anywhere from 15 days to 3 weeks.

How to Make Homemade Fly Spray

This recipe is super simple and makes a big batch at a time. I have these lovely glass spray bottles that I use.

To make this spray, combine:

• 4 cups Apple cider vinegar
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp MTG
• 2 Tbsp Dawn dish soap
• 20 drops peppermint essential oil
• 20 drops lavender essential oil
• 20 drops rosemary essential oil

I use Rocky Mountain Oil for my essential oils, because they’re not an MLM and they offer the results to each essential oil’s gas chromatography mass spectrometry results. This verifies that you’re getting 100% pure essential oils, not adulterated.

For more info, check them out here: Rocky Mountain Oils.

Then, using a funnel like this one: Foodgrade Stainless Steel Funnel, add the fly spray to your spray bottles.

Other Options For Flies

This homemade fly spray is a great solution for every day use, but what other options do we have?

For more of a long-term solution, take a look at Fly Predators.

These parasitic insects burrow into the pupae of the most common fly species and eat them before they can hatch into flies.

During the warmer months, release a new batch of fly predators monthly to severely reduce the fly population.

Fly masks and fly boots can help protect a horse in the field so that they can graze comfortably.

Fly sheets are another great option if your horse is bothered by horseflies or very sensitive to other flies.

As the weather warms up, we get to spend more and more time with our horses. However, so do the flies.

This homemade fly spray, and other options, can help us enjoy our time with them all the more.