Every Southerner knows that summertime means unwanted house guests in the form of flies.
A popular TikTok user by the name of DaddyBrownn (@daddybrownn) shared a home remedy in May that is now viral, with 1.7 million views.
“If you have flies in your house, make sure you watch this video—we’re going to try something,” DaddyBrownn starts the video.
Shampoo and apple cider vinegar
DaddyBrownn, who has over 100,000 followers, says he will occasionally see flies or fruit flies in his house and that he’s tried different home remedies to removing them. But the one he employs in the video is one he’s never tried before. “But I saw this new one, so we’re going to try it together to see how this works,” he says. Anyone trying this out at home will need a quarter or half measuring cup, vegetable oil, shampoo, and apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.
“So all you do is take a quarter cup or half cup of each and put it into a bowl,” DaddyBrownn says, demonstrating the experiment.
“Ew, it stinks,” he exclaims. After he finishes mixing, DaddyBrownn says he will check the bowls in a few hours to see if the formula is working. It only takes a few minutes, however, for DaddyBrownn to get his first catch. “I just want to show you, it’s literally been like three minutes, and there’s already one in there,” he says. “You guys gotta try it.”
This isn’t the only pest control home remedy that DaddyBrownn has up his sleeve, either.
Sugar and water
This isn’t DaddyBrownn’s first rodeo when it comes to homemade fly traps.
In April, he went viral for a sugar and water solution that is intended to attract flies to a location outside of your house. All you have to do, according to DaddyBrownn, is mix up a solution that is two parts water and one part sugar. Mix that up in a bowl and you’re ready to catch flies.
“So the sugar that you just put in there is going to be what attracts them, and then once they land in the water, they won’t be able to take back off, and they’re going to die in there,” he says. “That should prevent them from even coming in there in the first place.”
Bubbles
Flies ain’t the only thing out flying around in the summer, though. That’s why DaddyBrownn also has a mosquito repellant trick. In this case, the trick takes just one single ingredient: Bubbles. “This one was discovered unintentionally, but it was too cool, I had to share it. So, here it is. Y’all, the secret to killing mosquitos is … bubbles,” he says. DaddyBrownn discovered this trick after putting bubbles outside for his daughter to play with. “Within like 10 minutes there’s one, two, three, four, five, six, … six mosquitos in it,” he says. Since mosquitos are naturally attracted to water and the bubble solution is unscented, it may be the perfect backyard trap.
Plants
In another more recent video, posted on Sunday, DaddyBrownn shares which plants you should plant to keep mosquitos, flies, and spiders away. He names lavender, marigold, rosemary, petunia, sage, lemongrass, eucalyptus, floss flower, and catnip as options.
He says these plants will “naturally repel” mosquitos, flies, and spiders.
“You can either buy these as seeds right now and start them for next year, or if you go to like Lowe’s, or Home Depot, Walmart, somewhere like that—they probably have them already grown, and you can just set them outside. You can plant them in the ground. … You can set them outside on your apartment.”
He then shares which plants you should avoid unless you want to attract critters.
“[Avoid] Mostly bright colored flowers that have pollen in them. Wildflowers attract bees. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water. So any plant that holds waters,” he says.
Coffee grounds
This coffee ground hack to getting rid of mosquitos doesn’t come from DaddyBrownn, but he would certainly appreciate the methodology. TikTok user Ceith Griffith shared the hack, which involves coffee and a lighter. Griffith swears by this trick. “This is gonna get rid of every mosquito within 15 feet,” he says. It works because ground coffee masks the scents that attract mosquitoes to your location. Griffith uses Folgers, but you can use whatever you’ve got on-hand at home.
In the comments of the shampoo and apple cider video, users expressed disdain for flies and speculated about why the trick might work better than others.
“Idk why but these flies nowadays are super bold and fly right near your hand when you’re eating and keep coming super close,” wrote one user.
A second user wrote, “The oil traps them, the shampoo kills them and the vinegar attracts them.”
Another person said, “In Florida I let a wild gecko live in my house he did pretty good, I wish I had a gecko here in West Texas.”
The Daily Dot reached out to DaddyBrownn via TikTok direct message for comment.
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