Never heard of the mint and basil theory, sorry. Good luck with that. Perhaps the usual insect repelling oils would be effective...lemongrass, eucalyptus, citronella, etc. There are many herb based organic repellents on the market these days.

You sort of skirted around the real issue, which is finding and eliminating the breeding areas for the flies. Their needs are pretty specific....raw garbage, uncooked compost, fresh manures including pet poop, good stuff like that.

The second issue is that flies are filthy little creatures, leaving their little poopy footprints all over our counters, tables, food, and anywhere else they want to go. It's a health issue for you and your family.

1. Why are the flies there? The adult flies come from maggots (the larva of flies) and those feed mostly on dead and decaying materials that are fairly wet.

2. Eliminate, if possible, the places the maggots are growing. That can reduce the number of adult flies.

3. Adult flies, generally, live for about 30 days. Some feed during that time others do not. All walk around on sources of potential disease pathogens that can be transferred to us. Trapping them is a good idea, spraying poisons around may also kill off beneficial insects. Spraying poisons to kill the adults only addresses half of the problem.

kimmq is kimmsr

There are a variety of fly traps out there, but finding out what is attracting them to your house/yard in particular will help eliminate them. Or you could always get a Bug-A-Salt gun...

Why on earth would anyone want to spray their yard with table salt.

kimmq is kimmsr