Is it super hot?

80s.

Well, that doesn't sound hot enough to kell them/ Is there an abatement program?

Higher power exhaust fan than what your mom had?

I will take a guess. I don’t know your location, but in New England, I don’t notic any black flies trying to sneak in until cooler weather comes around. Maybe when your mom cooked, it was in October.

Do flies like cabbage?

This is an interesting thread. My grandmother cooked cabbage all the time and I don't remember flies lol.

:)

Dee

OP, that is likely to not have a universal truth to it, about the flies and the cabbage. More likely to be based on an anecdotal experience.

But it is true and you are right that there are changes in the numbers and behavoir of different insects. It has been noted that there are fewer fire flies nowadays. I saw that happen over the last few years. The fire flies in my backyard used to light up the yard, in season. Now, there are but few flickers. I can see the whole area from my bed by the opened window every night.

Could it be just my experinece, in this area, and not a wider occurance? Yes, it could be. However, my observation is not unique and there have been others elsewhere who have noted the same.

There could be any number of factors as to why the flies dont congregate on the window where you live.

The thing I notice is car windshields. When I was a kid the windshield would be covered with the remnants of insects which were a pain to clean off. Nothing like the same amount now. Generally I think insect populations are down. On the other hand my sister has bees moving into her house. She told me there was a swarm in the eaves - but hundreds have found their way inside.

About 15 horses with a new owner moved in next door this year at our weekend place, it’s a beautiful view from our upper deck, I can see the horses in the field, but we have much more flies now. I am guessing that’s something to do with the horses. I love horses, but I had never thought about flies could be related to them.

^^^ More manure = more flies.

Yes, flies love horses. They're attracted to the moisture around their eyes and can cause irritation and carry disease. There are fly masks available to protect their eyes and relieve the constant irritation of the flies trying to land near their eyes.

I used to have horses, flies just come with the territory. But even then -- can't say I noticed flies on the screens when I cooked stinkey stuff. Maybe it reall does have to do with a good exhaust fan. ?

I dont know about flies and cabbages, but the flies were TERRIBLE at my house this year! And I do not know why. Swarms of them. I ended up getting lots of those fly trap bucket things that filled up very quickly over and over again. And I acquired 6 Venus fly trap plants that were well fed and thriving. We keep our property clean and kempt, so no idea why the abundance of flies this year. Everyone I know had a fly problem this year. Just another reason to hate summer.

Insect populations do ebb and swell. I may have a bad infestation of one type one year, and then they're gone the next - I think that has to do with exhaustion of their food supply, and/or predators moving in to gobble them up.

And my cousin lives next door to a cattle barn & corral. The side of their house closest to it gets covered with flies in the summer. You know the old saying about flies and s*** 😃

They're at my house, apparently. Only one or two yesterday, today about 10. I think I got most of them.

I don't think your veg has a link to flies!

Sometimes the lack of a certain animal or insect or the proliferation of them can be tied to the lack of or the increase in a predator that would eat them, or the increase in building onto land that decreases the area fot that critter.

We had an influx of rabbits in our suburban area this year and it seems tied to a decrease in foxes and coyotes. We used to see a number of foxes and ocassional coyote, but I havnet seen one now in a few years in the neighborhood or on the roads. There has been tremendous development of what was not too long ago still farmland.

Rabbits were everwhere this year!

We used to have problems with ground hogs, racoons and possums and even had a fox make a home under our front porch. But it has been years now since I have even seen any ot those critters. It is a really noticable difference.

Cicadas provided extra food for rabbits this year. The overpopulation has ebbed a bit now. We've seen one scrawny fox and two beautiful skunks a few times lately. We used to have deer -- and a deer path along the east side of our property along the creek. No more deer, and now we have to pay to have that wild area (buckthorn, etc.) cut down before it consumes our landscaping. The deer rarely came into our yard -- just passing through north-south.

I just read, in a recently published book, that the latest pesticides are terribly more toxic than fifty years ago and that the insect populations altogether are massively reduced.

Not about cabbage -

- Has anyone noticed that when you tried to make a new post, the option to choose “Cooking” as the topic is missing? Or is it just me?

Hmm - I just checked and if I'm on the Cooking forum, I can start a post there, but when I'm on another forum and try to start a post and add it to Cooking, nothing comes up in the search box.

Think I'll repost this on the thread Emily started asking for input...