Thousands of flies on a bush covering our wall.

Hello, First post, and complete novice gardener but I have a question regarding a bushy type plant that goes the entire length of my house, covering the stonewall that separates it and a public path.

This plant seems to attract thousands of flies and a few wasps for good measure.

Its that many that it makes walking past the plant unpleasant as they fly in your face, in your mouth.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of them?


Untitled by Matt Rycroft, on Flickr


Untitled by Matt Rycroft, on Flickr

 

That would be a mature Ivy =] (Hedera Helix) it's a massive source of food for flies/bees this time of year and the only way I can think of you getting rid of them is to remove the plant...

it only flowers once a year though:wink:

 

Thanks for the reply,

How long does this flowering last though?

Considering the plant goes along a wall that is probably 25 Metres long, it might be a lot of work to remove it.

 

It will be a lot of work removing it and the ivy will leave unpleasant 'track' marks all over the wall as well that can take years to get rid of.

Not sure how long it blooms for.

 

Thank you for that Aesculus. A few years ago we had a massive plague of flies in the garden and I couldn't find any explanation for it. The Ivy as the culprit makes sense as we had plenty of it. Fortunately it only happened one year.

It would be a mammoth task to remove that Ivy, Matti and you probably wouldn't want to do it anyway. The season is coming to an end and those flies will die off. Hopefully you won't get them next year.