View Full Version : Black Flys and Color?
gardenville
03-19-2007, 17:34
Does it make any difference what color the clothing we wear is around Black Flies?
Does one color attract them faster than other colors?
If I can pick the color of my clothing during Black Fly season what color will-might help ward them off?
Conventional wisdom is that they like dark colors. That said, I still use black.
I avoid scented stuff like the plague. Soap, shampoo, anthing. Cover up all skin possible and use DEET on entry points like cuffs. They only climb up. If they are not in their peak you can spray DEET on your legs lightly and then swab some of that around your hair, ears, face, with your hands or my favorite: my hat. Don't need alot. If you are around someone with scented stuff, create separation.
If you camp in an established "site" where fires have been common, they will have thinned out. They tend to calm down around dusk. The skeeters chase them away. Not everyone is bothered by blackflies. You will know. The woods are a little more idiot-free during bugs, so make the best of it!
They calm down late in June but can be pretty thick for a while.
No worse than Texas plain ticks. Just something to deal with. Do not go off concrete without DEET. Don't have to use it, but have it. Always.
Fly By Mike
03-19-2007, 21:11
Agree with you mudhead. I've found white shirts keep them a little more out of my face than dark colors but DEET is definitley needed no matter what. And those stupid looking head nets work pretty good too even if you do catch a few laughs from other hikers.
Blue Jay
03-20-2007, 01:10
DEET is definitley needed no matter what. And those stupid looking head nets work pretty good too even if you do catch a few laughs from other hikers.
Depending on you body chemistry DEET is just a nice sauce for black flies. Color has no effect at all. Head nets are required if you are in their prime locations, however for some reason it holds in heat for me.
Old Grouse
03-20-2007, 09:34
I'm old enough to remember when the L.L. Bean catalog claimed that its chamois shirt in the red color repelled black flies. They quit making that claim years ago.
Color influences the behavior of black flies greatly. They like dark reds, blacks, dark browns and especially dark blue. I like to walk a few feet from someone wearing a dark red flannel shirt, All the flies in the area will converge on that guy and leave me alone.
The best colors to wear in black fly season are pastels -- especially very light blues, yellows and greens.
Once while paddling the St. John River in northern Maine in late May we took advantage of a mid day lunch to air our sleeping bags. My light blue bag attracted no black flies. A companion's dark blue bag was almost black with them.
I forget the details, but researchers in Canada found the same thing, according to one paper that was read at a black fly conference I attended many years ago in New Hampshire.
Heed this advice and carry plenty of DEET and you will be okay in black fly season. In severe conditions I spray my hat and the back of my shirt with DEET and use the 100 percent liquid version on exposed skin.
Otherwise I rarely use the spray. I dislike breathing the stuff.
Weary
Wonder how many bought that claim. Just don't wear their red chamois shirt in the mountains in CO. Humming birds attack!
pokeyhontas98
03-20-2007, 23:53
From my own experience, I can tell you that their not phased by the color red or the color green and I can’t imagine any color keeping these pesky insects away. The past few years I have used Burt Bee’s Herbal Insect Repellent and I prefer it to Deet because it doesn’t have the harmful chemicals. I used Deet while in Maine but the chemicals had an ill effect on my skin. I stumbled across Burt Bee’s in a local health food store and have used it every since. It works great with Skeeters. The only downside is it’s a bit stinky, but so is Deet.
several years ago, I took my oldest son on a 10 day paddling trip on the boundary waters canoe wilderness area. a friend had been up several weeks before and warned us that the black flies had been pretty bad for their trip. I treated our clothing with premethrin - including my black smartwool sock liners that i wore with my water shoes. the only time i got bitten by a black fly on the trip was when one landed on my black smartwool liners and bit me through them....it avoided my non-Deet treated skin and landed on the premethrin treated black sock...will never forget it as it was at the exact moment that we were watching a bald eagle fly across the lake and land on the peak of a tall pine tree....
....avoid scented stuff like the plague. Soap, shampoo, anthing. ....
Absolutely true. I forgot to mention that. The logic escapes me -- though logic may not be a black fly strong point -- but they seem to love flower-scented soaps and shampoos. I hike occasionally with a woman who insists on scented shampoo. Her hair is a magnet for black flies.
Weary
I use the herb Pennyroyal. I put a bunch of it in a cloth tea bag, rub it all over my skin, and then tie the bag to my belt loop. It has a nice minty smell (toxic to eat, though).
I was being shown a piece of property a few years ago, and was wearing the Pennyroyal. After smacking bugs for a few hours, the frustrated owner looked at me and said, "What the heck are you wearing? You haven't been bothered by one bug, and I'm being eaten alive!" I thought it was funny. My family has been using this method for years.
Stick some sassafras branches in your hat. it helps keep them away. Native Americans used to rub themselves with wild garlic and onion to prevent bites. Sure, you smell...but...
I use the herb Pennyroyal. I put a bunch of it in a cloth tea bag, rub it all over my skin, and then tie the bag to my belt loop. It has a nice minty smell (toxic to eat, though).
I was being shown a piece of property a few years ago, and was wearing the Pennyroyal. After smacking bugs for a few hours, the frustrated owner looked at me and said, "What the heck are you wearing? You haven't been bothered by one bug, and I'm being eaten alive!" I thought it was funny. My family has been using this method for years.
Where were you, and what kind of insect did this work on?
Blue Jay
03-21-2007, 12:27
I like to walk a few feet from someone wearing a dark red flannel shirt, All the flies in the area will converge on that guy and leave me alone.
Once while paddling the St. John River in northern Maine in late May we took advantage of a mid day lunch to air our sleeping bags. My light blue bag attracted no black flies. A companion's dark blue bag was almost black with them.
I believe both these events are due to smell, not color. I can wear any color and if there is anyone near, wearing any color they will leave me alone. Insects are much much more scent oriented than color. Actually most of the black fly season, if they can get to your skin they will, deet, color or flame throwers.
Old Grouse
03-21-2007, 14:38
Anyone ever hear the Black Fly Song by Stan Rogers? I recommend it.
Rhino-lfl
03-29-2007, 12:30
You can coat your clothes and tent stuff in Permethrin and it will actually repel and kill most bugs for 14 days even in soaking rain, jesus couldn’t make a better bug destroyer. Just apply a day or so before you go out and let it dry.
For creepy crawlers try Flours of sulfur, you can buy it by the pound in a large pharmacy. For my personal use I mix it 50/50 with baby powder, this makes it smell a little better and probably stay on my clothing better. If you do use the baby powder, you can buy several small bottles, pry the lids off, dump it into a bowl, add an equal amount of sulfur, mix well, and pour it back into the shaker bottles. Apparently, sulfur works to repel most eight-legged pests; Chig-away (for Chiggers) is a sulfur based product.
Here is a great site for bug info http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/camping2/bugs.htm#repellents (http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/camping2/bugs.htm#repellents)
I know mosquitos prefer dark blue, I never noticed blackflies having a preference. Of course I'm one of those lucky bastards they leave alone. :D
Johnny Thunder
03-29-2007, 12:56
Anyone remember "Bug Dope"...We used it for scout trips down the Allagash and through the 100 Mile Wilderness back in the mid-90's. On the Allagash we noticed how Deet was essentially just a cheap perfume to those suckers...luckily, someone had some of this "Bug Dope" and we used it sparringly so it would last the whole trip. The next year I found it in the general store around the corner from Shaw's.
Someone please tell me that this stuff is out there...Little opaque bottle with green writting. Smells like a McDonalds grease trap filled with NYC subway juice and left to fester in the summer sun...But man did it work!
I've been in the same area 4 years and i'm starting to think the 'color' idea is an old wives tale. I think it has more to do with your sweat and what you are eating than color.
Where were you, and what kind of insect did this work on?
Sorry, I missed this post earlier.
The property that I spoke about was in the E. TN mountains. But I've used Pennyroyal all over the US, including FL. I wasn't bothered by any bugs, so I don't know what kinds of bugs it kept away. Normally, I'm worried about misquitoes. It is what we used for SAR training in the GA and TN mountains, too.
http://www.mainenature.org/blackfly/blackflyinfo.html
I have found that blackflies will come inside, especially a vehicle. They don't do much but try to get out, as opposed to mosquitos.
I would rather have 500 blackflies in a tent than 1 mosquito.
I am rather looking forward to the little monsters this year.
"Black flies are strongly influenced by color -- they find dark hues more attractive than pale ones, and blue, purple, brown, and black more attractive than white or yellow. A light-colored shirt, therefore, is a much better choice of clothing than a dark blue one. It is a moot point, however, whether blue jeans might not be better than pale trousers: if they are carefully tucked in at the ankles and are without holes, jeans may help to attract the flies away from the head region.": Courtesy Rocco Moschetti, IPM of Alaska. 1
Aside from anecdotal support for the above, similar information was reported by a scientist taking part in an all-day black fly conference held at the Balsams in Dixville Notch, NH around 1975, which I attended.
Weary
crinklroot
10-02-2007, 19:06
Johnny Thunder...are you thinking about old time woodsman fly dope.....pretty strong on the pine tar...some in the Adirondacks still use it and love it for the memories it brings back and the bugs it may keep at bay.
Fiddleback
10-03-2007, 09:42
Could it be that it's not color, but tone, i.e., dark vs. light? Could it be that dark colors absorb more heat and that may be an attractant?
My trail shirts are long sleeved and light toned. In combination with a wide brim hat I rarely have to use DEET for any of the flying beasties. Yet, during the early spring and early fall, the south face of my light colored house is covered with flys...seeking the heat, no doubt. Great for the bluebirds, not so good for us who like the doors open...:)
FB