Hover flies are completely harmless, but their habit of hovering around your face and landing on your skin makes them a genuine nuisance, especially during late summer. The good news is that a few simple strategies can keep them away from your patio, deck, or outdoor dining area without resorting to pesticides (which you’d want to avoid anyway, since these insects are valuable pollinators and pest controllers).
Why Hover Flies Won’t Leave You Alone
Hover flies are attracted to the salt in human sweat. That’s why they land on your arms, legs, and face, particularly on hot days when you’re perspiring. They aren’t trying to bite or sting you. They physically can’t. Unlike the bees and wasps they mimic with their yellow-and-black stripes, hover flies have no stinger and no biting mouthparts. They’re feeding on the moisture on your skin.
Knowing this helps explain why they seem to target certain people more than others and why they’re most persistent during warm, still afternoons when you’re sweating the most.
How to Tell Them Apart From Wasps
Before you start swatting, it’s worth confirming you’re dealing with hover flies and not actual wasps. Hover flies have only two wings, while bees and wasps have four. Their eyes are noticeably larger and seem to wrap around their head. Their antennae are tiny, compared to the longer, elbowed antennae on wasps. And their flight pattern is the biggest giveaway: they hover in place for extended periods, almost like a tiny helicopter, while bees and wasps fly with more direction and purpose.
Use Fans to Create Airflow
Hover flies are extremely lightweight, and even a moderate breeze is too much for their small wings to navigate. A portable fan placed near your seating area is one of the most effective and immediate solutions. Point it across the space where you’re sitting, and hover flies simply won’t be able to reach you.
If you have a covered porch, a ceiling fan works even better. The downward push of air creates a zone that hover flies can’t fly through. This is often the single most effective fix for people who eat outdoors regularly during peak hover fly season.
Repel Them With Mint
Hover flies strongly dislike the scent of mint. Growing mint in pots and placing them on your outdoor table or around seating areas creates a natural deterrent zone. A few pots on a dining table can make a noticeable difference.
For extra protection when you’re working in the yard, crush a few fresh mint leaves and rub them on your arms, legs, and other exposed skin. Mint essential oil works too. A few drops in an outdoor diffuser can help keep hover flies at bay across a larger area. This approach pairs well with a fan for the most hover-fly-free patio possible.
Cover Bare Soil Near Your Outdoor Spaces
Some hover fly species lay their eggs in bare soil, which means exposed dirt in flowerbeds and planters near your patio can become a breeding ground right where you spend your time. A layer of mulch about four inches thick over garden beds prevents hover flies from nesting in that soil.
Don’t overlook the pots and planters sitting on your patio or deck. Covering the exposed soil in containers with mulch, decorative stones, or even a layer of gravel reduces the chance that hover flies will set up shop inches from where you’re sitting.
Reduce What Attracts Them
Since sweat is the main thing drawing hover flies to your body, toweling off periodically and staying cool can reduce how aggressively they target you. Staying in shaded areas and using the fan strategies mentioned above both help you sweat less in the first place.
Hover flies are also drawn to flowers and flowering plants, since the adults feed on nectar and pollen. You don’t need to rip out your garden, but if you have flowering plants directly beside your seating area and hover flies are a persistent problem, relocating those containers a few feet away can help redirect the flies.
Why You Might Want to Keep Them Around
This might be a hard sell when one is buzzing around your forehead, but hover flies are genuinely useful insects. A single hover fly larva can consume up to 400 aphids during its development. When their larvae are abundant in a garden, they can reduce aphid populations by 70 to 100%. Research has shown hover fly larvae suppress aphid colonies by 50 to 99% depending on the crop, making them one of the most effective natural pest controls available.
Adults are also efficient pollinators. Because hover flies don’t maintain nests like bees do, some species range over larger areas and carry pollen longer distances. They pollinate many wild plants and garden crops alike.
The ideal approach is to deter hover flies from your immediate seating and dining areas while letting them thrive in the rest of your yard. Fans, mint, and mulch accomplish exactly that. You keep your personal space comfortable, and the hover flies keep eating the aphids off your tomatoes.