Leaf-Blower Backdraft
Aiming the blower up the wall so the backdraft pushes debris away from doorways and cracks instead of into them.
Keep Flies Out of an Outdoor Trash Can With a Toilet Deodorizer Cake
One of 2 takes on Keep Flies Out of a Trash Can
The Problem
An outdoor trash can left closed in warm weather is enough time for flies to find the seam, lay eggs in the food scraps, and hatch maggots — often within days. Emptying and scrubbing the can deals with an infestation after the fact, but does nothing to stop the next one from starting the moment the lid closes again.
The Technique
- Buy a standard hanging toilet rim deodorizer cake — the kind sold at any dollar store for keeping a toilet bowl smelling clean.
- Drop it into the bottom of the trash can, under or beside the liner bag, or hang it from the cake's built-in clip against the inside wall above the bag.
- Leave it in place. One cake kept flies and maggots out of a bin of regular household and food-scrap trash for at least four days of testing before it needed checking again.
- Replace it once the scent has faded — that's the point at which it stops working.
Safety note: Toilet deodorizer cakes are made to be handled with bare hands but not eaten or chewed — keep them away from pets and small children who might get into an open trash can, and don't let one sit where runoff could wash into a garden bed or storm drain.
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