In many cities, mostly in summer, people are constantly looking for simple ways to enjoy their balconies without mosquitoes and flies. Today, we have a trick that went viral on TikTok in the last few months that promises to reduce insects in a very easy and cheap way, which is why so many people decided to try it.
Will this be the ultimate solution for forgetting about these insects in our balconies? Let’s have a look.
Trick to have insect-free balconies
Have you recently seen some balconies with plastic bottles with cloudy liquid? Well, this is the viral trick! These bottles normally contain water and white vinegar to reduce the amount of mosquitoes and flies during warm evenings.
This idea spread so fast on TikTok and so many people decided to do it or someone they knew told them to try it because it was an efficient way to have insect-free balconies. So, more and more people were curious about this trick and decided to do it, that’s the magic of viral videos on the internet.
The experience of someone who tried it
To explain how this works, we are going to tell you what Laura, a 32-year-old woman who lives on the fifth floor of a busy avenue, thinks about this trick for balconies. She said that she remembers having dinner at the balcony and feel like she was at an “open buffet” for mosquitoes. One of Laura’s friends knew about this and sent her the viral video on TikTok showing a very promising trick to stop this situation. And Laura decided to try it because she had nothing to lose.
Laura cleaned two plastic bottles, filled them halfway with tap water and added white vinegar. Then, she hung them from her balcony with strings, like small lanterns.
Now, what everybody wants to know: the results. She said this trick maybe helped the situation a little bit, but she also thought that evening might have been less humid. So, her experience shows that the results weren’t clear.
What experts say
In theory, vinegar has an acid odor that may bother some insects, which is why some people believe it creates a protective wall around their balconies. For example, some homemade versions of this trick include sugar or dish soap because people think it’s a trap where flies fall inside and can’t leave.
However, scientists who study insects are very careful about this. They say there’s little solid evidence proving that a simple water and vinegar liquid can protect an entire balcony. What’s more, since we are talking about outdoors conditions, the wind and fresh air quickly carry smells away making any protective effect very small and only exist right next to the bottle.
Urban pest control technicians often see these bottles when they visit apartments for insect problems. One technician explained it very directly, saying that if vinegar bottles worked as well as social media claims, people would not need professional pest control services anymore. According to him, the bottles are often hanging on balconies while mosquitoes continue biting residents.
Why is this trick still so popular?
Despite the doubts about its efficiency, this trick is still popular for two main reasons:
- It’s cheap: reusing a plastic bottle and using white vinegar is very cheap, so trying this method is not a big economic risk.
- Psychology: seeing the bottle hung from the balcony feels like it’s doing something to improve the space. That visual action makes people feel calmer and in control of their environment, even if the real result is small.
So, now that you know what both users and experts say about this trick of hanging these plastic bottles from balconies, would you have a go and see if it works for you?