I am baffled

I just came across some pictures I took about 2 years ago in the town of Point Arena on the CA coast. There was a building in town that was vacant but had ziploc baggies of water (I presume) hanging above the door. I cannot think of any reason a person might do that. Anyone have a clue?

Boobie trap?
Light prism?
Science experiment?
Oddball decoration?
Bird deterrent (or attractant)?
Remnant of some larger improvised system?
A method of clamping a piece of trim in place?

It seems the person forgot to add the pennies to the bags of water in your photos.



Mythbusters did a thing on this and claimed it was busted for all that’s worth.

Hah, so a few of my guesses were half-right!

I remember about those bags. Supposedly the water reflected and caused flies to not be able to see well enough and would go away.

I recall hunks of cotton on screen doors.

Have you heard of the blown up and tied brown lunch bags to hang and scare other flying insects away as they thing the bags are wasps nests. And new wasps think the area is already taken.

OK, can anyone guess why some folks line their driveways and perimeters of their yards with filled plastic gallon jugs of water?

I once saw them at a home I was patrolling near, and the owner said it was suppose to stop cats from peeing in their yard? This seems crazy to me!

havasu said:

OK, can anyone guess why some folks line their driveways and perimeters of their yards with filled plastic gallon jugs of water?

I once saw them at a home I was patrolling near, and the owner said it was suppose to stop cats from peeing in their yard? This seems crazy to me!

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I remember hearing that one from many decades ago - I never believed it. Google lists people saying the water should be blue; others saying it should have ammonia. It seems just as many say it is to prevent dogs pooping on the lawn. I still think it is an old husbands tale.

bud16415 said:

It seems the person forgot to add the pennies to the bags of water in your photos.

Mythbusters did a thing on this and claimed it was busted for all that’s worth.

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Bags of water scaring flies is the best explanation I have heard so far; I would have been stunned if MBsters claimed it worked*. The part about pennies is the most abserd. Why would they work better than quarters, marbles, your wife's earrings or any other solid?

*Except very close to the bags. I suppose it is possible that light refracting through the bag MIGHT appear the fly as a flash that it would interpret a movement.

HandyOne said:

Have you heard of the blown up and tied brown lunch bags to hang and scare other flying insects away as they thing the bags are wasps nests. And new wasps think the area is already taken.

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Yes! We have carpenter bees that are very destructive in that they bore 3/8" holes in wood. My wife heard about lunch sized bags stuffed with paper or plastic bags to make them look round fooling the bees into thinking they are a hornet's nest. She swears it keeps the bees away.

I live in NE Alabama and we too have carpenter bees! When I moved into my first house, the wooden fence had dozens and dozens of holes from them. I learned that if a bee hatches at X, they will always come back to that spot to lay more eggs. Fortunately, I had a tornado take that fence away - but of the pieces left that i took to the burn pile, the bees were trying to lay more eggs in those old broken pieces!
I'm a fan of malathion. I mix in a gallon sprayer that every time i see a small pile of saw dust, i shoot a stream of malathion in the hole. within about 5 mins., the egg layer will come out of the hole and i kill her. I've had them cruise my deck and I'd spray them with more malathion - sometimes i'd kill them, sometimes they'd fly away. i've even used expanding spray foam in the hole. the key is to get rid of as many that have laid or are trying to lay. Another thing i do is fill the holes with wood putty and put up those carpenter bee homes. they DO work.
A good place to check is "domyown.com" i buy poisons from them every year or so. where i live now, have a problem with brown cockroaches (not german) and i get chems from do my own, to eradicate them.
HTH

I had a porch built and the cross 1 x 2's that the tin roof is laid on is tasty to carpenter bees. Fortunately the rest of the porch is treated and they don't bother that.

rbm328 said:

I live in NE Alabama and we too have carpenter bees!

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We live on Lake Guntersville and carpenter bees are a huge problem.

HandyOne said:

I had a porch built and the cross 1 x 2's that the tin roof is laid on is tasty to carpenter bees. Fortunately the rest of the porch is treated and they don't bother that.

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What is the rest of the porch treated with? You mean pressure treated wood?

Yes, pressurized treated wood especially for porches and outside structures.

Our carport was being eaten up with them and I tried the paper bag and it did work for a short time and then they figured out what it was. The bag worked in a different way as the neighbor saw it hanging and asked what it was. I told him it didn’t work and he told me to spray the wood with old motor oil, as it worked great for him. I had a bunch around and put it in a old spray gun and fogged the whole ceiling. It darkened the wood a little. But the bees left and never came back.

I bought about 10 of these traps a couple years ago. I installed them in various places I was seeing the carpenter bees. Each one has a handful of dead bees in them and a few wasps.



We saw a few bees a week or so ago but they disappeared because it got so cold starting on Friday. I’m hoping this year the bags, the traps, and the poison will keep our wood safe. I’d hate to have to coat our porch with oil.

It'd easy, the bags of water are for when you don't have your tinfoil hat.