What Color Light Repels Flying Bugs

Bright colors like yellow orange and blue can attract bees for their flower imitating properties.

What color light repels flying bugs.

Incandescent bulbs brought in the largest insect haul averaging about eight per hour. Keeping the sitting areas and rv entrances illuminated in those wavelength colors such as yellows oranges and reds will help keep down the number of flying insects attracted to your site. Red which is at the far end of the spectrum is actually completely invisible to insects. The bug lights and warm colored leds were roughly tied for least attractive at about 4 5.

Some paints can reflect light more brightly than others which can draw in more insects. Haint blue paint is reported to have been first used by african slaves to secure the entry of their homes from spirits. It also has an important folk lore purpose of warding off evil spirits. According to the results by far the worst option for outdoor lighting was traditional incandescent bulbs while the best and least appealing to insects was a warm coloured led light those are the leds that produce a yellow orange hue rather than cool blue light.

Lights that emit a majority of longer wavelengths yellow orange red colors are less visible. While no lighting will every repel biting insects studies do show some colors and light types will be more attractive than others. The brighter colors such as yellow and orange are the same as flowers. Looking at a light spectrum chart you ll notice that warmer colors like red orange and yellow have the lowest longest wavelengths.

In general the longer lower the wavelength is the less likely a bug is to see the associated color. Less attractive to bugs yellow incandescent high pressure sodium and regular incandescent light radiate less blue and ultraviolet light thus reducing the attraction of insects to the area. Colors that most bugs want to keep away from are green and even some blues. Like some birds they are out looking for a place to find a meal.

Heat can also draw bugs into an area. Bulbs that emit more short wavelengths of light cool white bluish color will attract more bugs.