Why The Full Moon Calls For A Yellow Bulb On Your Porch

When those cool summer evenings arrive, there's nothing better than kicking back and relaxing on your porch or patio with an ice-cold drink. Unfortunately, the bad thing about being outside in summer at dusk is the bugs — and if you decide you don't want to sit in complete darkness and choose to flip on your porch light, the situation will get even worse as hordes of moths and flies swarm around you bouncing off your bright white outdoor lights. This is especially true during a full moon, when some insects are more active. In fact, the full moon brings out the worst of the worst in the insect world: mosquitoes. Research has shown that mosquitoes are up to 500% more likely to bite during a full moon, per CTV News.

Luckily, there's a simple solution to bugs being attracted to your lights that doesn't require you to sit in darkness — using yellow bulbs. In fact, switching your porch lights and other outdoor lights to yellow LED bulbs is a great way to stop attracting insects to your home. This works because insects are typically attracted to the blue spectrum of light which is often emitted from white light bulbs. Yellow or orange LED light bulbs emit fewer UV and blue light wavelengths, making them less visible and less attractive to insects thereby making your summer evenings on the porch much more enjoyable.

By now, you are probably fully on board with changing your porch lights to keep away light-attracted moths and flies; however, you may be wondering what changing a light bulb could possibly do to help with mosquitoes. In fact, although we don't normally think of mosquitoes as one of those insects that are attracted to light, they actually benefit from blue light as it helps them see better and locate their prey (us) more quickly. Therefore, replacing your bright white bulbs with yellow ones could help draw fewer mosquitoes to your yard, or at least make you harder to find during the full moon when these bloodsuckers are feeling particularly bitey.

However, while changing out your bright white lights for dull yellow LED bulbs may help reduce your full moon mosquito problem, it won't protect you completely. This is because, on top of being attracted to light, mosquitoes are also attracted to the smell of humans and the carbon dioxide we breathe out. Therefore, to make sure a swarm of mosquitoes doesn't ruin your relaxing porch evening, on top of installing yellow lights, you will also need to use some type of scent that repels mosquitoes whether that is a bowl of vinegar or a specific type of Victoria Secret perfume.