Effective Ways to Keep Bugs Away From Porch Lights

This page is a general DIY article that explains several successful methods to keep bugs like flies away from your porch lights at night. Here you can find detailed control guides for various pests you might encounter around your porch light at night, especially during the spring and summer months.

Sitting outside underneath the stars sounds like the most, complete way to enjoy the warmer weather of spring or summer. However, with these ideal conditions also comes flying pest activity such as mosquitoes, flies, June beetles, or moths. The presence of excessive amounts of these pests are one of the fastest ways to make a patio or porch unusable.

Various factors attracts bugs, but porch lights is known to be the main factor, especially during the night throughout the spring and summer months. From parties to other simple outdoor gatherings, this can pose a problem as guests are likely to be deterred by insect bites or constant rhymical buzzing.

Putting some of the methods in place listed throughout each pest control link and steps listed in this guide can help keep your outdoor living spaces serene and enjoyable. 

Keep Your Porch Clean

Keeping your porch or patio area clean is one of the easiest prevenative measures you can take to deter bugs from gathering. Make sure to sweep any food residues or fallen foliage as this can be attractants for flying pests and others like ants, which can quickly make their way inside your home. At the same time, liquids like sodas are magnets for pests like wasps and bees.

Sweep up plant and food debris and place in an outdoor trash receptacle that is several feet away from your homes foundation and areas with high points of activity. Try to avoid empty plant holders, pots, and buckets on your porch. Otherwise, when it rains it can serve to hold standing water sources. Areas like this are prime sites for mosquitoes to breed.

Objects gathering water that cannot be easily overturned can be treated with an insect growth regulator like BTI Mosquito Dunk. BTI Mosquito Dunk is a floating sustained-release larvicide that will prevent the underdeveloped stages of mosquitoes from maturing and get rid of present pests in water.

To use this product, you will need to determine the surface area of the water you wish to treat. To do this, measure the length and width in feet then multiply (length X width = square footage). Apply 1 BTI Mosquito Dunk per 25 to 100 sq. ft. of surface area. For smaller areas, break down dunks into 1/4 and apply 1 to 5 sq. ft. of standing water surface areas.

It would also be beneficial to occasionally power wash surfaces like concrete and hardwood to remove in-depth grime and residual stains. By keeping your porch or patio free of food residues, liquid spills, plant debris, and objects collecting water makes it a less attractive place for insects to harbor.

Replace Bulbs

Many flying insects, like mosquitoes, rely on light to navigate when searching for food. As a result, insects can swarm around porch lights and other outdoor light sources during the night. However, when it comes to attracing insects not all lights are the same. Which lights are most alluring can be deducted from wavelengths, colors, and what they give off.

If you want to keep bugs away from your porch light at night, then consider replacing your bulbs with a warm yellow or orange LED light bulb. Reason being is insects have eyesight's that perceive wavelengths of 650 to 300 nanometers, including the ultraviolet range of spectrum. Meaning insects can see the light colors blue and purple, but not red, yellow, and orange.

The way these pests perceive colors will make them go past or ignore yellow or orange LED light bulbs in porch lights. Since these pests see cooler tones better is the reason most fly traps or zappers use blue or purple lighting.

While this may be ideal for some homeowners, this may not be your choice. One of the simplest solutions is to turn off any lights you are not using. The heat and light given off from your porch light becomes an enticing invitation to flying pests. However, this is a temporary solution that will not control long-term infestations.

Create Insecticide Perimeter

In order to keep pests away from your porch and home, we recommend using a residual insecticide that can be used as perimeter treatment. Supreme IT is a broad-spectrum insecticide labeled to treat over 70 types of pests, including mosquitoes, flies, and moths. Once this suspended concentrate dries it will continue to eliminate pests for up to 90 days, effectively keeping pests away from your home.

Make a perimeter application along the exterior of your home with a handheld pump sprayer to easily control the spray drift. A perimeter application will use 0.33 to 1 fl. oz. of Supreme IT per gallon of water per 1,000 sq. ft. for a general pest treatment. Spray at a maximum height of 3 feet and 6 to 10 feet from the structure.

Additionally, you may want to spray the underside of eaves, soffits, doors, windows, and around entry points to deter pests from invading into your home or harbor these areas.

Broadcast Insecticide

Once perimeter applications have dried, treat your turfgrass with a broad-spectrum insecticide like Dominion 2L Insecticide specifically for June beetle control. This suspended concentrate product functions as a systemic meaning it will control larvae underneath your turfgrass and treat active adults. Once dried, this product will get rid of any June beetles and future populations from your property, thus eliminating their flying activity around your porch light.

Apply 0.46 to 0.6 fl. oz. of Dominion 2L Insecticide per 2 gallons of water per 1,000 sq. ft. of turfgrass as a broadcast application. To treat large areas, we recommend using a hose-end sprayer.

To determine how much product to use, you will need to find the square footage of your turfgrass. To find this, measure the length and width of the treatment area in feet then multiply (length X width = square footage). To mix, turn the sprayer control valve and water pump off, then attach the hose sprayer nozzle to the garden hose. Remove the reservoir from the nozzle then add the measured amount of Dominion 2L Insecticide and required amount of water.

Attach the reservoir back to the nozzle and turn the water back on. Evenly broadcast the mixed solution over your lawn starting from the corner of the treatment area by pushing forward on the control valve.

Wait until treated areas are completely dry, before allowing children and pets to enter. This product should not be applied to areas which are water logged or saturated, which will not allow penetration into root zone of the plant causing ineffective larvae treatments.

Install Fly Lights

Many homeowners believe the only way to deal with flying pests like mosquitoes or moths is to use a bug zapper. It may sound ideal, but the truth is they can be noisy, messy, and otherwise ineffective. Plus, the force of their electrical activities can spew deceased bugs across the floor.

In contrast to many homeowners belief, there are two general types of fly lights which are fly lights with bug zappers installed or fly lights installed with glue boards. Bug zappers work by attracting insects with UV rays, which then electrocute insects when they make contact or come close. Fly lights also work by attracting flies with ultraviolet light, but rather than being electrocuted these pests become stuck on removable glue strips or glueboard.

Fly lights are preferably best suited for porches, patios, or other outdoor areas for a non-lethal and less mess solution of pests. The Solutions Uplight Fly Light is a stylish, decorative wall light that discreetly manages flying insects. This easy to use product keeps insects away from your porch light with its hidden from view 15-watt Quantum lamp and full-size glueboard effectively entrapping pests without the consistent zapping like other bug zappers use.

Keep your Solutions Uplight Fly Light a few feet away from your porch light to avoid attracting mosquitoes and other flying pests to this area and increase trapping success.

Key Takeaways

Do Porch Lights Attract Bugs?

• While porch lights are a common attractant for insects, there are other reasons pests like mosquitoes, flies, June beetles, or moths constantly fly around your porch. Things such as leaves, food crumbs, liquid food or drink spills, or objects filled with water like pots or plant holders can be an enticing invitation for pests.

What Color Porch Light Keeps Insects Away?

• Bulbs with a warm yellow or orange LED light bulb are best to replace your porch lights with since insects cannot easily see these colors.

How to Get Rid of Bugs Around Porch Lights?

• You will need to keep your porch clean of water, plant, and food residue. Water sources that cannot be dumped or removed can be treated with BTI Mosquito Dunk. Change out your porch lights with a warm yellow or orange LED light bulb. Perform a perimeter treatment with Supreme IT and a broadcast application on turf with Dominion 2L Insecticide. Lastly, set a fly light installed with a glueboard like the Solutions Uplight Fly Light for discreet and less messy pest control.