Bright Lights Big Moths 

The warmer weather brings with it night flying insects that are attracted to the lights of your home. Many sorts of insects are attracted to light*. To ensure your house is not attractive to swarms of these night flying pests, here are six lighting tips you can implement around your home to make it less of an attraction.

1. Don’t Use White Lights Outside 
   Any kind of white or blue/white light — including florescent, incandescent, mercury, vapor or halogen lights — should not be used within 20 metres of a building. The best way to light the grounds around a home is by using lights higher in the red spectrum, whose light is much less attractive to insects. Both warm and cool LED lights attract about half as many insects as yellow compact fluorescent lights. Many LED bulbs emit almost no UV light, and they also put off almost no heat. If you need to use floodlights to illuminate a drive, entrance or other, make sure it located as far away from the building as possible.
2. Turn Off the Lights
   If you don’t need the lights on outside, turn them off.
3. Use Sensor Lights 
   For safety and security reasons, you may want to light exteriors and white lights are the clearest. In this case use sensor lights that only come on when they are needed and are not on all the time.
4. Hide the White Light from Indoors
   Keep white light from escaping from inside the building. Close the curtains or blinds and turn off unnecessary indoor lights.
5. Keep Doors and Windows Closed at Night
   Keep doors, windows and other entrances closed at night when lights inside may attract flying insects inside. Or fit fly screens so that insects cannot gain entry.
6. Carry Out a Protective Insecticide Treatment 
   Spray exterior surfaces which are contacted by flying insects with NO Bugs Super. Pay attention to surfaces around lights, doors, windows and entrances.

*It is not entirely clear why insects are attracted by lights. There are several theories but the most accepted is that these insects navigate by the light of the sun, moon and stars; flying at a particular angle to these. The artificial lights confuse them and following the navigation angle they spiral in to the light.

David Brittain
Kiwicare