Outdoor lights attract plenty of flying insects, but mosquitoes aren't one of them. Mosquitoes find you through body heat, carbon dioxide, and skin chemistry, not through light.
If you've ever sat on a patio at night watching bugs swarm the overhead lights, you might wonder if the lights are attracting mosquitoes. It’s a reasonable assumption, but the answer is no (mostly—explanation to follow).
Moths and beetles love the outdoor lights, and the same is true for mayflies. But that’s not the case for mosquitoes. They find hosts by detecting carbon dioxide as it is exhaled and the heat that your body produces. Light isn’t on their radar, so to speak.
That said, outdoor lighting can have an indirect effect. Mosquitoes are active around sunset and sunrise, which is when outdoor lighting is at its most useful. This is when you would otherwise be outside, dining or entertaining, and in the process exhaling carbon dioxide, which mosquitoes use to find you.
There's also a secondary effect with certain types of lighting. Standard incandescent and halogen bulbs produce more heat and UV wavelengths, which attract a broader range of insects. If you find the heat is bringing mosquitoes in greater numbers, it helps to switch to warm-toned LED lights, as that can reduce overall insect activity around your fixtures.
But none of this addresses the core issue. The mosquitoes biting you at night are the same ones resting in your vegetation during the day. They're breeding in your standing water, sheltering in your shrubs, and emerging at dusk when conditions favor them. Treating mosquitoes effectively means treating the population rather than the individuals that are bugging you.
If you're tired of dealing with mosquitoes in your Greenwich yard, Mosquito Squad of Greenwich can help. Mosquito Squad treats the resting and breeding areas on your property where mosquitoes spend most of their time, reducing the population by up to 90% for 21 days at a time.
