3 Colors That Repel Bugs

Beat Pests ^ | 12/28/22 | Stan Fleming

[DallasBiff]

I took up the hobby of woodworking a few months ago. My wife was impressed by my work, so she asked me to make a pair of garden chairs as my next project.

I obliged soon after and went about my business, putting in a lot of hard work over the next couple of weeks.

When it was time for the final touches, I asked her to pick a suitable color except for pink, which kickstarted an exciting discussion, bringing up the topic of using colors to scare bugs away.

Since we didn’t know much about the eyesight of bugs and if colors could repel them, I jumped into research mode.

My findings were fascinating; I learned about the sight of different bugs, the colors they could see, and the ones that attracted or repelled them

---

TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: colors; insects

[DallasBiff]

To get to the chase the colors are green, yellow, and blue.

Many old house porch ceilings in the south are painted blue to deter pesky insects.

[Red Badger]

Interesting, since yellow and blue make green...............

[Magnum44]

yellow and blue make green..........

[lee martell]

Not sure about repelling, but I’ve always heard bees cannot see RED the way we do. The bees see it as a BLACK tone.
Bees like seeing yellow, blue and purple, because flowers with lots of pollen are often those colors.

[DallasBiff]

Bees like seeing yellow, blue and purple, because flowers with lots of pollen are often those colors.

I'm not an entymologist(sic), but maybe the bees smell the pollen, and again I'm not an insect expert.

[lee martell]

That’s another factor.
I’m trying to learn about bees so I can get my vegetables pollinated this year. Last year, not much harvest.

[Ozymandias Ghost]

Deer flies are VERY attracted to the color blue. I use standard blue plastic cups coated w/Tangle-Foot to trap them every Spring. The University of of Florida did studies on color attractiveness and found the blue color was most attractive to deer flies.

https://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/hort/2022/06/09/method-for-trapping-pesky-deer-fly/

[Pocketdoor]

I don’t think they smell the pollen. They send out scout bees and when one finds a good source it returns to the hive and does a little dance telling other bees where to go. Quite amazing. They will range 5 miles maybe more.

[NautiNurse]

Two days after Hurricane Milton blew away all of the vegetation that wasn't washed away by Hurricane Helene, I was wearing a bright yellow and orange flowered shirt. While standing in the street talking to a friend, I was approached by all sorts of members of the bee family. By far, I was the most brightly colored object around.

Had to jump into my friend's car to escape the bee love fest.

[dmet]

I was told years ago that sky blue was best to deter wasps and the like. I think it did.

[1Old Pro]

the topic of using colors to scare bugs away

It happens to be the colors on the insect repellent bottle or can and they can only see those colors when the spray is being emitted.

[lee martell]

You were their New-Best Friend!

[Vaduz]

Had the best luck with green, yellow, and blue cars nothing ever failed also brown I take it as approved by the car God.

[sauropod]

.

[LilFarmer]

Wonder why fly paper is yellow 🤔

[Libloather]

Repel? I've already caught a gazillion flying bugs this year.

[b4me]

plenty of insects are in green grass or eating green plants their owners wish they wouldn’t. green seems to attract not repel

[Tymesup]

IIRC, bees use sight when choosing which flowers to land on while solving the traveling salesman problem, over and over again. Having watched them for hours, it was never apparent how they chose their routes. Different bees chose different routes. I imagine that the bees and the plants co-evolved to help each other.