There’s a rumor swirling around on TikTok that if you paint your porch ceiling blue, it’ll keep the insects away.
It started with a viral TikTok from creator Bunny Garcia (@mrsnevalanded), who contemplated painting her porch ceiling blue to act as a bee and spider repellent.
In a stitch with over 655,000 views, TikToker Raguel (@raguel3.0t) says, “Sometimes us southerners know a thing or two.” He then showcases his patio porch. The ceiling is painted light blue.
He notes both his front and back porches are painted the same color, and he hasn’t had any issues with spider webs, wasps, “or anything like that” in the year and a half he’s been living there.
Origins of blue porch ceilings in the South
Like Raguel’s house, lots of southern houses have a blue porch ceiling. According to John Merrill Homes, the reason for this lies in Southern folklore. The practice started in Charleston, South Carolina, in the 19th century. According to the custom home builder, homeowners would paint their homes “haint blue,” or sky blue, to ward off evil spirits. The thinking was that the color symbolizes water, and they believed that spirits could not cross over water. Painting the porch ceiling blue was also simply a Southern tradition.
Well, does it work as an insect deterrent?
While blue porch ceilings are not proven to deter insects, there’s an understandable reason for why people think they would. According to John Merrill Homes, blue paint often contained lye back then, and lye is an insect repellent.
“These days, the color itself is unlikely to repel bugs, but you can still get certain paint mixtures containing insecticidal properties,” the Jacksonville, Florida-based company notes.
Are mosquitoes attracted to blue?
In an update video, Garcia revealed that she no longer plans to paint her porch’s ceiling blue after finding out it could have unintended consequences by attracting a specific insect that apparently likes the color blue: mosquitoes.
Whether or not mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue depends on the shade. According to one study’s findings, as cited by Prevention, while some mosquitos like cyan, a greenish-blue color (think in the teal or turquoise family), they are indifferent to true blue. In addition to cyan, the study found that they are also attracted to red, orange, and black.
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