{"id":107,"date":"2026-11-13T08:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/why-co2-catches-more-than-light-alone\/"},"modified":"2026-11-13T08:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T08:00:22","slug":"why-co2-catches-more-than-light-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/?p=107","title":{"rendered":"Why CO\u2082 catches more than light alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group section is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><div class=\"wp-block-group prose is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><p class=\"body-text wp-block-paragraph\">Every trap in a catalogue looks convincing. The useful question is how far its signal travels. A UV lamp produces a pool of light a few metres wide; a CO\u2082 plume drifts tens of metres and dilutes as it goes. That is the whole argument for host-mimicking traps, and it explains why two units with the same wattage can differ by an order of magnitude in catch.<\/p><p class=\"body-text wp-block-paragraph\">Carbon dioxide is not a poison and not an insecticide. It is a cue. A resting adult human releases roughly 100\u2013200 ml per minute, in a plume that bends with the wind and pools in sheltered air. A trap that releases gas in bursts, or at the wrong height, produces something that does not resemble a host \u2014 and the catch reflects it.<\/p><p class=\"body-text wp-block-paragraph\">This is also why CO\u2082 traps are usually specified with a regulator rather than a fixed orifice. Sites differ: a walled garden holds a plume; a windy terrace strips it. Adjusting flow is cheaper than adding another unit.<\/p><p class=\"body-text wp-block-paragraph\">What CO\u2082 does not do is select species. It will bring biting midges and some flies as well. That is normal for a host-mimicking trap, and it is worth saying plainly in a listing rather than letting a customer discover it.<\/p><p class=\"body-text wp-block-paragraph\">Our own rule of thumb: decide the siting first, the gas flow second, and the hardware third. A modest trap in the right corner outperforms a large one in the wrong one.<\/p><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lamp attracts what flies past it. A CO\u2082 plume reaches across a garden. The difference is range, and range is why placement and gas flow matter more than wattage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-field-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pittartrap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}