To some people, bees and wasps are pretty terrifying insects, so having them hover around your swimming pool is less than ideal.
If you do have them, keeping bees and wasps away from your pool does require a bit of work, but there are a few interesting ways to pull it off.
Why Pools Attract Bees And Wasps
Much like humans, bees and wasps get hot when the weather is hot. To keep themselves cool, they seek out sources of water to take a dip in and drink from.
Their presence around your pool is also due to their attraction to backyards. Flowers and grass are big draws for bees and wasps, providing a mini-ecosystem for them to live in and materials to build their nests.
While most people think that bees and wasps are out to sting them, this is a self-defense tactic as they only do this when provoked.
Fun fact: Bees will actually die after they sting you, as they try to pull themselves out of the sting, ripping apart their abdomen. Wasps, like yellow jackets and hornets, are a bit more temperamental. They’re very territorial and, unfortunately, don’t die after jabbing you.
How To Keep Bees Away From Your Pool
Keeping bees away from your pool isn’t hard to do, and any of the following methods should help control them.
Give Them Something Else To Drink
As mentioned, bees and wasps are searching for water for cooling off and drinking.
In other words, if you can set up another source of water in your backyard before pool season starts, any bees that come along will have an established water source to drink from.
A birdbath or even a dish of water can work. If using a birdbath, be sure to give the insects a way out in case they fall in the water.
Repel Them With Something Smelly
Repelling them using natural scents such as lemongrass, clove, geranium, and mint works well. A good trick is to mix peppermint oil with water and spray it around the pool area.
Dryer sheets, as weird as it sounds, also work well to keep these bugs away. You can place them in the patio furniture so they’re inconspicuous, but still giving off a repellent scent.
Sweet smells like flowers or sugary drinks, as well as exposed food will have the opposite effect, so these are best to avoid close to the pool.
Cover Your Swimming Pool
Of course, you can always keep the pool covered, eliminating a large water source for the bees and wasps.
- Winter cover. Lasting 1 to 3 years and costing around $150, a winter cover is a tarp material that rests over your pool. This will protect it during the cooler months, and keep things like snow, dirt, leaves and other debris from getting in the water. A pool cover pump should be added to move water off the surface so the bees don’t have a stagnant source they can drink from.
- Safety cover. At $1000 to $3000, a safety cover is significantly more money but will also be a cover you can put on your pool in the warmer months. This cover is available in solid vinyl or mesh, and is secured over the pool using strapping attached to the pool deck. Both versions of this cover will keep bees away, as there is no way they can penetrate either material to get into the water.
- Solar cover. Keeping heat locked into your pool can be done with a solar cover. It looks like a big sheet of bubble wrap and can be installed on a reel for quick deployment. Costing upwards of $500, these are popular to reduce your pool’s heating bill, and by covering the water it’ll deter bees from flocking to the pool.
How To Keep Wasps Away From Your Pool
Preventing wasps from hanging around your pool can keep them from invading your backyard.
Use A Decoy Wasps Nest
Wasps are highly territorial and do not like living close to other wasps.
You can buy a decoy wasp nest (or two) for about $10. By hanging it in your backyard, the wasps will think the area is already “taken”, and will go elsewhere – though results do vary on this one.
Also, if you put it out early enough, preferably before the start of the season, it’s said that this increases the likelihood of it working.
Hang A Few Scraps Of Raw Meat
Like humans, wasps also like a good steak! You may have noticed this when eating outside as wasps seem to always be around your BBQ food.
Hanging a piece of raw meat (preferably steak, ground beef, or chicken) somewhere in your yard will attract the wasps and draw them away from the pool.
Be sure not to leave the meat out too long though, as it will eventually rot and attract other bugs like maggots and flies.
Use A Wasp Trap
A wasp trap can be effective in drawing them away from the pool as well as keeping them contained.
One of the simplest traps you can make is by filling a bottle with a sweet liquid, such as sugar water, and adding grease to the inside of the bottle.
The wasps will be attracted to the liquid, land on the inside walls, and slip inside. Goodbye wasps!
No Luck? Call A Specialist.
Calling in the pros is a bit pricey so it should be a last resort if you can’t get your bees/wasps under control.
A pest control company is best, as they can provide you with a service that relocates the bees/wasps, rather than killing them with insecticides.
This is important so that you don’t have poisonous gas landing in your swimming pool, garden, or on your lawn.
Buzz Off!
It’s not too difficult to keep bees and wasps away from your pool, and you don’t have to spend a fortune doing it.
Using deterrent techniques and taking preventative measures will let you enjoy your backyard pool without the threat of being attacked.
