Adjust Your Landscaping: Plants Can Attract Or Detract
Bees might live outside, but they dont love all foliage equally. Place your flowery shrubs and other bee-friendly plants as far away from the pool as you can. Add mint and lemongrass close to the pool. These herbs are great because they smell amazing to humans and are the bee-equivalent to smelly, hot garbage. Theyll naturally avoid the area.
What If Your Poolside Bees Wont Budge
What if you try these options and they dont work? Or if youre allergic and dont want to risk getting too close? Or maybe you simply dont have the time or energy to deal with the issue. Over the years, ABC Home & Commercial Services have helped countless homeowners drive bees away from their pool. We know a variety of methods that allow us to do it safelyboth for you and for the bugs themselves. Well get rid of the problem in the most humane way possible and arm you with tools and knowledge to keep your pool bee and wasp free going forward.
Experiment With Essential Oils
Some homeowners have had success keeping bees and wasps away by using peppermint oil. A mixture of clove, geranium and rosemary was found to be effective in one study with wasps. You can mix these oils with water and spray the mixture on patio furniture and your pool deck to see if this is effective to keep bees away.
You May Like: Mandalay Bay Pool Open
Can You Remove A Wasp Nest Yourself With Home Remedies
Private persons should not remove any wasp nests.
As recommended in advice columns, removing a wasp nest with home remedies is a bad idea.
Often vinegar or lighted coffee is recommended to keep away the wasps from your pool. With these measures, the wasps react aggressively, and the willingness to sting you increases.
The better method is to hire a wasp expert.
The specialist will carefully remove the wasps and the nest from your property and release the insects in a safe place.
Have you any questions on how to keep the wasps away from the pool?
Good luck with keeping the wasps away!
Natural Methods For Keeping Wasps Away From Your Pool
Unlike bees, wasps are harder to get rid of without resorting to methods that lead to their death. Wasps pose a greater health hazard because they can sting you more than once during an attack, whereas a bee can only sting you once and will die after attacking.
Bees can only sting once because their stinger will get stuck in your skin, and this will rip out their abdomen and digestive tract.
So, while all the natural methods for keeping bees away from your pool will also be effective on wasps, there are other ways you can remove wasps from your pool area.
You May Like: Inground Pool Do It Yourself
Deploy Decoy Wasps Nests
Wasps are very territorial and dont like living near other wasps. Theyre like the Jets and the Sharks that way. The good thing is, you can make this work to your advantage to keep wasps away from your pool.
You can buy fake wasp nests and hang them in other areas of the yard, preferably away from your house as well as the pool. Place them early in the season before the wasps start building their own nests. This way, youll keep them where you want them.
Hang Up The Dummy Wasps Nest
It is supposed that the wasp nest dummy keeps the wasps away from the garden.
I am a little unsure, but some garden owners report successes.
In theory, the wasps move away from the garden and into the better nest.
Will that really work? I dont know.
Logically, the nests should be hung at least 0.5 miles from your pool a quiet and dry place with a water source is best for this.
Tip: When setting up wasp nest dummies, I recommend hanging up more than just one dummy.
This increases the chance that the wasps will feel more comfortable in a designated place than in your garden.
Also Check: Head Lice Swimming Pools
Set Up A Bee Water Bowl
Bees often visit pools because theyre thirsty. So, your first step should be to set up a tiny area in your backyard where you can leave a water bowl out for them.
You can get as simple or as fancy as youd like with the water bowlsome people like to make a pond-like setup, whereas others prefer to toss water in a Cool Whip container.
Nevertheless, it helps make the water look more attractive by placing some stones and sticks into it. Putting a branch that leads from the water out into dry air is especially important so that if the bee lands in the water, it can crawl out.
Bees are smart. So, consider setting up your bee water bowl before pool season begins. That way, theyll already be gravitating by the bowl by the time you open up your pool.
Hang Up Dryer Sheets To Keep The Wasps Away
Some pool owners report positive experiences with dryer sheets to keep the wasps out of the pool.
The smell is supposed to scare off the wasps and keep them from flying near the pool but this has not been scientifically proven.
So I cant say for sure whether this really works.
Fortunately, the dryer sheets cost a few bucks, and it is at least worth trying to keep wasps out of your pool.
The dryer sheets are placed around the pool in plants or on trees.
To do this, you can also stretch a rope over your pool there is no specific procedure.
Also Check: How To Tell How Many Gallons Your Pool Is
Try Effective Home Remedies
If youre looking for a natural way to get rid of wasps, there are plenty of home remedies to choose from. One excellent way to get rid of wasps is with vinegar. To create a homemade wasp repellent, mix two cups of apple cider vinegar, two cups of sugar, and one cup of water. Stir the mixture thoroughly and place it near the nest where it will attract and kill wasps.
Easy Ways To Keep Bees Wasps And Hornets Away From Your Swimming Pool
Your backyard is home to more than just your swimming pool. As a pool owner, you may have noticed that your water attracts different types of insects, including bees, hornets, and wasps. These insects are naturally drawn to big, open sources of water to drink from. Bees, wasps, and hornets have a hyperactive sense of smell and are commonly attracted to bodies of water that have strong odors, like a swimming pool. The chlorine or saltwater system used to sanitize your pool emits a strong odor that insects are attracted to when they need to cool down their hives in the summer season. Many are also enjoying backyard cookouts and fun that attract pests! If your swimming pool attracts pesky bees, wasps, or hornets, help protect your swimmers from stings with these three easy ways to keep them away from your water!
Don’t Miss: Pool Water Balance Calculator
What Kind Of Wasps Do I Have
Wasps and their cousins, hornets and yellowjackets have nasty stings that can be especially dangerous to anyone allergic to them.
Even if youre not allergic to wasps, they can be a danger to anyone who gets too close to their nest. They will come boiling out, often in large numbers, and immediately sting any person or pet who is nearby.
While some wasp species are highly aggressive, others are more docile. Some species, like mud daubers, kill and eat other pest species, like spiders.
Since they help keep pest populations down, people can usually coexist with mud daubers .
Because wasps behave so differently, you have to identify what kind of wasps you have before you can start dealing with them.
With that in mind, heres a breakdown of the most common wasp varieties:
Install A Fake Wasp Nest
There are a few things to consider when you are using a fake wasp nest.
First, if the species of wasp youre dealing with are the Yellow Jacket wasp, then the fake nest will work.
Thats because Yellow Jackets create their nests inside the ground.
Any nest located above ground will not affect the presence of yellow jackets.
Read Also: How Long Should A Pool Pump Run
Why Are There Bees Or Wasps In My Pool
This might sound strange, but bees probably like your pool even more than you do. This is because theyre not in it just for the relaxation and the fun. Ever heard the phrase rest like a bee? Yeah, me neither.
To a bee, your pool is daily hydration, baby food, and life-saving air conditioning all in one. They bring water back to the hive, and as it evaporates, it keeps the temperature of the hive low enough to continue to sustain life. In some cases, this water even keeps their combs from melting in the heat. They also use the water to dilute honey for their young. Hey, if your neighbors pool water kept your family alive, youd try to steal some of it, too.
Of course, all of this could be achieved with plain old water, not just your pool. But whether you have a chlorinated or salt water pool, those chemicals you use to keep it clean is exactly what draws both bees and wasps. Theres no way around it: your pool has a strong scent, and its like a personally signed invitation card for winged creatures who have a powerful sense of smell.
Bees might like the smell of your pool treatment, but its essential for a clean, safe swim. Make sure that the sanitizing chemicals you add are circulating properly with the the 1.5 HP Variable Speed Blue Torrent Thunder In-Ground Swimming Pool Pumpits extra-thorough at slower speeds, pays itself off in under a year, is eligible for rebates, and comes with a lifetime warranty.
Bees Around Pool: Why Are They Attracted To The Water
This probably seems obvious. After all, bees have to drink just like every other living creature, right? Why wouldnt they make use of such a big, inviting source of water?
Thats true. But theres a bit more to it than that.
Bees arent just using the pool to quench their thirst, but as a form of air conditioning for their hive that in some cases can keep the waxy combs from melting in the summer heat. They bring water back to the hive. As it evaporates, it cools the place off, so the whole colony isnt destroyed.
The other reason bees need water is to dilute honey that they use to feed their young. This task is vital for the survival of the colony.
Why go after the water in your pool? Beyond the fact that its big and seemingly available, both bees and especially wasps are often attracted to swimming pool water due to the strong smell. Thats right, the very chemicals you use to keep your pool clean and purge it of other nasty pests can encourage more stinging insects to stop by. This is true both for chlorinated and saltwater pools.
Then, of course, there are the other tantalizing elements that have little to do with the water itself. From the perspective of bees, if youre grilling out and drinking soda next to the pool, youre basically putting out an invitation mat for these creatures to join you. Its no wonder we struggle with how to keep bees away!
Now that you know why these insects are in your water, lets talk about what you can do to send them packing.
Don’t Miss: Mandalay Bay Pool Gazebo
Get Rid Of Wasps In The Swimming Pool For Good
We better find a real solution to the swimming pool and wasp problem instead of freezing in the place when one of these creatures fly around us, faking that we have the situation under control and we are absolutely not freaking out on the inside.
Could it be the sunscreen? does it make our skin delicious to the invertebrate fang? As far as we can tell, the most probable thing are those wasp antennae that end in a twisted organ that feeds on evildoing and human misery.
So, in order to trace an effective plan we must discover what things love, and what things abhor, these absolute antagonists of the summer that we called wasps.
What Attracts Wasps To Your Pool
Just like us, wasps get hot in the summer.
When they want to cool off, they might take a dip in your pool. They might also take drinks from your pool for the same reason.
Some nests will designate a handful of wasps just to transport water back to the nest to share with the rest of the team as well.
Hence why it feels like the wasps are CONSTANTLY around.
If your pool has a lot of flowers, grass, and wildlife around it, then thats another open invitation for wasps to come visit too.
You May Like: How Much Does A Pool Increase Home Value
Wasps Around The Pool Syndrome
It’s perfect tanning weather outside. Kinda hot, very sunny, an ever so slight breeze blowing. You have an iced cold glass of tea, your suntan lotion and some tunes and you’re ready for some down time. You park yourself by the pool and exhale. It’s not long before you realize the good ‘ol American past time of wasp around the pool syndrome. Why are they there and what do they want? Must they have stingers THAT big? How can I get rid of them, you ask?
Well, they re most likely just hanging around for the water. If there are flowers close by it would be the perfect situation for wasps. Bees will sometimes hang around the pool for the water too, tho wasps are more common. The good news is that they aren’t there to harass you. You’re just in their way. Unfortunately, your options for relief are limited. Here is the short list of what you can do to help limit a problem with wasps around the pool:
Hang Decoy Wasp Nests
With a decoy nest, you are making wasps think that theres a colony in the area. By using a couple of paper nests, you decrease the odds that wasps will make a home near your yard or even fly through looking for food.
However, this approach typically works best in the spring. Thats the time when wasps set up new nests. If you wait until after the wasps have created a nest to put up a decoy, it probably wont work. Youll have to try the approach next year to see results.
Also Check: Inground Pool Paint Lowes
Why Bees And Wasps Hang Around Pools
Bees fly toward pools for a few different reasons. They use pool water for drinking and to help keep their hives cool in the hot summer weather. These insects make honey thinner with water in order to provide their offspring with food. Wasps sometimes wander near pool areas for water as well.
While pools can serve as enticing places for bees and wasps, you can take steps to change this. Keep the following information in mind this summer to eliminate these stinging bugs.
Can You Drown A Wasp
If you are in the pool when a wasp ambush takes place, the temptation is there to try and drown it. Wasps, however, breathe through tiny holes in their abdomen which they can close off when underwater just like humans can when holding their breath.
A wasp then uses whatever oxygen they have left in their trachea in order to continue to breathe. Unfortunately, this means that they can stay underwater without drowning for quite a while.
Therefore, we would not recommend trying to drown wasps as it is not only futile but can result in the wasp getting irritate. And, if by some miracle it raises from the dead, it will be coming after you.
Don’t Miss: Pool Btu Calculator
Why Wasps Are Around Your Pool
Wasps can be a problem around your pool starting in the spring and going straight through until fallbut late summer is often the time they become most irritating. In late summer the worker wasps prepare the queens to overwinter. Queens are the only ones that survive the winter, so they need a protected spot to wait out the cold months.
Once they’ve completed their job, worker wasps look after their own needs, until they die off when the weather gets cold. One reason they often end up around swimming pools is that to a wasp, a pool is a giant source of water.
Pools areas are often appealing to wasps. People bring food out that wasps are interested in eating. Similarly, flowering plants may be a part of the landscape, which wasps find attractive.
Chemical Solutions For Your Bee/wasp Problem
So far, all the methods mentioned have been natural ways to keep away bees and wasps from your pool. However, if a bee or wasp problem is getting out of hand, you can opt for chemical solutions instead. Using chemical-based products could likely lead to the demise of bees and wasps. Pesticides and other contaminants are associated with colony collapse disorder. The chemicals weaken the bees immune systems and cause them to die.
As much as possible, these chemical solutions should be a last resort. They can be acceptable to use if it means youre able to keep your family safe from potential attacks from the bees or wasps.
Pyrethroid-based insecticides can control pests such as ants, cockroaches, mosquitoes, and fleas, among others. However, a particular kind of pyrethroid insecticide one that has cyfluthrin is very lethal to bees and wasps. So, if you have to use a pesticide to remove bees and wasps from your pool, just look for one with cyfluthrin listed in the ingredient list. This kind of pesticide is very toxic to fish and other invertebrates. However, its less toxic to humans and other mammals. Check out this kind of pesticide for sale here.
A bee, wasp, and hornet killer spray can remove these insects from your pool area. However, you need to spray this product directly on the nest. A good tip is to spray at night because thats when all the bees or wasps have returned to their nest and are inactive.
Don’t Miss: 110v Electric Pool Heater
