If you’ve donned your bathing suit and are ready for a dip in the pool but you notice bees and wasps buzzing around, it dampens your enthusiasm. How to keep bees away from the pool is a question the swimming pool contractors from Tipton Pools in Knoxville, Tennessee answer for their customers on a regular basis.

Whether you’re allergic to bees or whether you just don’t want to deal with the pain of a bee or wasp sting, you certainly don’t want them buzzing around your swimming pool wreaking havoc. Bees and wasps, just as with other oudoor critters, are drawn to the large body of water you have created in your backyard. It is tempting to eradicate bees with killing spray but remember they are important to our entire eco-system.

What can you do? You certainly don’t want to swim with bees!

How to keep bees away from the pool

Bees are one matter for pool owners, wasps are entirely a different matter as their sting is much more painful and wasps can sting multiple times. Again, even though you may despise them, wasps do eat other pets like centipedes and flies. Here are wasp removal alternatives.

  1. Get rid of their nest and use decoy nests. Place the decoy nests in an area where you want the wasps to relocate to. Place them in areas you want them to go early in the season, before they build their own nests.
  2. Use raw meat. Yes, wasps eat raw meat. Hang a cheap cut of meat in an area that is not by your pool and that will lure them away from the pool. Don’t use too much meat as that will rot in the heat and sun and lead to other issues.
  3. Hire a professional wasp removing business.

Here are ways to keep bees away from the pool.

  1. Give them an alternate water source. Bees need water and if they see a source, other than your pool, they may move away from it. Put water in a small circle of stones or in a piece of cedar wood. Do this before you open the pool for the season so they see the alternate water source as the place to go.
  2. Dryer sheets are a natural way to remove bees. They don’t like the smell, so place them around the pool in various locations — under flower baskets, in flower pots, use them as doilies on a table. Change them when the scent is not as strong.
  3. Call in a professional. If you can’t rid your pool side area of bees, it may be time to call in a professional who can round up and relocate the bees to a better area — one that is not around your pool.

Ways to keep bees away from your pool also include, not having sugary treats poolside. A melted ice pop will lure a bee in because of the sugary residue left behind. Keep garbage cans away from the pool. Enjoy your pool this summer without getting “bugged.”