Anyone had a problem with bees, specifically yellow jackets hanging around the pool?

[Newpoolcrazy]

Since I have an intex pool, the liner at the top has a small opening above the top seem. The other day, the kids noticed there were yellow jackets in there. The boys splashed them away and said some of them were dead.
I don't allow food or drink near my pool and kids have have clean hands and feet before they get in so I know it's not that.

I know Crape Myrtle trees have a nectar to them and some flowers do fall into the pool, but I clean them out twice a day. My only other idea is that maybe because we haven't much rain in the past 2-3 weeks they're just after the water?

Any suggestions on how to get rid of them? I just looked in just one seem and there were 5 in there. Not counting the others flying around. I know I can't use insecticide, but any ideas on how to get them gone and prevent return?

 

[DaninFLA]

well, sounds like you are providing two necessary things for them. water and structure to hide. they need to drink water to survive and the pool is a great supply of readily available water. are you able to seal the seam with something that can be removed? or even just tape it off? the only other thing I got for you is to spray it will an insecticide.

 

[jagger2005]

If it is dry in La Porte like it is here in San Antonio, the wasps are definitely looking for water. I do not see a lot near my pool, but my son was playing with a bucket of fresh water and left it out for a few hours. It was like someone had sent out a wasp signal because they were coming from who knows where to get some of the water.

 

[Newpoolcrazy]

Thanks, guys. I suspect it's the lack of water more than the crape myrtle as that hasn't been and issue all year. And yes, Jagger it's been pretty dry here the past few weeks, although we had a monsoon of a May!. Hopefully the problem is temporary if we get rain. Then we'll work on shoring up the tops some how. Glad to know I'm not alone!

 

[borjis]

In the year I've been at this property (2 summers) I see wasps every day when its nice out.

My issue has been mainly knocking down new nest builds they like to put up
near the pool area.

They like moisture (I'm talking about the long legged /skinny abdomen ones)

 

[zea3]

Putting a source of fresh water away from the pool area may help lure them away. I do know they are not likely to return to a spot that was sprayed, so I would spray a little wasp spray in each pocket.

 

[Clayswen]

I'm not sure if you guys are talking about wasps or mud daubers. We have mud daubers all around our place during the summer. I knock down nests daily.

- - - Updated - - -

I guess a mud dauber is a wasp, but they are normally harmless.

 

[robertmee]

We live by a bee farm and we get dozens of honeybees in the morning and then early evening. We've read they like the salty water and the chlorine is also an attractant. Our plan is to put some cheap birdbaths with salt blocks away from the pool. Hopefully that lures them away. Our 10 year old has been stung twice in two weeks.

 

[Nighthawk224]

Here in AZ, I get wasps daily. They land on the surface of the water and skim around til they get their fill and then fly off. So far it's a "you don't touch me, I won't touch you" scenario, and they avoid us. No kids in this pool yet, but we have relatives with kids who will want to visit. Also have two palm trees that pollinated earlier this summer and the honeybees ate the nectar from the flowers and quite a few of them ended up falling in. I saved probably half of them by netting them out, but once the flowers are gone, no more honeybees.

 

[Dtaylor113]

Southeast Arkansas here. We have no trees within 100 yards of our pool and I always see yellow jackets when I'm vacuuming. They fly through occasionally while we swim. There's a bayou closer to the pool than the trees are, so I'm just going to say hey prefer the clean water.

 

[Swampwoman]

I have all manner of bees, wasps,yellow jackets and bumble bees around here.

They do love salt and chlorine.

For the honeybees, I've had to hide the pool noodles in a deck box, because those are irresistible to them, and they habituate quickly. I put a sponge in a bird bath south of the pool with the same pool water in it..that helps so long as I remember to refresh it. I've also put humming bird nectar near the same area. But at one point we still had to slap a few down for a few days to signal hostile environment, per an etymologist's suggestion, as we didn't want to poison them and have them take it back to their hive...But my sister was coming and is allergic.

They're gone now, but I'm not sure if it was the acts of aggression that the scouts communicated back or the fact there was a heavy rain last week or maybe the bee keeper finally got around to misting them

For yellow jackets, its another matter. We attempt to locate their nests and spray or dust (Tempo is lethal.) We also have a tree trap (pretty much useless) and also are about to hang mock hives to deter the paper wasps. Wasps suck.

If you know or sure they're wasps, which are aggressive and sting repeatedly, spray em. If you relly don't want to spray em, you could try to tuck cotton balls soaked in tea tree oil into the pocket allegedly they do not like the smell...but neither do I

 

[Newpoolcrazy]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm a bit apprehensive about putting any chemical in the seams as I'm afraid it might wash into the pool. And thanks to Swampwoman, my noodles are now safely tucked into my pool storage box.
It's definitely the water they're after and they are definitely yellow jackets. We had swimmers every day last week so those seams had water in them all the time until yesterday when it finally evaporated. Checked this morning and just about the time I was going to say they were gone, a lone one came along and checked every seam. When he found no water, he took off. I hope he tells his friends the bar is closed.

I think, for now I'll try keeping my bird bath full and wiping out those seams after a swim so there is nothing for them to drink. It should only take a couple minutes and might do the trick. *fingers crossed*

 

[Newpoolcrazy]

If anyone is having a similar problem, I have an update. Checked a site with pics and these are skinny like yellow jackets but marked more like honey bees. Given that no one has been stung and they don't seem aggressive at all, I'm guessing the latter. Simply keeping the seams dry has worked! We still get an occasional loner scoping them out, but they soon leave when they find their watering holes are dry. No pesticides needed. Yay!

 

[AmyJo]

Anyone had a problem with bees, specifically yellow jackets hanging around th...

We have a plaster IG pool and what my husband thought was a dead yellow jacket yesterday turned out to be very much ALIVE and he was badly sting. This is particularly scary for me as I'm severely allergic to venom. Our exterminator was out this morning and he could not find evidence of any nests. I'm hoping this was just an errant hornet.


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[AmyJo]

(hornet, yellow jacket .... all the same to me).


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