Sweat bees

[ksepurvis]

I have a problem with sweat bees (and others) - little black bees, neon bees, and what look like small yellow jackets, that get caught in our pool in search of water. I can live with them, except when my little granddaughters come to visit! I have read elsewhere the suggestions below and wonder 1) if anyone has had success with these methods keeping bees away and 2) what impact will it have on my chemical balance since I am a devout Trouble Free Pool gal for the past three years!

* Spray insects in pool with a mixture of 1/4 cup dish soap/quart of water mixture. This is supposed to kill the scouts so others from the nest do not come to the pool to drink. I have two birdbaths nearby and a stream at the back of the property, so there are other water sources for them...
* Point the return jet more to the top of the water to break the surface tension. (I like mine pointed down more as it seems to circulate the water better and moves debris more to the middle of the pool.). How would this impact my chemical balance?
* Use Bioguard's BackUp 2 product - which supposedly has the unpromoted benefit of breaking the surface tension of the water and keeps the little guys from landing. I am not wild about adding an algaecide to my water, though. Since this product "foams up", I wonder how different that is from adding a dish soap mixture...and I am not sure that is safe for swimmers, either!
* Put a water source near the pool and put a peppermint in it to attract the bees. (Similar to a can of beer to attract bugs/snails, I suppose). Since the pool is much larger, though, I suspect they would still come to the pool!

Thoughts/suggestions???

 

[Uncle Salty]

Dawn dish soap and water works great. I had a issue earlier in the year with them hanging out on my ladder so I bought a 1 gallon weed sprayer and used 1 1/3 cups of Dawn and the rest water. You'll need to be diligent to keep on top of them, took me a couple days but they haven't been back other than the odd one. Also added Borates, not sure how much it helped in that regard but in my mind it did.

Salty

 

[ksepurvis]

Uncle Salty,
Did you just spray around your ladder? Or on the entire surface of the water?

 

[Uncle Salty]

Uncle Salty,
Did you just spray around your ladder? Or on the entire surface of the water?

No, you actually have to spray the bees directly, it kills them almost instantly. Basically just hang out by the pool and get them as they come so they can't make it back and direct others back. That's why the weed sprayer works so well, it can shoot about 10-15' and you can adjust the nozzle to your liking.

Salty