Will a salt water pool keep bees away?

Salt Water Pools and Bees

Are they better for bees? Here is input and advice:

• The answer is yes! The fact that the surface tension is reduced on the water in a saltwater pool will not allow the bees to land on the water's surface to drink and they drown. Plus the bees do not like the salt in the water so they will not drink at the water's edge either. Therefore your bee problem is solved!

• I have a neighbor with a salt water pool and I've never seen so many bees in the water. They may drown but the salt doesn't seem to deter them.

• We have a new salt water system pool and the neighbours bee hives, about 500 meters away are sending thousands a day to the pool,town bee keepers think it is the salt (minerals) that is attracting them. Lucky us.

• NO! I have a salt water pool and it is twice as bad as it was with the standard pool I can't even enjoy the pool when its hot.

• One simple solution to the problem of bees hovering all around your pool is to focus on frowing foliage plants -- rather than flowering plants --in the vicinity of the pool. Or, you could add flowering plants that bloom only in early spring or late fall when it's too cool to swim and bees aren't as prevalent. A beekeeper claims that bees are attracted to the smell of water, and that may even be attracted by the smell of chlorine as well. He suggests giving the bees a pool of their own, such as a shallow container filled with small stones. Keep it filled with water, and the bees will drink from it instead of your pool. Add a few drops of vinegar to the water in the saucer, and their keen sense of smell will attract them even faster. As a bonus, you will not only be attracting bees but birds and butterflies as well -- all of whom need a refreshing drink now and then.

• My salt water pool is a bee paradise. They swarm around the skimmer and mass up in big clots on the tile in a shady spot under a boulder. I assume they need the water to make honey. I've tried using a squirt bottle to soak the tile and the boulder with a 50/50 mixture of liquid bleach and water. That seems to help somewhat, and it's really fun to do while they're actually there.

First answer by ID0000000000. Last edit by Earthcruiser. Contributor trust: 33 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 223 [recommend question]