How to Deter Bees From Patio (Top 7 Ways)

Bees are an important part of nature and ensure that everything runs the way it should. However, that doesn’t mean we want those bees to bother us while we are trying to enjoy the comfort of a home patio or front porch. After all, some people are allergic to bees, and they can be aggressive in some cases. So, how can you keep them away?

If you don’t want to hurt the bees, there are still plenty of ways you can deter them from bothering you on your patio. Some of them are simple, such as screening your patio, while others involve maintaining certain types of plants or ensuring that you aren’t keeping certain types of flowers.

We’ll cover everything that you need to know about how to deter bees from your patio, from the most straightforward solutions to the ones that may require a bit of work. You’ll find something here that will suit your needs and budget.

Add a Screen to Your Patio

This is undoubtedly the most straightforward solution available, with near-perfect effectiveness. Needless to say, the presence of a screen around your patio will keep bees away from it, because they cannot get through that screen. That said, this is also one of the more expensive and laborious options.

First of all, you would have to buy a fair amount of screens to cover your entire patio. Secondly, you would probably need someone to install it, which also costs a lot of time and money.

Understandably, you may not want to do this, but the option still needed to be mentioned.

Move Flowers Away From Your Patio

We all like flowers, but the thing is, bees like them too. If you have colorful flowers with attractive scents on or around your patio, this is going to be more likely to attract bees. After all, pollinating flowers is kind of what they do, so having them around is giving them a reason to approach your patio at all.

If you do want plants on your patio, it’s best to stick with things that don’t attract bees, like ferns, vines, leafy plants, and things that. Plant any new flowers away from your patio, and consider moving ones you already have further away as well, if it is feasible to do so.

Grow Bug Repellant Plants Near Your Patio

While certain plants, like flowers, tend to attract bees, there are some plants out there that do the exact opposite. Some plants emit scents that most bugs find repulsive or at the least, unpleasant, even though they don’t smell bad to humans at all. One of the most popular examples of this kind of plant is peppermint.

Not only does peppermint smell pretty nice for you, but it’s a scent that bees are not particularly fond of. It does not guarantee that all bees will stay away from your patio, but if you grow enough of it, you should notice the density of bees around the area go down a bit. They may even start to migrate away!

Note that it does take peppermint about 90 days to grow fully, so unless you buy some that are already mature, this method may not be an immediate solution.

Sprinkle Ground Cinnamon Around Your Patio

Oddly enough, bees are also not particularly fond of cinnamon, so if you don’t want to wait three months to grow peppermint around your patio, you can consider sprinkling ground cinnamon around it instead. You can easily buy ground cinnamon at stores if you need it, which is a good idea since you’ll want to spread it generously.

You don’t have to create an entire barrier of cinnamon around your patio, though that wouldn’t be a terrible idea. You could place it in little cups or something similar. Either way, just know that cinnamon functions a lot like peppermint, keeping bees away with its scent. You’ll probably have to replace it every once in a while though.

This means that growing peppermint is going to be cheaper and more sustainable overall than using cinnamon, but at the same time, cinnamon is quite cheap, so it’s still a good immediate solution.

Be Wary of Wearing Perfume

Bees are attracted to flowers, but they are also attracted to certain types of perfume. As you may imagine, a perfume that smells like flowers is one of their favorites, though other scents can attract them as well. Overall, if you plan on spending a lot of time on your patio, you should probably just avoid wearing perfume.

Hang Dryer Sheets Around the Patio

This one may sound a little weird, but bees also don’t like dryer sheets very much. It’s another scent-related thing, as with most forms of bee deterrent. Dryer sheets, fortunately, are quite cheap and also come in a wide variety of smells. This means it is a pretty effective option for anyone who wants to cut down on bees immediately.

Of course, it might look a little weird to have dryer sheets just hanging or lying around on your patio, but if it is between that and having too many bees, we think most everyone would choose the prior option. Still, dryer sheets will lose their scents over time, so this too is an option that would require replacement every month or so.

Get Rid of Nearby Beehives

Bees will be much more prominent around your patio if they have a beehive nearby. That being said, while it would be better to not hurt them, you can move to eliminate a beehive that is too close to your home. You can try using chemicals yourself, but you run the risk of getting stung.

You can also call an exterminator to do this if you know where a beehive is.

Summary

The two easiest options for keeping bees away from your patio is to put up a screen or get rid of a nearby beehive. But if you would rather use cheaper, less destructive options you can opt for growing peppermint, sprinkling cinnamon around, or hanging up dryer sheets, all of which have scents unpleasant to bees.

Finally, remove flowers from around your patio and don’t wear perfume, as both of these can attract bees to you.

How to Deter Bees From Patio (Top 7 Ways)