carpenter bees

[Sigarms]

Any suggestions on how to handle carpenter bees?

They seem to be worse than ever, and although I've sprayed a few times which seems to help in the short run, they always seem to come back.

Any tips?

Thanks

 

[riptides]

Keep spraying. I have one building infested with them, I might actually burn it down. The sawdust piles are a m a z i n g.

You play tennis? A racket gives me a workout around them.

-Mike Z.

 

[Sigarms]

Thanks, but not what I wanted to hear. It's around the house

 

[scott_vt]

Any suggestions on how to handle carpenter bees?

They seem to be worse than ever, and although I've sprayed a few times which seems to help in the short run, they always seem to come back.

Any tips?

Thanks

Evenin Joe,
I have had problems with those darn critters at my Ct home. They only attack the pine fascia trim usually on the peaks of the garage and house. In the fall I filled the holes with a exterior grade caulking and stained over them. I posted a question similar to yours sometime ago and one fella replied stating to getting a pine block and put some 1/2" holes in it and mount it near where they have been nesting in the past. The bees dont care if they make their home in the pine block or your fascia I was lucky, they came around in the spring looking for their old holes and I either whacked them with a bad mitton paddle or sprayed them ! They seem have to have found my neighbors more desirable ! There are also products on the market that deter their presence ! Good Luck !

 

[RoyJackson]

Do a web search on them and how to reduce them.
What I do is find the hole they bored (looks like a ｽ" drilled hole) and spray WD-40 in during the late evening hours. Then use caulk to seal the hole.
However, that keeps them down, but doesn't prevent the problem during the following season.

Here's a site that discusses eradication of the bees

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I have a log cabin on my farm. For the first couple years it was built, I fought them with bug spray. I think they eat the stuff for breakfast. The next couple of years I fought them with a badmitton racquet. I killed a bunch of them that way. It kinda got to be fun, me against the enemy, mono y mono. Well, it worked. This spring I noticed zero carpenter bees. I kept thinking they would eventually show up again. To my pleasant surprise, I haven't seen a single one this warm season. Knock on wood. I can't guarantee they won't show back up next spring, but for at least one year, I am the winner. Good luck.

 

[riptides]

Interesting what TNhobbyfarmer said. I think they are family social. Trust me, I have a gazillion of them. But in one particular corner of the building I really concentrated my spray and tennis efforts. They did not seem to return to that spot. I had heard of a family tunnel structure they use. So maybe that is a clue on how-to get rid of them. I should get a sound bite of them next year. Spooking.

Good luck, they do either die off or hibernate with the cold. They aren't flying about these past few days.

 

[Tdog]

I have my share of carpenter bees. My house is cypress and my barn and shop are T-111 siding. I agree that an old tennis or badmitton racket is a lot of fun - - of course many are much too high to swat.
I am attaching a photo of the handle of a garden rake that I left outside too long. I paid the price for being too lazy to put it up at the end of the day.

Jack

 

[Redbug]

That's interesting reading Roy. I had several that were living in the eaves of my workshop. About drove me crazy knowing that they were making the wood unstructually sound. I used a long handled landing net with fine mesh to catch them and squash out their (un)holy lives with my boot. I also used a pump up sprayer and sprayed liquid sevin into their holes from the ground. It has worked.

But, every spring I see them buzzing around looking for places to make holy and I do the annual "ritual of the landing net"...running around looking like I'm chasing butterflies.

 

[Sigarms]

Thanks guys.

Going to have to get up on the ladder. Having the house repainted and they are out like it's springtime.

 

[dieselalles]

On the side, talking about carpenter bees, I wish I had a nickel for every hour I spent as a kid batting those things with a cut down barrel stave or plank. They loved chewing on our out-buildings, but never bothered the house for some reason.

Carpenter bees are one thing, but I never had the guts to go after hornets as they came out single file from their nest. Batting carpenter bees was a leisurely activity in comparison. Hornets took two people at the rate they exit the nest and at some point someone always misses or hesitates, and at that point, it's time to seriously burn some tennis shoe rubber!

 

[Slacker]

This website gives some good info. Drione is the chemical everyone recommends. Kits are available with dispenser, chemical etc.

carpenter bees, carpenter bee control

 

[ragkar]

Use a contact poison, like carpenter ant spray powder, in their holes and leave them open for a couple days for absent tenants. Then plug the holes with wood buttons like they use to cover screws in towel racks etc.

 

[Dutch445]

My funnies memory of carpenter bees was 6 years ago, my son
and I were re-siding a house, pulling off old cedar and putting
on new boards. On the south gable end, up above the wall, in the
gable, there was a nest that was a nuisance while we did that
whole side. Finally, we pulled a board off that must have been
close to home, and one of those bees headed straight for my son,
(both of us up on ladders) and got him right on the tip of his nose.
He was quite aggressive! I do know we had swatted quite a few
with boards, but that got old standing on a ladder and swinging
at bees.

 

[shaley]

The wost part is the larvae they lay in the holes. The wood peckers come and eat the rest of the wood trim to get at the worms. Half of the trim on one end of the house is gone.

 

[MikeD74T]

I've used Demon WP mixed with Drione and a bellows duster with 100% results. One powder is quicker acting & the other is longer lasting. I stick a short piece of plastic tubing onto the duster to reach into difficult holes. Got it here Carpenter Bees , Carpenter Bee Control, How to Kill Get Rid Of MikeD74T

 

[tallyho8]

I had hundreds of them in the rafters of an old shed that was rarely used. We sprayed, swatted and killed hundreds but there were still plenty left. They disappeared when I tore the shed down. I have other sheds and barns and expected to see them move into them but they have completely disappeared. I think they like rarely used buildings the most.

I haven't checked with my neighbors to see if they moved over there.

 

[mahlers]

It's interesting that you all are on the east coast and know all about these bugs. Here on the west coast, I haven't ever seen anything like them - except maybe the occasional mud wasp that gets into holes in the house siding and sets up shop. Where I live, we have a lot of carpenter ants, but believe it or not they do more good than harm. Carpenter ants seek out termite nests because they're easy food - and they go to town eating all the termites and larvae. After that, they can go for years eating the cellulose residue that the termites leave. At least that's what the exterminators told me. Best of all, those carpenter ant eggs make phenominal trout bait - for some reason the trout just can't resist them. Sometimes I find a big nest with thousands of eggs and I'm not planning to fish anywhere, so I'll throw them in my river and you can see the trout just going completely crazy over them.

 

[dirt clod]

The carpenter bees with the white dot on there head have no stinger. animals and many people don't know that and has been the makings for many jokes. Its really funny to wrap some thread around the joint at there body Leaving two feet of thread to which you attach tape. Its really funny watching a dog trying to out run this big bee thats stays right with him.

 

[RoyJackson]

The carpenter bees with the white dot on there head have no stinger. animals and many people don't know that and has been the makings for many jokes. Its really funny to wrap some thread around the joint at there body Leaving two feet of thread to which you attach tape. Its really funny watching a dog trying to out run this big bee thats stays right with him.

That is extremely cruel and disgusting.