Carpenter bee trap help needed.

[Gunny]

I've put up several and it always seems that one or two traps in an area will catch most or all of the bees and the others don't do much at all.

I'm also experimenting with small brown paper bags wadded up to look something like a wasp nest and stapling them up in areas the bees inhabit. I've heard that carpenter bees don't get along with wasps and won't burrow near any wasp nests.

This the type I've wound up building, seems to be easier and quicker to build than other versions: How to Build a Carpenter Bee Trap

 

[NoTrespassing]

I've put up several and it always seems that one or two traps in an area will catch most or all of the bees and the others don't do much at all.

I'm also experimenting with small brown paper bags wadded up to look something like a wasp nest and stapling them up in areas the bees inhabit. I've heard that carpenter bees don't get along with wasps and won't burrow near any wasp nests.

This the type I've wound up building, seems to be easier and quicker to build than other versions: How to Build a Carpenter Bee Trap

I don't know about that. I've got both wasp and carpenter bees all over in one wooden building.

My one bee trap has only got one bee in it right now and I've swatted at least 6 with a badminton racket.

Kevin

 

[Ford850]

I've tried a lot of things (traps, sprays, dusts, etc.) I started using permethrin, mixed according to instructions, in a garden sprayer (2 gallon). I adjust the spray to a fine jet stream and walk around early in the spring spraying the holes in my shed or barn. Soak each hole, and you'll kill anything inside and also kill all that come looking for a queen for weeks.

 

[bamboozled]

I made one like this. Worked like a charm, worked so good I changed the bottles a couple of times because they got so full.

Making Carpenter Bee Traps - All

 

[arrow]

I get permethrin powder and mix in plain petroleum jelly. I smear this in and around the hole. If they touch it, they die and it keeps on killin.. I also find they do not like to eat threw oil base paint as opposed to bare wood.

You can kind of "prime" the house by putting a dead carpenter bee in there. I've noticed that once I get one in a trap, it seems to draw others into it. I don't know if it's because the rest of the bees are yelling "I'm trapped, I'm trapped"! or if the smell draws them in.

 

[Deere Dude]

I do enjoy using a badminton club on them because it doesn't hurt the wrist like a tennis racket.

I had a barn infestation of carpenter bees that made some boards look like swish cheese, almost; enough to get nervous about anyway. I researched and many ideas were to go to a hole and squirt some stuff in it but from ground level up to 15-20' on a 40-60' barn was way to many holes to do that. It would have taken a year to get through them all.

I found some stuff called Bifen IT on a do it yourself pest control website. It is a termicide that kills termites, fire ants, spiders and hundreds of nasty bugs, and of course bugs you like no doubt. I bought a couple gallons of the chemical. I mixed 2 ounces per gallon of water in a 25 gallon garden tractor sprayer. I then proceeded to spray every stick of bare wood, treated or otherwise with a generous mist. I sprayed my wood piles, my soffits and facia on the house and barn, any cracks where bugs can come through, inside my garage on the corners of the walls and the garage doors and man doors and even windows, my grainery that I use for a remote workshop, even some treated wood lawn furniture I made. I was mowing by a couple rows of 5-12' pines and notice carpenter bees were all over them to so I sprayed them down and that took care of them.

Anyway, I went from thousands of carpenter bees to a dozen the first month or two and then a few months later I sprayed the same thing again just to make sure. Now I see carpenter bees outside flying around but they stay away from anything constructed from wood. Tennessee has a lot of nasty spiders and since then I haven't seen any spiders in or around the house and barn which makes my wife very appreciative.

I haven't seen any negative affects other than the first year when I sprayed all my wife's flowers that were surrounding the house. They wouldn't pollinate so after that I tried to miss them.

I spray every spring and maybe touch it up in July or August if I feel energetic. the thing about Carpenter Bees, they will return to the nest and same location a few months after they leave so you need to break that cycle. I go through about 75 gallons of mixed spray per year so I use maybe a gallon and a half which cost about $50 maybe.

I still have my 7 bee traps set around the barn and grainery but only catch a few a year in each one maybe because they stay away more now. If IU jast had a smaller area a backpack sprayer would work fine but I had to big of an area for that plus I needed some reach to get up to the ceiling.

Bifen IT is a brand name but the chemical is sold under a bunch of different names.

 

[mvwwld4u]

 

[mvwwld4u]

A couple pictures of a trap I built for my mother a few years ago. The bottom bottle has been emptied many times.

 

[scdeerslayer]

I've put up several and it always seems that one or two traps in an area will catch most or all of the bees and the others don't do much at all.

I'm also experimenting with small brown paper bags wadded up to look something like a wasp nest and stapling them up in areas the bees inhabit. I've heard that carpenter bees don't get along with wasps and won't burrow near any wasp nests.

This the type I've wound up building, seems to be easier and quicker to build than other versions: How to Build a Carpenter Bee Trap

What't the point of having the 45 degree angle on the top of the block?

 

[riptides]

What't the point of having the 45 degree angle on the top of the block?

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