Carpenter bees!!!!!

[PhysAssist]

We live in a log home so I got a pretty rough introduction to carpenter bees! :thumbdown: They seem worst on the south side of the house (where there's a 2 story peak) but I've found their holes all over the house and the detached garage.

I found a company called DoMyOwnPestControl.com and use their "Delta Dust" for the bees. I have a hand duster right now, but I'm thinking about getting a pole duster so I don't have to get out the ladder to hit the high ones. (I hate ladders, and it's heavy!).

When we restained the house 2 years ago, we added insecticide (recommended by the log home stain supplier) to the stain. It doesn't appear to make any difference in repelling the bees.

I like to do the badminton racket thing too! Every now and then you'll hit one just right and he'll end up getting caught in the webbing! :laughing: If I happen to catch one that's in the process of drilling (and I can reach it), I'll get out my pocket knife and just stick it in the bee. Then I'll dust the hole to keep another one continuing the dig. Also interesting to see a pile of dead bees right under a hole/tunnel that I've dusted - the bees go in and out and then die.

I might try some traps this year. Obviously, there is no perfect solution and it's going to be an ongoing problem as long as we live here.

Hi Mark,

We have a log home too, and despite any sealant we have used, with or without insecticide, they are terrible, especially as you said on the southern exposure, which for us is the the 2-story side of our ranch-style house.

Unfortunately, we do get them on every side, and with the 2 gable ends, (obviously) facing east and west, they are bad on the ends too.

I have mostly pursued a campaign of opening sealed nests, swirling a stiff wire around inside them to break up egg sacks, and then spraying a long-acting insecticide into them before plugging them with wood putty.

Unfortunately, I have been dealing with some health issues the past few years and they have largely curtailed my bee-fighting, so they have been getting out of control despite using a racquet whenever we're on the porch or deck, and spraying any open or active holes we can whenever we can.

That's why we decided to add the traps to the equation, because at least they can lower the population a little more, inxa way that requires a minimum of effort and ladder work.

We know it's not THE answer, but it can be a part of a comprehensive plan.

The other thing we did, which may also help, was to cover another of their favorite targets (the eave and rake boards) with aluminum flashing trim inside and out.

Since they were even higher than most of the logs they target, that is another place I am happy to no longer have to be constantly working at keeping uninfested.

We're just going keep banging away at them here, because it is as Ford850 said, if you can get the population knocked down, it's a minor maintenance issue, not a huge deal.

Thanks for the links to resources!
Thomas
PS: To the guy who patented *A* bee trap design: I hardly think that my posting links to DIY trap sites, and TBN members, using ANY pictures we have found posted on the interweb as a design aid to make our own bee traps is in ANYway, a copyright enfringement on someone's internet-based trap business- as you were never going to get me to buy one anyway, and if I HAD ever bought one, it would only ever have been to use as a template for my own anyway.

 

[s219]

Seems like bee butter is permethrin mixed into petroleum jelly, about 2%. Be interesting to see if we could just mix some up using vaseline.

 

[Deere Dude]

I used Bee Butter for several years, but unfortunately it's no longer produced. What I plan to do this year is spray a fine stream of Bifen IT into the existing holes, where I used to use the BB. I've tried the traps, but in my opinion they are just a 'feel good' solution. You feel good because you see they do catch some bees, and you didn't use chemicals. But if there are old holes around your buildings, they are full of females producing hundreds of new bees and you are fighting a losing battle with traps alone. you would have to plug all the old holes for the traps to work best. For me, the BB worked well, lasted for a year, and nearly wiped out the population. I know they will never be gone, as new bees move in to the territory, but I'd say 90 - 95% of them are eliminated within a couple days by treating the old holes. And the old holes are the most used, since they are located in prime areas that the bees choose. After reducing the population, any time a new bee entered one of those holes through the summer, it was a eliminated.

I sprayed all showing wood with BIFIN IT for two years, twice each year. I see very few Carpenter Bees on any bare wood anymore. Bees come back to the same place year after year, I read, but if I can break the cycle I might have a Bee free place. The bad thing I might have a problem with is, I just planted a dozen fruit trees around the barn and may not get much polination if no bees.

But, they are still around because when I mow the big 4 acre lawn around and in front of the barn I see them buzzing around a couple feet above the grass as I drive through. As long as they stay there I'm happy.

I think what I will do is take my copyright infringed bee traps and stick them all over the lawn just to see what I will catch.

 

[viziers]

Or you could use these... Just sayin!

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vizi

 

[dalola]

I have good luck with the traps also. I always bait them with a couple dead bees, seems to draw them in quicker by scent. I also use a butterfly net on an extension pole....net them & put the boot to them. Since doing this, my populations are steadily declining. Last spring was the first spring I had no new holes.

 

[prichard]

I've had good luck with home made traps. 1" hole most of the way from bottom to top of 6" length of scrap 4x4. Then 1/2" holes from each side to middle about 30 degrees up. Drill a hole in the top of a glass jar. Screw cover to bottom of 4x4 and attach jar. I put them close to where they're already drilling and that sucker fills up fast.

 

[Ford850]

The best way as i know it is to use carpenter trap. For example this model Rescue TSW-BB6 Visilure TrapStik.

3 posts total, and each one directs us to the same site. Spam.