Carpenter Bee Season Is ALMOST Here,, My Traps,,

[CADplans]

Well, it is almost carpenter bee season,, and I had a couple 4X4 posts rot off at ground level,, the rest of the post was perfect.

So, I made these traps out of the old posts,, using ideas I found on YouTube videos.

It turned out that a hole made with a flat blade 1" bit is perfect for a plastic Coke bottle to screw into, and it is a tight fit.

I made them several different ways, to see if there is a difference in how the bees are attracted,,

One thing I added that I had not seen before, is crumpled aluminum foil in the bottle.

Supposedly, the bee will go into the bottle if it sees light, thinking that is the way out..
The bees should see the reflection of the foil better,, hopefully.

We will see,,,,:thumbsup:

Have you made any Carpenter Bee Traps?
Please show us pics of your trap(s)

 

[BoylermanCT]

Thank you for sharing. The bees like to bore into my log sided garage. I go after them with spray each year, but will try these traps as well. The only thing worse than the bees are the wood peckers which open up long channels going after the larva.

 

[s219]

I need to prepare for them. I already have a bunch of traps but some new ones can't hurt. I have a lot of scrap pine siding from a barn project and it's nice and fragrant. Supposedly that will attract them.

 

[sea2summit]

I don’t have much luck with traps.

I have a lot of luck with giving the children BB guns and offering a $1 bounty though:thumbsup:

 

[CADplans]

I took a 4 foot length of treated 20 year old 2x6 out of the garden this weekend,,
I wonder if anyone has a plan for a trap made out of 2x6??

Those bees sure seem to be attracted to older wood,,,,

 

[Fuddy1952]

Brake clean and a badminton racket.

 

[CobyRupert]

How do these traps work?
Doesn't the bee eventually crawl back out the small hole?

 

[aczlan]

How do these traps work?
Doesn't the bee eventually crawl back out the small hole?

The reason it works is they see the hole from the outside, they crawl in, see the light (coming up from the bottle) and crawl towards the light to block it off and lay their eggs. Then they fall into the bottle and with the non direct path out, they can't see daylight through the small hole and so they can't get back out.
I made similar traps with baby food jars and caught a few carpenter bees in them.
Some didn't catch any, others caught 3-8.

Aaron Z

 

[shovelmike]

I don’t have much luck with traps.

I have a lot of luck with giving the children BB guns and offering a $1 bounty though:thumbsup:

I have one trap in the barn, it has caught a half dozen of them but they seem to have gotten wise to it.
sea2summit: That's some precision shooting by the kids, I think I need some lessons from them.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Thanks for the reminder. I have a 3 year old shed roof off my container and the rafter on the outside of it has been eaten up by carpenter bees. I need to stop this. Going to make traps soon!