Carpenter Bee Season in the SE

[5030]

It is that time of the year again, carpenter bees coming to get your wood structures. I had pretty bad issues over the years with the beasts.

Last year I started a program to eradicate these pests and keep them from eating my structures. I used a combination of a spray to treat the wood in the worst hit spots and a powder to dose their holes. I felt pretty good about it last year. After the first treatment I noticed CONSIDERABLY less bee activity.

Year 2 is starting out as I had expected. Some are coming back, but not in the numbers of last year. So I will make the same treatments as last year where needed and repeat.

Carpenter bees are pretty predictable, they are not hiding as they eat your house, their big fat bodies are buzzing around letting you know exactly where they are doing their damage. For this system to work one must be vigilant. Look for them, observe where they are doing their damage and then pounce.

Good luck, stay strong and you too can beat the bees!

We have them too, just not yet. Last year I zapped a load of them with cans of non-chlorinated brake and parts cleaner. I can drop them in mid air. Gonna makes some of the wood block traps and try them. A couple 4x4 posts and some Mason jars works. Brake cleaner works well on jackets too. Instant death.

 

[5030]

I've always been impressed with the perfectly round holes they make and interestingly, they are all the same size too. Wife calls the 'bumble bees' because they are clumsy and bump into you.

 

[sixdogs]

Household products.View attachment 743439

I've done the best with a tennis racket or actually the tennis-type racket that has a shorter handle. I can knock them 20 feet. When you whack most of the nest, the queen will fly out to look for a new home so be on the lookout for new damage and get rid of her.

 

[SgtSluggo]

I've done the best with a tennis racket or actually the tennis-type racket that has a shorter handle. I can knock them 20 feet. When you whack most of the nest, the queen will fly out to look for a new home so be on the lookout for new damage and get rid of her.

You may be dealing with something other than carpenter bees if you are seeing a nest with multiple bees. Carpenter bees are solitary and don't have a queen.

 

[newbury]

You may be dealing with something other than carpenter bees if you are seeing a nest with multiple bees. Carpenter bees are solitary and don't have a queen.

From the wiki

Nesting[edit]​

X. virginica build their nests in wood, bamboo culms, agave stalks, and other comparable materials, but they prefer to nest in milled pine or cedar lumber. The nests are built by scraping wood shavings off of the wall. These shavings are then used to create partitions between nesting cells. The entrance cuts into the wood perpendicular to the grain, but they are built parallel beyond the entrance. These nests may be either social, containing groups of two to five females, or solitary. Social nests are more common,

 

[CalG]

I started loading up the Crosman 760 air rifle with cous cous.

Pump it up, shove a tiny wad of tissue down the bore with a length of brazing rod. Tip about 10 grains of cous cous down the bore using a post-it funnel, (I eyeballed the charge once, close enough) follow up with another "patch" to keep it all in place.

Mini wing shooting, damn hard to hit, Even at 6 feet or less, but great fun. Get 'em while they are loitering around the holes. Tough little bugs, I usually need to step on 'em to make sure they don't resurrect themselves.

 

[sixdogs]

You may be dealing with something other than carpenter bees if you are seeing a nest with multiple bees. Carpenter bees are solitary and don't have a queen.

After I killed most all of bees around my shed by whacking with a tennis racket, one of the couple remaining flew into my barn and stated chewing on the a rafter. I could see the shavings on the ground.

I locked the door and eventually it was at the window trying to get out. That where I got it. I didn't look for a crown but would think most bees follow someone around who is likely to continue the species and start a new nest . I don't know but that's what I figured since I've been following females around for a very long time. Maybe not a queen but some sort of point person.

 

[Deere Dude]

Bifen IT for the kill. Use backpack sprayer or tank sprayer and hose down all unpainted wood poducts in the spring and again in the fall. After one spraying the number really drops off. Once you break their returning tothe scene of the crime cycle you can slack off spraying,

I sprayed down open doored barn, grainery, wood piles and fire wood, outdoor wooden furniture, eves and siding on the house, bushes etc with great success. Keeps down bees, spiders, bugs of any sort,

Uses 2ozs per gallon of water so it is cheap to apply.

 

[sixdogs]

Household products.View attachment 743438View attachment 743439

Not sure about the WD-40 but the tennis racket is a winner. Just stand close where they are flying and eventually they will hover right in front of you and you can whack them back to the Stone Age. After 20 or 30 dead ones the queen figures it out and moves on.

 

[LouNY]

Well we are going to fix the carpenter bees bothering the house this summer new fasia, soffit and siding all James Hardi cement board, chew on this you danged things.