Carpenter Bees

[lakelivin]

I've got a cedar log home (1st floor) with conventional second story over half of it (covered with cedar siding). I've also got a ****load of carpenter bees that have taken up residence. The mostly like the cedar trim boards & fascia, often in the hardest to reach places (like between the fascia & gutter, or behind the cedar trim surrounding windows).<br /><br />I'm working on killing as many as I can by spraying sevin powder in the holes I can find in the evening, and have resorted to some creative methods to get at the holes (like using one of those bendable plastic straws to get to the holes behind trim & spraying the powder through that).<br /><br />I'd like to augment this extermination attempt by killing the ones flying around within spraying distance during the day . Does anyone know if there is a particularly strong wasp spray that will take out carpenter bees? Don't know if the ones I've tried so far work or not, since the bees just fly off even when I hit them. Maybe they eventually die, but would be nice to see them drop so I know I'm not wasting my time & money. It's not an extremely efficient method to start 'cause those buggers are alot harder to hit than wasps. <br /><br />Before I got the Sevin, I used a permethrin based powder and also boric acid powder (like they market for roaches). One or the other or both worked (one morning found 4 dead adults on the deck below where I dusted holes), but didn't do anything that would help differentiate between the efficacy of the boric acid & the permethrin (as a matter of fact, in some holes I dusted with both products). If I can find similar habitats I may try to see if I can compare the boric acid with the Sevin. If the boric acid works, I'd much rather use that than a poison. <br /><br />Any other ideas?<br /><br />Thanks!

 

[ehenry]

Re: Carpenter Bees

Any wasp and hornet spray will kill bees on contact.

 

[gspig]

Re: Carpenter Bees

I've got them in my carport. I just use wasp and hornet spray on the flying ones and spray into the holes, it gets them too.

 

[lakelivin]

Re: Carpenter Bees

Originally posted by efhenry:<br /> Any wasp and hornet spray will kill bees on contact.

Not the carpenter bees I've got. I've hit them directly with two or three different brands of wasp spray and watched them fly off...

 

[flashback]

Re: Carpenter Bees

I have a friend who sprayed his cedar home with a product called "diazanon" I think that's what he called it.. anyway it seemed to do the job..good luck... I always wished I could train the darn things, they can bore the prettiest half inch holes...

 

[Tatorbug]

Re: Carpenter Bees

Both Diazanon and SA-50 Dursban will reduce the effects, but I have the same problem for years on my cabin and ait continues regardless of what I use. The Wasp and Hornet spray people love me.

 

[fireman57]

Re: Carpenter Bees

we used to just make an afternoon of whacking them with a tennis racket since carpenter bees can't sting.

 

[HeadHunt]

Re: Carpenter Bees

I had the same problem with my cedar home. I did alot of research and found a system that worked for me. You are close to it now. You have to break the cycle by killing the larve in the tunnels. Those are the ones that come back the next year. The ones swarming around are males. Killing them won't do much. Here is the procedure:<br /><br />1. When the females are finished drilling they most likely have laid their eggs.<br />2. Get a flexible hose and squirt Sevin dust as far into the tunels as you can.<br />3. Let the females go in and out for a few days. They will transport the sevin dust back into the chambers.<br />4. After a few days, fill the holes with wooden dowels and paint them.<br />5. When the larve are born the sevin dust will kill them and the cycle will be broken.<br /><br />I had a terrible problem with them. I followed this procedure and filled in about 40 holes and now I only get a couple each year. I stay on top of those and keep it manageable. It was so bad the wood peckers were tearing up my facia board to get to the larve. I had to replace several facia boards. Good Luck!!<br /><br />HeadHunt

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Carpenter Bees

Originally posted by fireman57:<br /> we used to just make an afternoon of whacking them with a tennis racket since carpenter bees can't sting.

Bee careful or you will get tennis elbow!

 

[fireman57]

Re: Carpenter Bees

James that was two thirds of a pun. PU. Tennis elbow would still bee better than tennis balls.

 

[rwise]

Re: Carpenter Bees

My brother sets and waits tell they go into there hole then takes a grease gun and fills the hole, they don't come back out.<br />I just use penetrating oil and spray the wood with it, they just leave. <br />these can stain the wood

 

[HeadHunt]

Re: Carpenter Bees

If the larve hatch and their hole is blocked they will drill a new hole to get out and return the next year.<br />HeadHunt

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Carpenter Bees

Don't the larvae need oxygen at some point? You'd think they'd sufficate before drilling a new hole?

 

[lakelivin]

Re: Carpenter Bees

Headhunter, I did some research & came up with much the same info as you. Additional things I'd add:<br /><br />Male carpenter bees (white or yellow spot on face) are very aggressive, but can't sting. Female carpenter bees (black face) CAN sting, but are not at all aggressive. Supposedly you have to really annoy them in order to trigger an attack.<br /><br />The bees drill straight in for 1/2" or so, and then the tunnel takes a 90 degree turn for the main tunnel. The female builds arteries off the main tunnel, lays larvae (or eggs which hatch into larvae, forget which) and then seals the artery with a pollen/ wax(?) mix that will provide food for the larvae. You can't kill the larvae at this time cause it's tunnel is sealed off by the pollen mix. The larvae emerge in the fall as bees. The parent bees die off during the summer.<br /><br />Supposedly Sevin, permethrin based insecticide dust, or even boric acid dust can be used to kill the bees in their holes. Hopefully dust will stay in the holes & take out a good proportion of the new bees in the fall, but I'm going to redust late summer just in case. Then, after I'm pretty sure I've got most of them, I'll stuff in a small bit of aluminum foil to seal and fill with wood putty.<br /><br />Sounds like it might take a year or so to break the cycle, but at least now I know what to do. <br /><br />Biggest problem is the *****rds like to drill BEHIND the cedar trim around windows, or in a hard to reach place on the fascia boards, making it difficult to spot their holes. Look for yellow spots on the wood from their waste, which they often 'drop off' before going into their tunnel, and check above that for a hole. I've got a tool thats a small mirror that swivels on a telescoping rod which is really helpful in searching behind the trim boards. I also cut off a piece of one of those flexible plastic straws for some of the hard to reach holes & spray the dust through the straw.

 

[HeadHunt]

Re: Carpenter Bees

They drill in hidden places to avoid the woodpeckers. ain't natural selection a good teacher!!<br /><br />HeadHunt

 

[Mark42]

Re: Carpenter Bees

I get them drilling in the joists of my deck from the bottom. When I see the saw dust on the plants below, I spray the underside of the deck with plain old Raid. The walk in it, carry it into the holes. Next day the bees are gone.<br /><br />They do know how to make a prefectly round hole, don't they?