Carpenter Bees.....

[The Evil Twin]

Yeah, I know. We live in the woods. Bees are gonna do bee things. I leave everything alone that I can. But the Carpenter Bees.... they can be damaging! I don't want to kill pollinators if I don't have to. I found some telltale burrows in untreated wood blocks I use for RV leveling. Also turned on the hose bib to fill a watering can and out came 4 of them!
What have yall found to work at keeping these creatures out of your eaves and wood structures? I've read a lot on the interweb but like Abe Lincoln said "half of what you read on the internet is a lie. The other half you shouldn't believe"

 

[bbxlr8]

HATE them with a passion and will hunt them down and kill them with NO remorse, unlike other pollinators. They ate my cedar wood siding at my old place & go after unpainted parts of the shed & chicken coop here.

I've seen various trap contraptions for sale & was going to make some... (google it)

They are getting bad around here now. I spray the burrows, put 0000 steel wool in the hole (they can't chew it out), and hunt them with a badminton racquet (must be quite a sight but I don't care - it is strangely satisfying)

 

[Bmyers]

We tried some of the wood traps, limited success. We tried some different powder/spray stuff, they just moved to another spot.

The only thing that we had luck with was glue traps. RESCUE! TrapStik for Wasps, Mud Daubers, Carpenter Bees - 3 Pack is what we bought from Farm and Home (you can get them Amazon and I would assume anywhere.

The downside, you will catch more than just carpenter bees. Yet, that was a plus for us, we caught a bunch of wasp. After three years of placing them in the barns, it has greatly reduced the numbers. They use to be flying everywhere, now you may see one or two, not 100 or more.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

We’ve got a lot cabin and wood boring bees and carpenter ants are enemies of our sovereign property. Defense starts with paint / stain. Spray exterior with an insecticide, if you find a home / saw dust, dust them with borax….the sprays that shoot a stream are good for around the sophet / eves if you catch them in the act. And for the low fliers in late afternoon after work, I use an Adirondack chair on the porch and my favorite drink, and then when you see them good ol tennis racket….GSD cleans them up when they they hit the ground.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Good stuff. Looks like I'm taking up tennis. Lol.
I have read that citrus oil will repel them. Not sure if that is really true. I was thinking of trying that.
All of our house fascia is painted or aluminum faced. My concern is them getting behind stuff and boring in from the backside. Most notably, I have seen them have interest in the peaks of the roof where the shingles/ boards meet. There are tiny gaps there (totally normal). I was thinking of somehow shooting some diatomaceous earth in there. Pesticide if I must.

 

[imnukensc]

I make my own carpenter bee traps. They seem to work pretty well for me. Plenty of youtube videos on how to make them.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Traps will be going up.
I'll check out the traps.
Was hoping for a spray of some sort to make certain areas uninviting.

 

[85Hokie]

Funny you mention this topic - I have those damn bees eating up everything I own for the last couple of years...... my answer was an old tennis racket - now thats funny as hell watching be crush the living @#$#@ out of a bee and stomping his a$$ into the ground.

Then my sister got a hold of some traps that I thought would never work ......... boy was I wrong, those bees get into that trap faster than I could have imagined.

Leaving work to pick up 2 of the mason jar type traps this afternoon!!!

 

[pigdoc]

Carpenter bees will happily burrow into even CCA-treated lumber after it's been installed a couple of years.
You can drive a nail into their individual holes to discourage them.
One of the more benign tactics...

-Paul

 

[dirtydeed]

I hate them with a passion as well. Log home here and there is no insurance coverage for carpenter bees and subsequent wood fkng peckers. I use carpenter bee traps (the homemade kind with wood block and a bottle). They work pretty well.

I won't discuss on here what I use for the wood peckers.

 

[NCL4701]

Edited: I don’t have carpenter bees.

My original answer was true, but in looking back at how long ago Lindane was banned my answer wasn’t useful.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

A copper based preservative seems to work well, but it is very messy. Fine for under a deck, but not anyplace where appearance matters.

And it's getting hard to find.

An 8 year old with a badminton racket will reduce their population, but they get tired of it after a while, and those things seem to keep coming.

 

[SAR Tracker]

Now if you want to REALLY have some fun, https://www.harborfreight.com/electronic-fly-insect-swatter-63681.html

 

[JasonW]

I’ve delt with carpenter bees for a few years. This spring was the worst so far, my son and I could easily kill 20-30 every afternoon and not put a noticeable dent in them. Of probably hundreds flying around Just what we could hit with tennis rackets.
They were mainly in my shop which is untreated rough cut lumber. I ended up spraying the entire building with permethrin. And a few days later sprayed it with bifenthrin, only because I had some from a few years ago.
It took about two full weeks and no more bees since.
Traps did not work for me as their nests were already in my building.

 

[Motion]

I'll give them credit, they sure bore a perfect size and very consistence.

 

[dirtydeed]

I'll give them credit, they sure bore a perfect size and very consistence.

They sure do! But that is all lost when the wood peckers tear into your face boards to get at the larvae. They aren't nearly as neat.

 

[Freeheeler]

They sure do! But that is all lost when the wood peckers tear into your face boards to get at the larvae. They aren't nearly as neat.

I'll have to post up some pics before I replace all the damage with composite products. Infuriating, but quite impressive just how much damage ole Woody can do. He truly is a pecker.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

BEE-gone is one product, though I like using spray brake cleaner..easy and instant.Always have 2 cases in garage....

 

[Lil Foot]

Haven't seen a carpenter bee for a couple years around here, until you guys brought it up.
Saw two just this morning.
But we did have the wettest winter on record; might have something to do with it.

 

[dirtydeed]

We had very few of them last year. To early to tell what will happen this year. Reminds me, I need to get a few more cans of brakekleen for em (aka instant death).

Edit: I'll have to try some Dawn dish soap on them this year. I used Dawn in a spry bottle to wipe out a hornet nest. I'm surprised at how well the diluted Dawn worked on them.