Carpenter bees

#29
#29
We do have woodpeckers here. Husband bought a bb gun to run one off on our chimney last year. Heard one the other day, but we haven't seen it yet.
 
#32
#32
s1216 said:
You guys aren't getting it. If you trap the bugs in the wood, woodpeckers will dig them out causing additional damage
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A good way to lure woodpeckers away from your house is to hang a piece of fat/suet a good distance away from your house in the backyard.

The only problem with this method is that every stray dog in the neighborhood will be circling your house. :unsure:
 
#33
#33
Imidacloprid and cyfluthrin... They sell a concentrate at lowes w these two ingredients... Termites carpenter bees and carpenter ants require higher concentrations than other insects.. Quart of concentrate made by Bayer is 20 bucks.. Can treat entire perimeter with plenty left over.. You could use bifenthrin or lambda cyhalothrin , I use bombs in my crawl space with cypermethrin.. Stay away from any I didnt mention
 
#34
#34
So, we got all the places on the front porch and the deck that we could see. We still have a few hanging around apparently.

This one came in on my son's back. lol He felt something on his neck in the kitchen and swatted at it. It stung him. Then it got smushed after snapping a pic.
 
#41
#41
vollygirl said:
So, we got all the places on the front porch and the deck that we could see. We still have a few hanging around apparently.

This one came in on my son's back. lol He felt something on his neck in the kitchen and swatted at it. It stung him. Then it got smushed after snapping a pic.
Click to expand...

Really? Must have been a female carpenter bee. The males do not have stingers.
 
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#43
#43
I have these same things in my wooden fence. My fence is covered with carpenter ants and I assumed they were causing all the damage. However, now that I've read this post I realize that carpenter bees may be the culprit. These huge bees are around and coming in and out of the tunnels eaten into the fence.

I believed that they were bumblee bees and were taking over the nest of the ants. Who knew?

Im gonna try the treatment suggestions on here and see what happens. In past years I've sprayed my fence with something bought at Walmart designed for carpenter ants (that's proven worthless). Hopefully this thread will lead to a solution. Thanks.
 
#44
#44
DyronNix said:
I have these same things in my wooden fence. My fence is covered with carpenter ants and I assumed they were causing all the damage. However, now that I've read this post I realize that carpenter bees may be the culprit. These huge bees are around and coming in and out of the tunnels eaten into the fence.

I believed that they were bumblee bees and were taking over the nest of the ants. Who knew?

Im gonna try the treatment suggestions on here and see what happens. In past years I've sprayed my fence with something bought at Walmart designed for carpenter ants (that's proven worthless). Hopefully this thread will lead to a solution. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Fire works well.
 
#45
#45
You don't want to get rid of the carpenter bees. If you have a garden then you'll benefit greatly by leaving them be. They are excellent pollinators. You can draw them away from your house by putting up some bare soft wood (pine or fir works) in various areas (the garden especially). They go for the unpainted stuff first, especially if it's softer than the wood on your porch/house.
 
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#46
#46
GRRRRRRR these little beeches are eating up my deck, now. There's only two holes, and they are on the underside of the lower railing, so you can never see them. However, I keep seeing piles of sawdust appear and so I'm gonna have to smoke these little varmints out.

Has anything worked for you, VG? I'm just gonna tear down my deck and build it out of cedar! I almost built it out of cedar initially, because my friend who runs a mill out of his barn was going to sell me some cedar for the same price I could get PT pine at HD. Planing and sanding it was just going to be too much work, though.
 
#47
#47
The deck is stained, too. My dog has been eating them, but it just seems there's too many of them, and/or they are too fast for him!
 
#48
#48
thehardknoxlife said:
You don't want to get rid of the carpenter bees. If you have a garden then you'll benefit greatly by leaving them be. They are excellent pollinators. You can draw them away from your house by putting up some bare soft wood (pine or fir works) in various areas (the garden especially). They go for the unpainted stuff first, especially if it's softer than the wood on your porch/house.
Click to expand...

Structural integrity of deck > garden pollination
 
#50
#50
Staining doesn't do much to deter them from what I've read and what we found. The lower railing on our front porch is where we found the piles, and sure enough, it wasn't painted.

On our deck, they got several places. Most of the stain and poly were gone from those places from wear. We'll end up replacing our deck at some point as well. Mostly because my son's dog ate it. Ate our deck.

We sprayed into the holes. Let it set an hour or so, and the bees came out and eventually died. Then we sprayed again for good measure, stuffed the holes with steel wool, and covered them with spackle. And when I say "we", I mean my husband.

Porch is getting re-painted soon, and this time ALL the wood will be painted whether you can see or not.

Good luck!
 
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