Carpenter Bees

[GardeNerd]

Quote:
I agree and think that is a better strategy if they aren't in epic proportions.

The type of Carpenter Bees we have in coastal SoCal are very docile, solitary, and almost never sting. I only know of one house in the neighborhood with them living in wood, and they are not a problem level. The males in Southern Cal. are all honey yellow color and the females are all black and about 1 to 1 1/2 inch in size. They look big and scary, but they are not.

We have very few pollinators around here since as soon as a honey bee hive moves in, people call the exterminator. Folks are afraid they might be aftricanized or killer bees. I would never kill the carpenter bees here since we need all the pollinators we can get. Maybe it is different in other parts of the country.

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:
I totally understand, we have them tooo!

 

[michiganlarry]

I live in a white cedar log home and they are a real pain. I kill every one I see whether its a male or not. Seems like there a LOTS this year.

I also plug up the holes as they will reuse the same hole and make it deeper the next time.

And they will eat through anything you can coat the wood with. I've tried lots of different things in the 12 years we have lived in our house. If you find a fresh hole spray Raid in it and it will kill the eggs and the adult if it is in there.

 

[Bluemoon420]

The carpenter bees we had at our old house were VERY aggressive. They attacked DH everytime he had to mow the lawn. I am highly allergic to any type of bee, so I was stuck in my house. I do know that the type of carpenter bees we had requires a professional to come out. We tried to spray for them ourselves with several different products, and none of them worked.
After talking with a friend who works for a pest control company. She told me the type we had will come back every year, and you have to use a special type of chemical to get rid of them. The normal over the counter stuff doesn't work. We found that out the hard way.

Thankfully, I never got stung. I always had an epi pen on hand just in case, but it was an awful experience being scared to leave my house to get in the car

Bluemoon

 

[Equus5O]

I've not had any problems with aggressive Carpenter Bees.

I didn't know that the Carpenters pollinated. All I've seen in the flowers are the bumble bees. They don't bother me, either.

I just don't like having my stuff all hole-y and Swiss Cheese-y!

 

[aupoet]

There are some ways to deter and kill carpenter bees, as far as preventing them totally the best way is to cover all your exposed wood sofits with metal flashing or vinyl. We have western red cedar siding on our house that is stained and they have never touched it, but any pine, popular, or other softwood they drill right into. They don't eat the wood but use it to nest in, so if you want to kill alot of them you need to treat the holes with a poison that they won't detect. If you use a poison they can sense, the females will simply abandon that hole and make another. Boric acid is the best poison as she will spread it around to kill all her young before it kills her. There are ways to prevent and kill them. Check out my article on ehow. If you like it give me a good rating. http://www.ehow.com/how_4873688_kill-treat-prevent-carpenter-bees.html

 

[jenjscott]

Try spraying with a stong vanilla scented solution.