killing carpenter bees?

[Guest GunTroll]

I'm not sure if thats what you call em' here in TN but thats what I call em'. My problem is what the heck do you guys do to get rid of them short of putting out a blind and or stalking them. I have caulked up there holes. Sprayed them! Swatted and stomped on them. Nothing seems to outright work minus the stomping. They eat through the caulk. The spray I got doesn't appear to kill them. It does however stun them and allow me to squash them. Any suggestions? They are eating up my facing board on my porch. I can't just sit around on my porch and wait for them to appear so I can kill em'.

Thanks,

GT

[Daniel]

They chewed through the caulk I used aswell. They eat the horizontal board that faces down at my garage. I stand out there with a tennis racket. Especially happy when I hit one and its gets cut in half. Keeps me from having to go find and step on it.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Daniel
a vertical board cannot face down... Im slow.

[Oh Shoot]

Ya got any kind of sealant on the wood, like poly or oil based paint?

That generally deters them.

It's kind of rare to get so many that they actually do structural damage, though, but guess it happens.

- OS

[Guest GunTroll]

You know I don't know what kind of paint is on the board. They are flying behind the facing board were there is no paint. I just bought this house so I guess my "honey do list" got another task added.

[Guest TurboniumOxide]

Hire some mexican carpenter bees, and put them out of business.

[extremescene]

We fought these quite extensively a few years ago at the recording studio I work at. The females bore into the wood and the males swarm around the holes in hopes of getting to the females.

I recommend a professional exterminator who can come and inject the holes with a poison powder that will kill the ones inside the wood, thus preventing the males from swarming around the outside. We did this about 3 years ago and haven't had to redo the poison since. Pretty much eliminated the problem 100% with the exception of a few stragglers every now and again.

[extremescene]

I will add that wood sealers and special paint generally will not work... you still have them living inside the wood.

Edited September 12, 2009 by extremescene

[Guest GunTroll]

Hire some mexican carpenter bees, and put them out of business.

haha

[titan14]

Had them on my back deck for about 3 years, I finally got rid of them this year. The comment by collinp2 makes a lot of sense now...."The females bore into the wood and the males swarm around the holes in hopes of getting to the females."

I took a funnel and filled their holes with water....the "female" came out and got squashed....havent seen any since......

[Guest canynracer]

How to Get Rid of Carpenter Bees

[TNTitan]

AR

[Guest SUNTZU]

These critters are next to impossible to deter. Many paints and sealers have no effect on the Carpenter Borg. I suggest Raid. Barring that, the Orkin man.

Mexican Carpenter bees. ROFL.

Or you can kill it with fire...then rebuild.

[ghawk249]

Many years ago I worked with a pest control company. First get some Boric acid powder, this can be purchased at any drug store, and place some in the holes. Then either wood caulk or putty. the best thing to plug the holes are 1/2 inch wood dowels placed in the holes. The bees bore a perfect 1/2 inch hole better than you could drill. Then paint or stain the boards.

[seez52]

I get some of the CCI .22 shot cartridges and have a blast. They're fun to shoot at when they are flying around. When you hit them they just fall straight to the ground. It's great fun and pretty good practice. Just be careful of your backstop.

[pitt2magic]

I like to use my tennis

racquet to send them to

their death.

[tntnixon]

I've got some Dursban that I bought just before the EPA removed it from the market for just such an occassion. Still the best that's ever been made. If you've got a sprayer, I might be willing to part with a little of the concentrate.

[frontier737]

Hire some mexican carpenter bees, and put them out of business.

[oldogy]

A spent 45 cartridge is about the right size to plug the holes. Quite decorative. I've found that some kinds of 'wasp' spray seems to work. Brake cleaner does the job.

When I bought this place they had been into a door header molding so bad I had to replace it.

oldogy

[Steve_cru]

Ghawk is correct. You need to put some type of dust (boric acid/ seven dust) into the hole then fill it and restain/paint. They typically come back to the same spot so you most likely will have to do this for a few years until you can break the cycle. Good luck

[analog_kidd]

I had them something terrible on a porch on a house I was remodeling. We would take breaks from work and whack them with 1x4's. I thought there was only a handful, till we started counting how many we killed. We could kill dozens at a time, and the next day there would be just as many.

I eventually rebuilt the porch, and used pressure treated wood, and painted it all. That seemed to send them off, but it is the end of their season here, so we'll have to see next summer.

I did build one of those Carpenter Bee traps you can find on Google, but I didn't catch a single one. Made a good conversation piece though.

[Currently]

I have used the vacuum technique for several years especially with yellow jacket nests under vinyl. If the nest has any size to it, use a step ladder or a couple of chairs with zip ties to tie the wand down so that it is 2 to 3 inches from the entrance.

Start the vacuum up; which can be a shop vac or cannister vac, and walk away for a couple hours. Never had to do it a third day. Usually one or two sessions lasting an hour and a half to two hours will do it.

[Rightwinger]

I have twice the trouble with these things now. Our cabin is left unattended for weeks at a time so its nice and quiet. The bees are busy burrowing in the 2x4s supporting the porch roofs. Like you guys we kill em when we see them and stick things in the holes. The last two years though something is digging in to eat the bees! We believe it's woodpeckers that have found these easy pickings but now we have holes from the bottom going up into the 2x4 from the bees and long ugly holes in the sides of the 2x4 from the birds attacking and eating the bees! I'll get pics of this next time I'm down there.

[frontier737]

I have heard spraying the hole with wd-40 helps.

[jughead]

i like the 22 shot shells. i do that every year. cold beer and target practice. had a little trouble with them this year before cataract surgery. it will help ones reflexes.

[seez52]

i like the 22 shot shells. i do that every year. cold beer and target practice. had a little trouble with them this year before cataract surgery. it will help ones reflexes.

yes, and my preference is either a P-22 or Beretta 21A