killing carpenter bees?

[Guest tnvolfan]

A friend of ours generously sprayed WD-40 in the hole and then caulked it shut. It would be worth a try before you spend big bucks on anything else.

[Oh Shoot]

I have used the vacuum technique for several years especially with yellow jacket nests under vinyl....

Dem Ooltewah yeller jackets must be nuts .. they build in the ground everywhere else in nature.

- OS

[Currently]

Wasn't in Ooltewah, was in Orono, Maine ten years ago.

They were going in and out of where the outside water faucet came out of the vinyl siding. Tried spraying wasp killer and got nowheres. Chair and vacuum took about an hour and a half. Vacuum sucked them up as they were trying to fly in and out of the hole in the vinyl siding. We called those yellow jackets and I think down here y'all call them hornets. Either way, they have very nasty dispositions.

Your bugs are different down here, never saw a carpenter bee till this past spring up at an old general store by the Devil's Triangle. Never saw a black widow till I moved down here. Maine is the only state that doesn't have poisionous snakes. They do have brown recluse spiders up there but I never saw one.

I did get rid of a couple of those long skinny black and red wasp nests on my house and my next door neighbor's back porch. He thought I was crazy till I got rid of it for him. Just hung around till there were no more, almost a dozen of them. <shrugs>

Edited September 13, 2009 by Currently

[enfield]

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

Wasp/Hornet spray works. Trouble is, by the time you find them, they've usually bored a hole and sometimes have laid eggs. I sprayed the wasp spray into one hole and killed the little bugger. Other holes I tried filling with caulk and that caused the grub to dig it's way out thru the caulk and kack in the yard. I've had the deck, fence and shed professionally sprayed twice this year and still have some damage -- from woodpeckers, not the bees.

Woodpeckers absolutely destroy your wood trying to get to the bees and/or grubs. Where the bee puts a single hole in the bottom of the board, the woodpecker puts a dozen in the top or side.

[Bubba0031]

I used to buy bug spray that could shoot 20ft thinking that if I could kill the one I saw flying around that I would solve my problem. Not. I learned from various websites on the subject that you are just wasting your time trying to kill the flying (male) bee. Spray the hole with the female in it and then seal it with the product of your choice. I use wood filler.

[Guest db99wj]

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.

Not sure how effective this technique is in getting rid of them ,but sure sounds like a lot of fun!

[Guest GunTroll]

Well I guess its safe to say I'm not alone in this one. I have been trying it all. I have sprayed directly into the hole(s) and then immediately caulking it closed. Sometimes I find just there heads laying on the deck. This is kind of weird. Not sure about what to think of that. I kill, caulk, spray, stomp. In a way it keeps me busy and killing something. I guess I'm lucky the woodpeckers haven't found this source of food (yet).

[TNTitan]

zombie bees perhaps?