How to bumout and discourage carpenter bees. Cover their nesting tunnel holes with duct tape. Here's how:
Now wait for the diligent little sucker to start trying to 'break out' because he/she thinks "heck it's just thin cloth. Voila"! Eventually, it's little white nose will poke through a small hole in the thick sticky wall. Then it will probably, foolishly try to squeeze its body out when the hole is just barely large enough.
There's a "sticky" little problem here because it's hairy torso will become hopelessly glued in the tape's tough adhesive and here it will probably remain till death, unable to get out or back into the tunnel again. (This will be a nano-trophy-for the vindictive!)
However, if you're in a hurry and don't need any nano trophies. When you see there's a hole started in the tape - just peel your tape up, move it over an inch and stick it down once again. This forces the poor little critter to start clawing at the stinky, powerful adhesive wall all over again. Soon you'll notice bees moving away from places of human activity (such as your deck railing)! :)
Carpenter bees (look similar to bumble bees) are making Swiss cheese of my house. I took up all my azaleas and other flowers, hoping the bees would move on, but that seemed to make no difference at all! Also, most of their holes are underneath my porch railing in an area too tight to get a shot into the holes with any kind of spray.
Every day there are fresh piles of sawdust all along under my porch railing. I tried using duct tape to tape squares of plastic (cut from milk jugs) over each hole, using a mirror to see the holes. I was amazed to see that they cut a nice neat round hole right through the tape and plastic. Any ideas?
I have resorted to standing guard with bee spray and flyswatter, taking out one bee at a time. Help!
By Debra
Try these traps ordered online. The carpenter bees were eating holes in my shutters. Wish I had found these sooner.
I used to have a large infestation of carpenter bees. This year this is only a handful. What I did was to put undiluted white vinegar in a spray bottle. Using the stream setting, spray vinegar into the hole until it runs out and then stuff it with cotton or anything that will plug the hole.
I read that if you just plug the hole, that they can bore on through. My husband puts a shot of ordinary caulk in the hole and it seems to work. I guess they can't take all that goo!
I have carpenter bees making many holes in my back porch. I can't even sit out there without being buzzed several times around my head. The bees aren't aggressive to the point where they act as if they're going to sting me or anything; but I'd like to be able to enjoy my back porch without the continuous whirring sound. How do I get rid of these carpenter bees?
By Crzybaby71 from USA
Wait till evening when they return to the holes they are drilling and spray them.
They will bore their way back out and the female will sting. It's the female that drills in the wood, the males are the ones you usually seeing hovering around. They bored in our wooden screen door, we sprayed, then patched the hole, the bees drilled another hole below the original hole and I saw three come out! I searched getting rid of these bees and found a video on Youtube of how to make traps with a 20oz drink bottle and six small pieces of wood.
I have some bees on my front porch that drill holes in the wood overhead that holds the porch cover. The holes are perfectly round and deep, they leave saw dust all over from their drilling. Does anyone know what kind of bee this is, or how to get rid of it?
By Patt Beard from TX
Apparently this is a Carpenter bee (I'd never heard of them before). This site has videos of them and the man says they "most definitely" cause damage.
Here in Tenn we call them boring bees. Not sure if that's the official name for them. They look much like bumble bees. They like pine and will bore holes all in it. We have them going at our pine frame on our shed. The saw dust they throw back out is mixed with there spit. I guess you would say it will not come off the side of the garage. They are a true pest.
We've had this problem for years and have always called them wood bees. They arrive yearly to bore holes in our wood covered patio. We do not put out poison of any type due to our dogs; however, we do try to control the situation. This may sound a bit silly but we take badminton racquets (purchased at Dollar Tree or Dollar General) and use them to swat the bees to the ground (which stuns them) then kill them by hitting them or stepping on them.
They are carpenter bees. They return year after year to the same place and their numbers grow. If you google carpenter bee there are several sites that tell how to get rid of them.
Hello, When I lived in AZ we called them carpenter bees, and now I live in TN and they call them borer bees. Anyways, the way we take of them is when they go in their hole we get the caulking gun and caulk their hole shut. My grandpa used to spray kerosene in the hole first. I think they always loved the unpainted wood. Hope this helps.
How do I get rid of wood bees and protect against their return.
By Bruce
I was wondering if carpenter bee traps actually work? They look good and I want to believe they are low maintenance, but are they?
We have a huge carpenter bee issue at home. They love our wood deck, cedar trim, and composite siding. I cannot go outside with my kids to play (2 and 1 yr) because they attack us. We paid someone to treat them last year and they are back. If we use your products and are able to rid them from our house, how do we keep them from coming back since our neighbors and neighborhood is infested with them? They are everywhere! Even walking down the side walk, they will chase you. I get attacked everyday I try to get our mail (from our wooden mailbox). I am so frustrated.
By Nicole H
Forget the other tips about building a bird house-like trap with a soda bottle on the bottom, to entrap and kill carpenter bees. I built one, and mounted it right next to the existing bee hole. They buzzed around it and checked it out, but not a single bee ever entered it.
How do I get rid of carpenter bees?
Hardiness Zone: 7b
By tntz71 from Charlotte, NC
These bees are beautiful, I have had a small nest of them, maybe 10-20, for at least ten years in the soffit of my garage. They never bother me, they seem to mind their own business, if they come too close, they promptly fly away. I'm worried now about the damage they may be causing. One year I caulked a few of the holes, the wood is stained, they just made more. I would rather not kill them, is there anything I can do to make them relocate? Most critters hate moth balls, would that make them leave?
