Unfortunately, the onset of warm weather brings with it the scourge of destructive carpenter bees.
Don't know if carpenter bees are a problem in all 50 states but they certainly are in my area. Last year I built about a dozen carpenter bee traps using white wood and quart sized wide-mouth Ball/Mason jars. I kept 4 and gave the rest to friends and a neighbor. They worked great!
What are carpenter bees?
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eBay sellers offer several different variations of the traps
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a couple of youtubes on 'slapping together' bee traps:
Looks like a good control method for the home environment. I'll try some.
For particular large scenarios, I would add to also use Hi-Yield 38 Plus -
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38 Plus will also help destroy the bees & larvae in their home holes, preve nting further multiplying of untrapped bees. Carpenter bees are hard to co ntrol using pesticides, but I find 38 Plus does the best job of partial or significant control. Spot application, not broad application, is recommend ed in your home environment.
38 Plus is also effective for controlling and/or assisting the control of t ermites, silver tails, ants, powder post beetles and other pests. For farm , barn, lumber storage areas, i.e., beyond the immediate home setting, a go od application of 38 Plus helps prevent multiple pests from invading and/or establishing long term residence in all these areas of your property, espe cially if you don't have a dedicated pest control program, like Terminex, O rkin, local exterminator, etc., for contract treatment in these larger, wid e spread areas.
With 38 Plus, read directions carefully. Pets and other animals may be aff ected, if used in their immediate living areas. Keep animals away from, or limit their presence in, the treated areas for some days after treatment. Spot application helps prevent risk to your pets or animals.
I've got them here. They only really seem to like bare wood.
I painted my house "bluebell" a couple years back. When first painted this had an almost iridescence to it. The bees would hover about a foot away from the walls and just stare at it, perhaps they thought it was the sky and could not figure out what it was doing there.
When the paint faded a bit, the bees lost interest.
I had (have) big problems with carpenter bees eating my Alabama house. The house has exposed (fake) rafter ends and cedar soffits, rakes, and beams over the porch. The bees loved them all. Having it sprayed by a pest control company every other year helped a lot. A badminton racket was a useful tool, too. The best solution was to sell the house (closes next month, I hope!). ;-)
*Gloss* paint helps but it's not the solution. The harder the surface the more they're deterred but they will go through pretty much any paint if they decide to. Flat paint doesn't seem to faze them at all.
We have carpenter ants.....they can be seen with Stanley Tape measures, and tool belts. since the invention of battery operated tools, they have really got the swing of things..... john
Unfortunately, the onset of warm weather brings with it the scourge of destructive carpenter bees.
Don't know if carpenter bees are a problem in all 50 states but they certainly are in my area. Last year I built about a dozen carpenter bee traps using white wood and quart sized wide-mouth Ball/Mason jars. I kept 4 and gave the rest to friends and a neighbor. They worked great!
What are carpenter bees?
formatting link
eBay sellers offer several different variations of the traps
formatting link
a couple of youtubes on 'slapping together' bee traps:
Dunno, maybe the bees here have carbide teeth but they go through everything. They prefer juicy unpainted cedar but will go through the toughest paint, too. The best plan is to not have them (or exposed wood). They are territorial so return to where they were born to lay eggs (drill). Keep them at bay and they'll stay that way (more or less). Let them have their way and you'll soon have nothing left. Nasty critters!
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