# Anyone know how to get rid of Carpenter Bees?



## Josh Hufford (Apr 25, 2013)

Hope this is ok to post here, they aren't affecting my wood stacks yet. However I have some carpenter bees eating away at my back steps. I've tried spraying them with wasp spray and it doesn't even seem to affect them. I unloaded 2 full cans on 3 of them and they just kept flying. What can I do??


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## Rickb (Apr 25, 2013)

get some wasp knock down spray.  I have used wasp spray and it did nothing to wasps/bees/hornets.  The knock down stuff is something all together different.


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## Josh Hufford (Apr 25, 2013)

Rickb said:


> get some wasp knock down spray. I have used wasp spray and it did nothing to wasps/bees/hornets. The knock down stuff is something all together different.


 
Never heard of that, do they sell it next to the regular wasp spray?


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## Rickb (Apr 25, 2013)

ussually. Raid and a few other companies make it. Should say something like wasp spray with knock down.

Something similar to this:
http://www.ruralking.com/enforcer-w...&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CPCr1fLj5rYCFYyY4AodOyYAGg


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## Josh Hufford (Apr 25, 2013)

Great I will get some and try it. Thanks!


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## Ashful (Apr 25, 2013)

I always used a whiffle bat on the ones in flight, or a screwdriver on those in fresh bores (haven't yet made the turn to go horizontal).  The hornet spray is totally useless on those in flight, but more effective when shot up into the hole in which they're living.

Idiots try to seal / caulk them into their homes, but they just chew a new path out.

Those not good at baseball may want to try a tennis racket.


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## ansehnlich1 (Apr 25, 2013)

We had quite an established population of these nasties around the buildings here. I mixed up a strong concoction of this stuff and sprayed it on all the wood, eves, etc. and it did a nice job of eradicating them....

http://www.bayeradvanced.com/insect...ter-ant-termite-killer-plus/questions-answers

Down in Georgia last year we rented a cabin and it had traps like these hanging around outside.....


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## Hogwildz (Apr 25, 2013)

Borax powder puffed into the holes. Is this pressure treated they are boring into?


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## Buckeye 2012 (Apr 25, 2013)

Talstar. Can order off amazon.


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## Flatbedford (Apr 25, 2013)

I'm gonna experiment with some traps like those in the video.


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## mywaynow (Apr 25, 2013)

Be a man.  BB Gun.


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## charly (Apr 25, 2013)

They bore holes to lay eggs,, then if you plug the holes ,,,the new bees that hatch will eat a new way out... They usually won't touch painted wood.. I spray them with brake clean or electronic cleaner.. I'll take the plastic snorkel tip on the can and spray right inside the holes as well trying to kill the eggs.. One guy on a radio show said he brushed his wood with kerosene and they never touched it after that.. I use to cut wood dowels to fit the holes ,, the holes are actually about .350 with dial calipers... I would take a 3/8 wood plug , screw a woodscrew into so I could hold it and then turn it down with a dremel drum sander bit until it was an interference fit going into the hole..  They will come back every year to the same wood if you don't do something, eventually making so many tunnels that the wood structure fails.. The powders work good too,,, you can buy a puffer that lets you insert a tip into the holes. Then when the new bees come out they will be coated and die.. I believe you should never plug the holes until fall , by then the new bees have left.. Plugging early ,,the new bees will make new exit holes.. They rarely sting, I just hit them out of the air with what ever I have handy if I see them around...


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## charly (Apr 25, 2013)

Video traps look good!


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## bogydave (Apr 26, 2013)

mywaynow said:


> Be a man. BB Gun.


 
 Tennis racket


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## loadstarken (Apr 26, 2013)

I hate those things!  Every year they invade my truck and fill up the gas tank vent tube!  I have found them all around the truck but the fuel vent line is the one that gets me every year.  Last year I bought a brass screen that is used in a faucet for a filter and I hose clamped it onto the vent.

My mom bought me a mason bee house and I zip-tied it to the grill and within a week every hole on it filled up.  Once it was full I put it in the bed of my other truck and took it over to her house because she said they are good for pollinating her garden.


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## Nick Mystic (Apr 26, 2013)

I agree with Charly that using a duster in the hole is necessary to kill the emerging bees from when they hatch. I use Sevin dust, which is cheap and works great. After I spray the dust in the hole I then close the hole either with brown caulk (which matches the cedar trim on my house) or with some spray in expandable foam insulation if I have on open can handy. When the foam worms out of the hole and hardens I just cut it off flush with the wood surface using a sharp knife. It seems to  hold up to the elements for several years.


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## charly (Apr 26, 2013)

Years ago I was at a barbecue at some friends of a friend... I happened to look up at their second floor balcony off of a bedroom perhaps.. House was wood sided... LOL it looked like a shooting range back stop.. all the overhangs, trim boards , etc. all holed up... It looked like about 5 plus years of boring!  What a mess!  Yup,, you want to get right on those guys... I was going to try using a windshield washer gallon jug,, cut open the front,, leave the bottom like a bird bath, fill it with some vegetable oil and silicon a mirror to the back stop of the jug... I was told that Wood Bees are very territorial ,, so if they saw themselves in the mirror they would hit the mirror and bounce off into the oil below... Never tried it...


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## JoeyD (Apr 27, 2013)

I do what some of the others do, but I use a badminton racket.  I'm not sure what the neighbors think when they see me standing there swinging at what looks like thin air with a beer in my other hand.


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## charly (Apr 27, 2013)

JoeyD said:


> I do what some of the others do, but I use a badminton racket. I'm not sure what the neighbors think when they see me standing there swinging at what looks like thin air with a beer in my other hand.


I use to love knocking them out of the air.  Funny,  if you missed ,  they would come back in around you hovering right in your face,, as to threaten like they were going to sting you, bingo , that's when I would hit them or give them a brake clean bath..


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## JoeyD (Apr 28, 2013)

When they are hovering they are actually protecting their nest. If you watch them, anything that flies into the area they chase away then come right back and hover.


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## Applesister (Apr 28, 2013)

ansehnlich1 said:


> We had quite an established population of these nasties around the buildings here. I mixed up a strong concoction of this stuff and sprayed it on all the wood, eves, etc. and it did a nice job of eradicating them....
> 
> http://www.bayeradvanced.com/insect...ter-ant-termite-killer-plus/questions-answers
> 
> ...


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## Ashful (Apr 29, 2013)

JoeyD said:


> When they are hovering they are actually protecting their nest. If you watch them, anything that flies into the area they chase away then come right back and hover.



Uh oh... Had one hovering / chasing me when working on a second floor window, in the area of some exposed oak roof rafters.


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## Ralphie Boy (Apr 29, 2013)

This will get 'em even on the wing!


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