How To Get Rid Of Carpenter Bees - What Is The Best Deterrent

Jan 30 2023 Written by Ivy

The time to treat your carpenter bee infestation is right now if you have one. To safely get rid of carpenter bees, adhere to these instructions.

Despite being a helpful insect, carpenter bees can cause serious damage to wooden buildings. In order to lay their eggs, female Carpenter Bees drill holes into any wooden structure they can find. This article explains how to spot carpenter bees, avoid infestations, and stop them from causing additional harm to your home.

How to Get Rid of Carpenter Bees

1. Spray a Residual Insecticide to Kill Carpenter Bees

If you have an active infestation, spray the areas where carpenter bees are boring into wood with:

Cyzmic CS
Demon WP
FenvaStarCap

Carpenter bee damage can be effectively avoided by spraying twice during the spring at intervals of three to four weeks. Their holes are typically found on the underside of wood surfaces.

Residual insecticides will last 2 to 3 months when shielded from environmental factors like rain. If started in the late winter, the treatment will remain effective for the majority of the carpenter bee season.

Severe Infestations

Over the course of the spring, you might need to repeat your carpenter bee treatments. For spray treatments, we advise a gap of two weeks. Apply Tempo Dust or D-Fense Dust to any potential carpenter bee holes, nests, or entry points after each spray treatment.

2. Use Dust in Carpenter Bee Nests

Apply Tempo Dust inside each Carpenter Bee hole you come across to get rid of an active infestation. Use a recommended duster such as the JT Eaton Hand Bellow Duster

Even though the initial hole in the wood is only an inch or two deep, the damage typically extends at a 90-degree angle. The female will turn 90 degrees and bore a channel that can be anywhere between 6 inches and 4 feet long. The main corridor from which she will drill the smaller chambers is this channel. As nests for eggs, these chambers. She places eggs, adds food, and then covers the area to ensure the development of the egg.

3. Plug Carpenter Bee Holes

After the bees are all killed, seal the holes. Early fall is a secure period for entrance plugging.
The entrances can be sealed off with plugs, cork, putty, or caulk. Since you can paint over the wood after the bees are taken out, we advise plugging the holes with wood putty. Aside from stainless steel screens, we also offer Carpenter Bee Blocker Kits with installation equipment.
They may eat new openings in other places if you plug up the entrances too soon.
Spritz carpenter bee nests early in the season (Jan, Feb, etc.) to stop further boring. ou can prevent carpenter bee infestations if you tackle the situation early.

Organic and Chemical Control Methods

Here are a few natural methods to make your home less attractive as a nesting site:

1. Bee Hotels

Removable bamboo, paper, or wood tubes are housed in a compact frame to form hotels.

Typically used to provide nesting sites for garden-friendly pollinators like mason bees, hotels may provide an alternate site for females looking to nest.

This well-designed hotel that's available on Amazon is a popular one, with a tough poly frame and charred pine burrows.

2. Citrus Oil

Carpenter bees are attracted to citrus oil, a safe natural repellent that is simple to make at home.

Sliced citrus fruit peels from various varieties are placed in a pan with water to cover them. Once it has boiled, turn down the heat, and let it simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before straining and transferring the water to a spray bottle.

After spraying the nest several times until all the females have left, make the necessary repairs and paint the wood as instructed in the next tip.

3. Dress Exposed Wood

It is simpler to prevent carpenters from damaging your property than it is to respond to their destructive burrowing.

Paint all exposed surfaces with a primer and two coats of exterior paint to deter them from constructing nests. Although they are less effective than paint, stains and varnishes do provide some protection.

Before painting, use caulk, putty, or wood filler to repair any damage that is already present. Any damage provides a prime location for a nest.

4. Fill Abandoned Holes

Stuff the entrances with caulk, a dowel, wadded aluminum foil, spray foam insulation, or steel wool as the overwintering adults emerge in the spring and new ones emerge in the late summer.

As described above, sand the surface and apply paint.

5. Hang a Decoy Wasp Nest

Carpenter bees will stay away from wasp nesting grounds.

Fill a brown paper bag with light materials like moss, paper, or plastic bags to resemble the size and shape of a wasp nest. Hang the object where you want it to provide protection after tying off the open end with a string.

Remember that this only prevents them from creating new nests; it won't keep insects away from a nest that already exists nearby.

6. Lay a Trap

Setting a trap near the nest is a simple way to get rid of your infestation.

A plastic container or jar is fastened to the bottom of a trap, which has a wooden top with angled holes drilled into it.

The only source of light is at the bottom because of how the holes are angled. The bees enter the hole, fly to the light in the jar, and are unable to exit.

The best place for traps is directly above an active nest. It may take a while for the trap to work, but once one or two have entered and released pheromones, others will be attracted to the site as well.

7. Turn Up the Tunes

It turns out that bees communicate through vibroacoustics, and they can "hear" low frequency sounds of up to 500 Hz.

Because of their sensitivity to vibrations, it is possible to get them to leave their nests by playing loud music nearby.

Place the speaker right against the wall next to where they are and turn up the volume while listening to music with a deep, reverberating bass line (bass guitars have low frequencies).

Plug the hole and paint it after the females have left.

8. Use a Tennis Racket

With a strong backhand, you can eliminate flying creatures in the spring when bees are actively searching for nesting sites.

On a sunny day, patrol with an old squash, tennis, or badminton racket and smack anyone who looks at your wood.

9. Insecticide Spray

Deterring carpenters with natural solutions is the preferred method, but if you must pull out the big guns, here's our first suggestion:

Flying insect sprays and similar items will destroy the queen and her eggs.

Apply a liquid or aerosol product directly into the hole using an extension tube. Application is best done at night when they are sleeping or in the early spring before they come out of hibernation.

If you choose this method, always read and follow label instructions and wear protective gear as needed.

10. Carburetor Cleaner and WD40

Use an aerosol like carburetor cleaner or WD40 as an alternative to insecticides.

These petroleum-based items will kill insects in a reliable manner. To enter the tunnels, use a spray that has an extension tube.

11. Petroleum

As another effective home-made insecticide, some gasoline in a spray bottle can be used.

Spray the entrance often until there is no longer any activity.

Your grandparents probably employed this method back in the day. In its place, we would pick a different approach and do not advise it. It could even not be a bee (bee?) legal with the stricter environmental laws that are in place today in many areas.

Naturally, petroleum and petroleum-based products should never be used close to an open flame or other ignition source because they are extremely flammable. When done, make sure to label your spray bottle to prevent accidental misuse, and don't store it inside the house or in warm areas like outbuildings without air conditioning.

Accidents and Darwin Award winners are not our responsibility. Use at your own risk!

Avoid getting any chemical applications on your skin or breathing in the fumes. When applying chemical products, wear eye protection, a respirator, and gloves.

Also Read How to Get Rid of the Following Species:

Animals:

Pests:

Plants:

Mushrooms

How to Prevent Carpenter Bee Infestations

The season affects how effectively carpenter bees can be avoided. If you deal with the problem early in the season, you can avoid carpenter bee infestations.

Bees called carpenter prefer to drill holes in wood that is exposed to the morning or afternoon sun.
Under decks, sills, and decks, Carpenter Bees attack unfinished wood first. To make these wooden surfaces less alluring to the bees, varnish or paint them. A Carpenter Bee will not be drawn to new paint.
Prior to the spring, close as many exterior gaps as you can. Carpenter bee prevention will be successful with the caulking and sealing of these cracks and crevices. Stainless steel screens in Carpenter Bee Blocker Kits that fit in Carpenter Bee Holes are advised. But if you plug these holes while the carpenter bees are inside, they will bore another hole to get out. We advise Carpenter Bee Blocker Kits, which have stainless steel screens that fit in carpenter bee holes and make sealing easier.
Nests made by carpenter bees are frequently used again. After the bees have emerged in the fall, caulk these holes. The Carpenter Bee Blocker Kits come with our highest recommendation.
In these exposed locations (under rail sidings, under decks, around window sills, etc.), spray the unfinished wood.) with the recommended residual insecticides.
Spray unfinished wood in exposed places (such as around window sills, under decks, and under rail sidings).) with recommended residual insecticides.
Springtime is the ideal time to spray.

How to Identify a Carpenter Bee

Bumble Bees and Carpenter Bees both have large bodies and distinctive black and yellow patterns.

They range in size from 1/2 to 1 inch, and some metallic reflections with dark blue, yellow, green, or purple tints have been observed. Compared to the bumble bee, their abdomens are bare and shiny. Insects that bore into wood are not bumble bees. More often than not, you'll find them in the yard sitting on flowers. We advise leaving them to take care of pollination because they are very beneficial.

In the spring, carpenter bees are frequently encountered. Around your house, they swarm around the eaves, porch rails, under decks, and any other unpainted wood. Sometimes carpenter bees are called "wood bees" because they bore into wood.

Signs of Carpenter Bee Infestations

Carpenter bees create holes that are half an inch in diameter. They prefer unfinished wood, but they can drill and make tunnels in softwoods, hardwoods, and rotting wood as well. Frass results from wood that has already sustained damage. Around the drilling locations, it appears to be sawdust.

Carpenter bee females enlarge the main corridor in wood, also known as a channel. The damaged area will be 6" to as long as 4 feet wide. The female lays her eggs in areas called "galleries" or "cells". She places eggs in these galleries and supplies the developing larvae with a lot of pollen to eat. Before moving on to the next egg process, she seals them off so they can develop. This is one of the reasons carpenter bee removal can be so challenging.

FAQs

What Kills Carpenter Bees Instantly

Boric Acid. Numerous DIY insect removal projects can be completed using this common household item. Spray inside the hole using a solution of three parts water to one part boric acid in a spray bottle. Carpenter bees will be wiped out within an hour by this because it is extremely poisonous to them.

How to Get Rid of Carpenter Bees on Deck

Non-toxic liquids that repel bees include solutions of water with citrus oil or almond oil. To get the bees to leave the nest, use a spray bottle to apply around the bee holes. Play loud music for 2-3 days with the speakers close to the area of infestation as loud noises and vibrations are known to deter bees.

How to Get Rid of Carpenter Bees Without Killing Them

Applying a drop of almond or citrus oil inside any nest holes you find. Since they don't like the smell, they will probably leave and look elsewhere for a less offensive place to build a nest.

Carpenter Bee Treatment Cost

The average cost nationally for an exterminator to visit your property is likely $250–$400! The exterminator will probably bill $75–$150 per visit if additional visits are required for monitoring or spraying.