Carpenter Bees!!!!

John_M · May 27, 2009, 09:57:21 PM

Ok...so i decide to bite the bullet and side my cabin with real cedar siding. I have stained it with a high quality oil based product.

The other day I noticed that a carpenter bee has made two holes in my cedar siding!!! UGH!!

An suggestions to prevent further damage? I'm pretty sure I got the one that made the first two holes!!

muldoon · May 27, 2009, 10:22:38 PM

permethrin is a good around pest control chemical, I buy it as Tenguard in a 36% permethrin base and dillute in a 1 gallon sprayer. I have successfully used it on fleas and german roaches. I saw carpenter bees on my patio last month boring into the cedar and went online to find what I needed. The same permethrin I already had was listed as effective against them, I sprayed the boards and went from a swarm of 8-10 bees one day to 1 bee over the next 3-4 days to none now.

I dont know anything about this specific company, but the top link from google for it has
http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/Product/product.aspx?iid=214

It's the same bottle I have.

May 27, 2009, 11:59:37 PM

Some people have good results with "Bora Care" or "Timbor". It is water soluable and can be applied with a garden sprayer for penetration. I would allow it to dry and then follow up with a sealer to keep the chemical in the wood.

Don_P · May 28, 2009, 06:51:22 AM

Carpenter bees are one of the few wood destroying critters borates do not have an effect on. They do not ingest the wood so are not "poisoned" by it. I thought I was being sharp by using treated decking for our fascias, they tunnelled right into that arsenic laced lumber. We have cedar siding that they have not touched, my neighbor has white pine that they have enjoyed. The difference is not the species but the thickness of the edge. Mine has a narrow exposed edge that is not large enough for a tunnel, they used full 1" thick sawmill boards that are thick enough to be tunnelled into. Pure luck that we figured out over time. A bee cannot chew through a heavy coat of paint either, nor can a powderpost beetle.

Redoverfarm · May 30, 2009, 06:50:29 AM

Don it was listed in your site as a remedy and I have heard of others that said it was effective. Not sure if it accidently gets injested or what. I know that PT lumber is not a deterent and saw first hand at my mothers this past weekend. She just filled the hole with caulk and they didn't return. Probably will just find another flat surface.

May 30, 2009, 07:01:09 PM

How 'bout that, it sounds like I should read my sources closer. I was parroting something I had been told. I've got a new sack of Solubor and no shortage of bees working over my shop right now. I'll try to find some loose lumber they are in and treat it, maybe wait a week or few and slice it open to see if I find dead ones in the tunnels. I did buy some dust from DIY pest control that I haven't used yet, I'll check the label tomorrow and post the name. They even had the nerve to bore into the carved bear on one of our client's porches. I notice that they seem to prefer to bore just under an overhang or projection of some sort.

Redoverfarm · May 30, 2009, 08:18:07 PM

Carpenter Bee's are unlike Carpenter Ants. They like the wood dry where as ants prefer it moist. That is usually why they attack from the underneath side where the wood is protected from the rain. There is probably exceptions but even a lateral bore is in a protected area and the wood is dry.

rick91351 · May 31, 2009, 12:24:14 AM

You might google a search for Carpenter Bees. There was a interesting paper published by Ohio State University on this subject. Part of that paper included:

A chemical treatment using an appropriately labeled insecticide can protect wood for short periods, especially in the spring and summer when carpenter bee nesting activity is apparent. Dust formulations typically provide residual effects and are effective due to the nature of carpenter bee gallery construction. Precisely inject the dust directly into each nest entrance hole and as deep into the tunnel as possible and also apply it to the adjacent wood surface. Wait for a few days before plugging entrance holes since adult bees should be allowed to pass freely to distribute the insecticide within the galleries. Newly emerged bees also will contact the dust when attempting to leave their gallery.

For use as a preventive, an insecticide should be applied to wood in early spring before carpenter bees begin excavating nests. The insecticide kills the bees that contact it on the woods surface. However, a preventive approach has limitations because of the difficulty in applying a chemical to all exposed wood on the house where bees could nest. Furthermore, such insecticides usually degrade in a matter of weeks or months so repeated applications are needed to maintain a lethal dose of the insecticide. Some pest management companies report good results against carpenter bees by spraying wood with a microencapsulated pyrethroid, Demand CS insecticide (registered for use only by licensed professional applicators), which contains the active ingredient lambda-cyhalothrin. A number of other pyrethroids (bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, deltamethrin, permethrin, etc.) also are labeled for use against carpenter bees.

Insecticides that act as stomach poisons, such as borates, typically are ineffective against carpenter bees, which do not ingest the wood that they excavate.

rlr

Don_P · May 31, 2009, 08:48:18 PM

The dust I had bought is called Drione, I also bought this applicator with it to shoot the powder into their tunnels. Can't say yet whether it works, and it is an after the fact poison I guess.

I had sliced open a board to show what they do in case anyone had never dissected their damage before. This is not all that deep, they can go alot further. Woodpeckers sometimes then go after the holes and really make a mess.