Outdoor Pest Control - Carpenter Bees in a tough location

Hello,

For the past 3 years, I’ve had a couple carpenter bees cutting into 3 wood (4x4) porch posts at my house. There is a 1.5”-2” gap between the posts and my house and they are entering at this location. The posts are painted but the side in question is very difficult to paint due to the location so it lightly painted if any…

This has been a recurring battle, made more difficult due to the entrance location. I’ve repeatedly dusted the entrance holes and was able to kill off the bees in at least one of the posts most of last year. However, they are now dormant.

It is very difficult to get the dusting agent into the holes due to their location. Any suggestions? When should I start to dust them again, is it too early? Is there anything else I can do/try.

Quite honestly.. I found the easiest way to kill the bees was to hit them with a shovel as they exit the holes. They are quite tough but luckily not aggressive.

I’d like to plug the holes permanently with an epoxy or something.. any suggestions?

Thank you!!!!!
Scott

Just plugging the holes won't keep them away. You need to seal the wood somehow, even if it means a spray can of something with covering areas you don't want sprayed. They are attracted to the wood that isn't sealed. You can do a search of carpenter bees on this forum and find several threads.

Newt

Stain/paint helps but them %@* bees will eat thru paint:wall:

It isn't exactly cost effective but if I see them go in a hole that is out of reach, I'll flood that area with the 20' bee/wasp spray.

Garden centers and old time hardware stores carry a "duster" which is just a pump can designed to pump out dusts.You could attach a peice of plastic tubing to the end to make a wide curve to better reach the area.

Dusters aren't the easiest thing to find these days but if nobody carries one Ace Hardware stocks them in the warehouse system and one can be ordered for you easily.

Coating the posts would help but it would need to be thick.You could tape off the house next to the post with a drop cloth and then use a brush to pile on exterior polyurethane maybe or multiple coats of paint.If you protected the surrounding areas you could be sloppy and not mess things up while thickly coating the surface.

A friend of mine suggested tacking a metal screen over the area in question after dusting the holes. Any idea if they will attempt to eat through the screen or come out another hole?

Similar to placing a clear glass bowl over a yellow jacket nest in the ground. Old farmers trick... if you have located all the entrances/exits of the ground next, at night… place a large clear bowl over the entrance(s) and seal around the perimeter with some packed soil. The next morning you will have a swarm of angry bees in the bowl and they never try to dig out. After a week of so they all starve to death. A guess they see the light and don’t realize they need to dig out… I’ve done it before.. works great.

also.. when should I start dusting?? when do the larva/bees become active?

Just wait until the woodpeckers start harvesting the carpenter bee larvae. Makes a good mess of a rake board or fascia.
My dad thought it amusing to find the two entrances of yellow jacket nests, put about 3 ounces of gas in a wine bottle, cram it in one hole and light a match to the other entrance. Whoohoo, the gas expands, lights and yellow jackets on fire emerge at a rather rapid rate since the explosion pushes them out like bullets.