WHERE SHOULD I PUT MY CARPENTER BEE TRAP?

Carpenter bees drill holes in wood to nest. They can destroy wooden fences, porches, and barns to name a few things by drilling holes and turning the wood into sawdust. Keep reading to find out carpenter bee solutions on how you can get rid of your bee problem.

HOW TO FIX CARPENTER BEE DAMAGES?

Carpenter bees cause severe damages to the structural foundation of a property including the wooden stairs, railings, porches, etc. Sometimes, people are hesitant to take preventive measures against these bee’s infestation thinking about their role in pollination. However, there are harmless ways for fixing these damages. 

The ways how carpenter bee damages can be fixed harmlessly are:

• Detect the carpenter bee’s presence in the house. Check the wooden structures, roofline, attic, etc. Usually, these are the places they choose for nesting. 
• Destroy the larva and the bees inside the nest. 
• Use wood putty for keeping the location smooth. 
• Paint the wooden surfaces or use citrus oil to prevent these bees from causing further damage. 

These are harmless ways to prevent carpenter bees from damaging your structure. Ideally, the trap works the best as the bees are removed later. 

HOW DO CARPENTER BEES DESTROY WOOD?

Carpenter bees create nesting galleries in wood to lay eggs in. After laying their eggs, the bees will leave some pollen and nectar inside the holes for their hatched young to feed on. The holes created by the drilling of these bees are usually circular. Although these holes might seem small, a bee actually drills inside and around the hole creating chambers in the wood. which can create significant structural damage to the infested wood.

A carpenter bee drills a straight tunnel for a few inches then veers off in a 90-degree angle to either side creating long tunnels with multiple chambers within these tunnels. This is why carpenter bees are so dangerous – they create insidious damage that results in the systemic destruction and damage of wooden panels and eventually, the entire structure. Repairing damage done by carpenter bees is hard.

DETECTING A CARPENTER BEE INFESTATION

The most common signs of an infestation would be the presence of big circular openings in wood and sawdust near these openings, or on the floor directly below these openings. You might also spot the male carpenter bees buzzing around trying to defend their territory along with a yellow substance near the holes – a mixture of pollen and bee excrement.

HOW DO YOU KILL THESE BEES?

You can use certain sprays to spray the holes that the bees reside in. However, these sprays are toxic and might cause damage to your wood. They certainly have the potential to stink up the entire place; therefore, your best bet would be going with traps.

HOW DO TRAPS FUNCTION?

A trap tricks the bee into thinking that it’s a bees nest. It’s a pre-drilled wooden block with tunnels inside that mimics the drill pattern of a bee attached to either a glass jar or plastic bottle. The bee dives into the tunnel, sees the light provided by the transparent plastic or glass layer, and thinks it’s an exit, but it’s a trap! The bee will encounter an impermeable wall and unable to leave the trap, it will eventually starve to death.

INSTALLING TRAPS FOR CARPENTER BEES

Walk around your house and any exterior wooden structures that you have and note where the bees have made their holes. Then, plug up the holes with plug, putty, or caulking. If there are still bees present in the holes, you can play loud music or vibrations directly next to the holes which will repel the bees. Additionally, you can also spray solutions of citrus oil and almond oil mixed with water to encourage the bees to leave their nests.

Once this is done, hang up the traps! You should hang these traps up at the corners and peaks of your home. Leave these traps in sunny spots as carpenter bees are attracted to warmth. If you leave your trap up for a few days and see that it has caught no bees, don’t worry because once the bee becomes trapped inside, the pheromone from the dead bee will attract other bees to the trap and your buzzing problem will be taken care of in no time.

These traps should be put up in spring and then taken out in winter. However, if you want to keep them out permanently, you can do that too.

If you’re facing a Carpenter Bee infestation, you should pick traps for an all-natural, pollution-free way to get rid of those pesky bees. Your wooden furniture, barn, and patio will certainly thank you for it.