Not sure if that’s what they’re called, but they’re those big bumble-bee type things that bore holes in the side of your house. So, why are they eating my house, and how can I discourage/get rid of them?!?
You might try an insecticide. Good ol’ Raid will do the trick.
You know they’re carpenter bees when:
They bore a hole so straight and clean it looks like someone took a drill with a fine bit and bore a straight hole in the wood.
Wanna kill/stop 'em? Search “kill carpenter bees” at…
CONTROL
Nesting activity may be substantially reduced by treating the entrance holes with an insecticidal spray or dust. Products containing carbaryl (Sevin), cyfluthrin or resmethrin are suitable. A list of chemicals for use against carpenter bees can be found in the NC Agricultural Chemicals Manual. Avoid inhaling the insecticide or contaminating your clothing with the spray. Always stand upwind from the surface you’re treating. Since abandoned tunnels may serve as overwintering sites, or be re-used next spring, it is important that they be plugged with wooden dowel or wood putty. The insecticide treatment is intended to kill both the adult bee and its offspring as they emerge later. Plugging untreated tunnels with wire mesh or similar material might trap bees inside, but more resourceful bees will simply chew another exit hole.
The initial appearance of carpenter bees in both the spring and summer is difficult to predict and their activity continues for several weeks. Preventive sprays applied to wood surfaces are effective only for a short period, meaning that you would have to repeat the application about every 2-3 weeks. Since virtually any exposed wood on the house is subject to attack, it is difficult (and usually not practical or safe) to try to protect all of the possible sites where the bees might tunnel. Spraying bees seen hovering around is not a sensible use of pesticides either. Swatting hovering bees is just as effective.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Urban/carp-bee.htm
The holes made by most of the solitary bees in soil or wood are for the eggs; the bee will make a dozen or so compartments, laying an egg on a ball of pollen or honey-like stuff in each compartment, then seal the hole with wax or plant material.
An interesting side note is that. although the egg nearest the front of the hole is the youngest (it is the last to be put in), it is the first to emerge, so that the bees come out last-in-first-out, strange (but essential).
Insecticide ought to do it, or if there are only a few, you could just swat them. You may need to do something about the eggs and larvae that already exist in the holes though; even spraying insecticide into the holes is unlikely to get them. you could poke a knitting needle in there and jiggle it about, but make sure you’ve killed off all of the flying adults before you do this as they might not be too happy.
In the long run, you’re going to have to find a way to stop them returning (there is obviously a population of them in your neighbourhood); treating the timber with some sort of penetrating preservative may help.
The holes made by most of the solitary bees in soil or wood are for the eggs; the bee will make a dozen or so compartments, laying an egg on a ball of pollen or honey-like stuff in each compartment, then seal the hole with wax or plant material.
An interesting side note is that. although the egg nearest the front of the hole is the youngest (it is the last to be put in), it is the first to emerge, so that the bees come out last-in-first-out, strange (but essential).
Insecticide ought to do it, or if there are only a few, you could just swat them. You may need to do something about the eggs and larvae that already exist in the holes though; even spraying insecticide into the holes is unlikely to get them. you could poke a knitting needle in there and jiggle it about, but make sure you’ve killed off all of the flying adults before you do this as they might not be too happy.
In the long run, you’re going to have to find a way to stop them returning (there is obviously a population of them in your neighbourhood); treating the timber with some sort of penetrating preservative may help.
Mix insecticide in spray can (there’s specific stuff for carpenter bees and termites.
Wait till night.
I put the nozzle directly in the hole, and fill it up with insecticide.
Repeat on each hole.
Grab caulk gun. Load with cement filler and fill each hole as much as possible.
When I was in GA a few years ago my bro-in-law’s house had those carpenter bees too. He told me that they don’t have stingers so we started whacking them with paint stirrers (those wood paddle deals) Of course he may have been wrong, but since they were pretty solitary bees I at least knew they wouldn’t come out and swarm us to death!
My first encounter with carpenter bees went like this - I would be sitting on my deck or front porch reading & having a beer, and when the wind died down and everything got quiet, I’d hear this munching sound comming from wood parts of my house (deck, eves, etc.). I could hear 'em munching from 10 feet away! Drove me nuts 'till I actually saw a little trail of shavings falling out of a hole. I did a little poking and out flies this huge bee!
Anyway, I did away with them with insecticide in the holes, and plugged them up with cork.
BTW, the females do the boring, and have stingers. The males are agressive (they’ll dive at you) but it’s all a bluff, they have no sting.
I usually mix some insecticide (e.g., Sevin®) into some Plastic Wood® and fill the hole. This elimnates the bore hole, and any larva inside will die digging its way out. (The holes generally turn at a right angle shortly after the entrance to the board, so spraying is not always effective–and you still have the holes.)
Don’t these little shavers drive you nuts??? I have a three story house, and the suckers bore holes at the very top, where the attic meets the roof, it’s murder to reach up there!
But, because the holes they leave are temptations for woodpeckers, as well as termites, it IS wise to treat the holes, and get them plugged back in, as soon as you can. I use Diazonin for the kill, and then just regular wood filler to caulk back in the holes.
Talk about your unending jobs, though! Good luck!
Be caefull of doing this. When I was at summer camp, we had a nest of yellowjackets living in the walls of the cabin. Some genius had the bright idea of plugging up thier hole so they couldn’t get in or out. When we came back from lunch, the inside of the cabin was filled with dozens of yellowjackets.