Over the past few days I’ve noticed sawdust around the platform on Sophie’sjungle gym. Looking into it tonight, I noticed some holes in the roof of the tower portion that look as if they’re neatly drilled with a 1/8 or 1/4 inch drill (I didn’t measure, but that’s pretty close.) I know that I didn’t put those holes in when I built it last Christmas, and jamming some sticks in there didn’t scare anything loose, but I’m wondering what could’ve caused it and what can be done about it. Last thing I want to do is put a bunch of poison where my little girl plays, but I also don’t want to lose her jungle gym. Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks!
Sounds like pine borer beetles, termites or carpenter ants. The only remedies I am aware of are multiple applications of a strong insecticide or napalm.
To avoid a mass spraying, you could try soaking cotton balls in insecticide and cramming that into the holes. I’m not sure how effective that would be, but it’s worth a try. Someone else may know of some natural method which would minimize collateral damage (camphor oil?), but I’m not aware of anything.
It may be powder beetles. Carpenter ants would be busily coming and going. I can understand your caution about insecticides around children. I’d recommend Sevin powder. It’s so innocuous, you can eat veggies with Sevin on them. You can jam a small straw into the powder to fill it, then blow the powder into the holes.
I’ve seen black ants around the JG, but none on it.
Just talked to my sister, she says the holes are caused by bees as she has seen the same thing (with bee activity around the holes) in her greenhouse. We, too, have been notified about bumblebees flying around it in the past week or two.
“BEEEE! BEEEE, Dada, BEEEEEE!!! I don’t want him to bite me!”
They are called Carpenter bees. They look like a bumble-bee, but they do not sting. It’s not the end of civilization as you know it, or even the end of the jungle gym. They’ve been boring into my front porch woodwork for 13 years now, and all still stands.
On those rare occasions when I get energetic, I spray Dursban into the holes, which kills the next hatch. They frequently provide a healthy activity for visiting children, who delight in swatting them with fly swatters or rolled up newspapers.
Trust me, their damage looks worse than it is. If you must control them there are several human-safe insecticides than you can apply.
Check with your friendly neighborhood feed and seed store. The County Extension Agent may also have printed information that they will give you for free.
My privacy fence is riveted with carpenter bee holes. Kind of annoying since it makes the fence less private. But I’d just leave them alone. They’re like big fuzzy puppies with wings.
I make a paste of Sevin dust and water and “spackle” the carpenter bee holes. Repeat spring and fall because the bees chew the holes, take a sharp right and bore in a little deeper where they lay eggs. So the first pasting gets the adults. The next pasting gets the youth as they emerge from the little “nest.”
As long as they don’t make holes in my house, I let them eat anything they want. They are like fuzzy puppies with wings and may even serve some pollination purpose.
My four year old hates bees. We were out in the garden the other day when one buzzed by, sending him scuttling into the house.
A few minutes later, he had stuck a bit of paper on the window with “No BeeZ” written on it.
My husband saw the paper and laughed, telling him that bees can’t read.
Another few minutes later, another bit of paper was stuck to the window - this time with a picture of a bee in a circle with a slash through it. There! That should keep them out!
A picture of breasts (Boo! bees) might scare them off.
Seriously, though, you can save the little fella years of fear by teaching him to move slowly in the company of bees. I didn’t learn it until I had to paint a window frame next to a flowering bush at the age of twenty. I learned you can even push a bee safely away from your face if you do it slowly. They’re only checking you to see if you are food. You aren’t food, to a bee.
Sometimes, I wonder if Tai Chi was developed in the company of bees.
I keep trying to tell him that once they know he’s not a flower, they’ll just buzz on by, but it’s slow going. My older boy was similarly scared but has grown out of it, so hopefully the younger one will, too.