Carpenter bees are named for their ability to bore holes into wood and create galleries beneath the wood's surface. These bees drill for nesting and for shelter, and do not consume the wood they destroy. Female carpenter bees are the excavators, boring clean, ½-inch-diameter holes about 1 to 2 inches deep before taking a right-angle turn and producing a 4- to 6-inch-long gallery. One or two bees do not cause much more than cosmetic damage, but repeated excavations of galleries can result in extensive wood damage.
Instructions
1. Paint exposed wood surfaces with a polyurethane- or oil-based product. Carpenter bees avoid painted surfaces, but will enter where paint is chipped and worn, or along saw cuts and exposed edges. Stains do not deter attack.
2. Plug entrance holes that do not extend into a gallery. Plug the holes with caulk, wood putty or a hardwood dowel coated in exterior-grade wood glue. Carpenter bees won't chew through caulk or putty, and Eastern carpenter bees avoid hardwoods.
3. Inject a non-expanding foam sealant into the galleries to seal them and trap bees inside. Plug the entrance holes as in Step 2.
4. Spray insecticide dust into the galleries, using a flexible bottle with a long tube attached. Try to get as much dust as deep as possible into the galleries, but do the dusting on a cool night when bees are less active. Wait two to three days before sealing the entrance holes to allow bees to move about and spread the dust. As an alternative and preventative measure, dust galleries in the spring before bees are actively seeking nesting sites, again in the late summer to reach any bees not dusted in spring, and once more in the fall when a few bees are flying; then seal all the entrance holes.
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