Carpenter bees - ZAPPED!

[pomtzu]

Has anyone ever had a problem with them - and how do you get rid of them permanently?

A couple of years ago, we put an addition on the house and did some renovations - built a new front porch and a small porch at the entrance door in the addition. It's pressure treated wood, but has never been painted or stained, since we wanted it to weather naturally. No problem till this year.

Yesterday I noticed a small pile of sawdust on the front porch and couldn't figure where it came from, then I noticed what I thought was a bumble bee hanging around and I watched to see what it was doing. Sure enough, it went up under the edge of the railing and into a nice little round hole that it was boring out. Then this morning I noticed sawdust on the back porch and found a nice little round hole under the railing there too. I Googled and found that they are carpenter bees, and they bore and nest in wood. It said they don't like painted or stained or pressure treated wood, but these guys do. So I had some wasp and hornet spray and took that and saturated the bored holes and all around the area, and I'm going to spray again tonight.
The other back porch at the mud room entrance was stained after it was built several years ago, and there's no evidence of them bothering that one.

I read of one suggestion where it said to saturate a piece of cork with insecticide and plug the hole, but what's to keep them from boring out more in a different spot? Help! Any suggestions or proven remedies?

[Medusa]

My enclosed patio became infested w/them last year. It wasn't until I had the windows replaced that they really swarmed so I had to have an exterminator do the job. It was only $20 and well worth it because they nested high up near the roof.

[kokopup]

While they are still coming and going spray the Bee with wasp poison.
Using ear syringe spray Seven dust in the hole. Wait a day or to and then
seal the hole with a dowel or caulk. In a short time from now they will
seal the tunnel and lay an egg that will mature as a larve in late August.
You need to act while they are still active before they seal the tunnel.

[Catlady711]

I don't know about Carpenter BEES, but I used this stuff for some Carpenter Ants that had been living inside my bathroom door many years back.


Raid Foam
http://www.scjohnson.ro/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=5427

[pomtzu]

Thanks for the suggestions. They're gone now.

I just kept spraying the holes a couple of times a day, and that was enough to kill them or drive them off. They kept trying to get back in the holes they had started, but would fly off. I saw a couple of them floundering around on the porch, so they must have tried to bore out the holes some more, but the wood was too toxic and it killed them. I only saw one determined one yesterday, but it would check out the hole and then fly off.

Pests!