Carpenter Bees - Preparing for Summertime Destruction

ENKA, N.C. - Aug. 4, 2015 - PRLog -- 1. Not gone - only resting. If you've seen signs of carpenter bees in the spring - large bees hovering around exposed wood on your property, 1/2" diameter holes in your wood, floating or small piles of sawdust around your buildings, or buzzing noises coming from the inside of the wood on your property - carpenter bees are most likely nesting in your wood. They are NOT gone. You don't see them because they're resting inside tunnels they've excavated inside your wood.

2.Larvae are developing. The female carpenter bees that you saw in the spring drilled, or enlarged, tunnels inside of your wood and deposited eggs that will develop into young carpenter bees. They will emerge in mid to late summer. The eggs were walled off in cells inside the tunnels.

3. Take action. Insert either natural agents such as diatomaceus earth (fossilized algae) or a pesticide such as Bayer Sevin as deeply into the connecting tunnels in the wood as possible. It's best to take action AFTER the young begin to emerge from their protective cells to ensure that the killing agent reaches them. Finally, stuff a small wad of steel wool into the 1/2" entry hole followed by caulk, or better, a glued wooden plug.

4. A carpenter bee population can EXPLODE in a few years! Carpenter bees remain in the same nesting tunnels (even during winter) until they die. Each female lays 6-8 eggs every year. Even if the original female dies in Year 1, the population increases from 2 (male/female) to 6, in Year 2, the 6 increases to 36, in Year 3 to 212 and this continues until you take action to stop them.

5. Woodpecker damage. In addition to carpenter bees boring tunnels in the wooden members of your property, woodpeckers can hear the noisy developing larvae in early summer and may tear into the wood in search of food.

Carpenter Bee Trap Com offers fully detailed discussion on how to get rid of carpenter bees and how to prevent carpenter bee damage at www.carpenter-bee-trap.com .