Do carpenter bees attack the wooden structure of your home? Don’t waste your time. Start acting now.
If you’ve noticed one carpenter bee present on your property, then there are great chances to see many more behind the scene. Do you know that they are drilling in the wood on your property to lay eggs?
What does it mean? It means your house is in great danger. If you leave this problem untreated, the structure of your building can be completely destroyed by carpenter bees infestation.
However, with special tips and great professional products you can always improve the situation. Embrace the new carpenter bees control solution with these useful informative tips you need to read right now!
2 Simple Ways for killing carpenter bees in a very fast way
How to exterminate and kill carpenter bees in a fast way is not a simple question for most carpenter bee sufferers.
- First of all, you should focus on their prevention.
- Secondly, apply useful pest control products.
Learn how to do it.
Prevention
Prevent the carpenter bee problem entirely and avoid big infestations with 3 simple rules:
Is your wood hard and treated? If the answer is positive, then there is no need to worry. Remember, carpenter bees prefer untreated soft wood. Having the right maple or oak wood will protect you from those unpleasant pests.- If you paint the wood, you will not have to deal with unpleasant carpenter bees. Unfinished, weathered or stained wood usually attracts carpenters. Paint these surfaces and fill cracks and holes with putty or caulk before painting. With this natural approach, you can take care of the carpenter bee problem without insecticides.
Carpenter Bees usually reuse holes from the preceding season so the holes must be caulked in the fall.
- Fill the holes, crevices and cracks in wood to prevent bees from making their homes in it.
Only females have them and may sting a person on a rare occasion.
Knock them down
There are many professional products specially designed for carpenter bee extermination. Purchase carpenter bee kit that contains everything any homeowner needs to keep these insects away:
- Contaminate the nests and kill the bees by putting Delta Dust in the bee holes.
- Did you notice carpenter bees drilling new holes? Then discourage them from doing it by spraying the exterior wood with effective Tengard SFR product. To keep the chemical effect of this product working, spray the outside of the construction once a month.
Information on carpenter bee repellents
If you don’t want to make away with carpenter bees, consider natural carpenter bee repellents to control the infestations.
You can use Outlast NBS 30 Additive that is derived from plant oils. With this low toxic repellent, you will effectively keep and repeal carpenter bees from burrowing into a wood.
Make your own repellent
Carpenter bees really don’t like citronella and several oils. You can make natural, working carpenter bee repellent at home and carpenter bees will surely leave you alone.
Mix a little of lavender oil, citronella oil, jojoba, and tea tree oils. Pour this mixture into a sprinkler and spray those areas of the house or garden where you need to exterminate carpenter bees.
Purchase natural insect repellents
If you don’t have time for making your own repellent, purchase herbal insect repellent that can be found at most organic gardening stores and centers. Before using the repellent read the instruction to make sure it is safe to use around insects’ hives.
When they will rest on these surfaces they will for sure come into contact with the insecticide.
Carpenter bee spray tips
Are you longing for a good and efficient product to maintain the safety of your property? Using professionally proven and scientifically designed sprays to eliminate carpenter bees is the right solution.
Purchase special aerosol sprays for killing the bees. Get close to the bee and spray it with this aerosol.
Many homeowners want to know what spray kills carpenter bees.
Below there are some efficient sprays that will surely help:
- Stingray Wasp and Hornet Jet Spray. With this fast-acting formulation, you will for sure knock down all the carpenter bees. This powerful contact insecticide features 2 active pyrethroid ingredients that can kill the insects in seconds. Shake the spray well before using and spray directly to carpenter bees. The treatment should be done at an early hour or during the late evening
- FenvaStar EcoCap. Spray this concentrate on the surface that won’t be stained by water. The product should be applied as a crack and crevice spray or surface, spot treatments used in and around any type of structures.
- Wasp spray. Spray the holes of where the carpenter bees are flying in and out. Then immediately caulk the holes. Night is the best time for doing this.
It’s a necessity to keep your house intact, pest free and suitable for living. How often is it you do drywood termite control?
Need tips and advice on how to get rid of yellow jacket nest in a house – here you can find all the information you might require.
Residual liquid treatments to spray
Cyper WP, FenvaStarCap and LambdaStar 9.7 CS are great control products that should be sprayed in the areas where these pests are boring in wood. It is recommended to spray two times in spring at intervals of four weeks.
Make sure to read and take all the precautions when using these liquid treatment products.
After spray treatment, you need to apply Tempo Dust or powerful D-Fence Dust to any and all possible carpenter bee entry points or holes.
If you want to stop destructive carpenter bees from boring new nests on your property, you can use Cypermethrin.
Mix the product at the rate of one ounce per gallon and sprinkle the mixture to those wooden surfaces where these bees are willing to bore to create a nest. With this application, you can effectively treat log cabins and cedar homes.
Apply the product every 2 weeks or once a month in spring when these destructive pests are more active.
Remember, when treating by spraying you need to:
- Get good coverage and treat all of the areas of your property. Keep in mind, carpenter bees can avoid the treated areas and move to those ones which are not sprayed and protected.
- Treat and seal all the old holes releasing smells and odors that can attract new pests.
- Add some effective repellent to your paint for long lasting carpenter bee repellency.
Treating for these destructive pests can be puzzling but by taking the needed steps you can always lower the risk of carpenter bee infestation.
Seal old holes, keep the house freshly painted, use efficient sprays and natural repellents and make the process of pest elimination easy and effective.
Thanks you so very much all the information you provided was very helpful.
“If you paint the wood, you will not have to deal with unpleasant carpenter bees.”
Wrong. I have thick coats of quality exterior paint on cedar fascia and rough-sawn plywood soffit (very hard). They bore into both.
And I’ve used various recommended “natural” products for several applications (fungus, leaf-curl, white-fly, etc.). Natural = ineffective in my experience.
Have you tried Carb Cleaner?
Not yet 🙂
Wd40 works great
I just tried WD40 and it does work.
But still watch out for your dogs.
I will try tonight with wd 30
Carb Cleaner did not work either or us. Easy to get into the wood too, but the bees did not seem to care they are still inside the retaining wood wall .
TEMPO DUST
Yup, didnt work. Neither did brakleen. They are tough to kill
Joe is correct! Wood bees are boring through my painted deck. They don’t care if it is painted or not.
I treated the flat surfaces of my post & beam home in NC with Bayers Advanced this year as I have done the last 3 spring seasons except the freshly painted surfaces of the posts & beams. I was told the bees do not bore into painted or stained surfaces, but to my surprise the culprit was hard at boring into my 1 year ago, dark painted deco beam and didn’t care that I watched. So I suggest that the adage of “If you paint the wood, you will not have to deal with unpleasant carpenter bees,” is a false narrative. Spray everywhere and don’t try to second guess these destructive drilling machines.
I used orange oil with a garden sprayer that had a bit of vinegar still in the container. It has been 72 hours now and they won’t go near the 4 holes. BTW, I used concrete to patch the 1/2 inch holes and they just bored a few inches to the side of the apinted wood. I intend to keep spraying the oil if I see them again and then i will again patch the holes in the fall. something has to eventually work.
Tempo dust in holes..knocks them down dead (all of them). I tried everything and anything nothing worked until I tried this.
thank you. I will try this next
Did the orange oil/vinegar spray work long term?
Carpenter Bees hate tennis rackets
Crc brakekleen killes good but u goota find cheap i use whilw they are fling or Boring never tried anything else i just built Some Carpenter Bee Traps Ill see how they do im a Log Cabin guy so there Horrible
what ratio of jojoba oil, tree tea oil, lavender oil, and citronella oil per gallon of water.
Thank you.
I used about 1/2 cup of Medina orange oil to a pint of vinegar. This is what I will continue to use if I need to. Since i sprayed the holes with Medina Orange Oil I haven’t seen a carpenter bee and i have been trying to get rid of them for 2 years now.I even plugged the holes last fall. They came back and bored holes a couple inches away this spring. Get this oil, I use it with vinegar to kill weeds and unwanted grass too.
if i spray the oil under my deck and some drops on my lawn, or pretty plants, will it kill them, should i water my lawn and plants just after?
Thanks
doesn’t work
I have used 3 different kinds of wasp and hornet jet sprays and sprayed them directly in the face and it didn’t do ANYTHING to them!! Why is that spray not working??!!!
your missing them
Regular wasp/hornet sprays will not kill. You have to use the spray specifically labeled carpenter bee. However, the only one I have been able to locate this year is a foam spray. It is about impossible to hit them with the one stream of foam.
Try CRC Red Can Brake Cleaner Its On sale For abput 3.00 a cn sometimes Works Great an Cheaper than Wasp Or Anyother Bee Spray.
Sadly I did kill 3 yesterday, with my wasp hornet spray that I bought at HD, spray the hole, wait…, they started buzzing and sprayed at them while they were getting out… they are good pollinators, that’s why
I’m going to try tonight the “Moving” option, by getting them a “New Bee House” by sealing holes first during the day…
I don’t know Kelly but I’m in the same boat!! I’ve used 5 different brands of wasp, hornet and yellow jacket sprays (foaming and not foaming) and they couldn’t care less! They fly right through it like it was water. I’ve even used brake cleaner and regular isopropyl rubbing alcohol and all I have to show for it is frustration!!
i have had the same experience spraying them with raid and carb cleaner. seems like their wings blow it away from them
I use cypermethrin in a wettable powder form (Demon WP) and apply with a large pier sprayer. It gives you a good result but it is only temporary. If you only have a few bees keep after it diligently. Once you get to the point of hundreds of these, you’re in trouble. I have noticed that log homes treated with a “hard finish” like polyurethane helps a lot, but I don’t like the shiny appearance.
I own a pest control company and have noticed a significant increase in carpenter bees lately. While pest control operators know more about this than the average guy, we don’t have a perfect answer yet. No offense to log homes, but I would never own one.
Vaseline mixed with drione dust where they enter and into nest, Apply with putty knife use lots
Don’t kill them they are important insects. Use Medina Orange oil, 1/2 cup to one pint of white vinegar. Spray the holes, they will be gone forever.
Rosemary – Do you use just plain white vinegar that they sell in the grocery stores? I bought 30% vinegar and mixed it with the Orange Oil, but they are back.
I sprayed in the winter while they were gone and I’ve sprayed since they came back.
I don’t want to kill them, either, but they are making me a prisoner – I can’t go out on my back deck.
If you have any other suggestions, I’d really appreciate the input. Thanks!
Don’t work, I tried everything to get these things away from eating my aluminum capped freeze boards..EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING, the bee houses I made worked at first until they started hanging out in the holes, VASELINE in holes just fell out, orange oil they just buzzed there wings or eluded it. every poison out there I tried. UNTIL VICTORY!! It took three years but I killed over 70 of them in one day by Tempo dust in holes and on wood and all around the holes which were 27′- 32′ in the air They started dropping like water. The amount of damage they did is in the thousands. Lucky I am a contractor and know how to replace the damaged freeze board.. Save them……… yea right .. make sure the dust you are using is real. Crooks are selling fake stuff
BOGUS!!! Orange oil does nothing
Rosemary they are not important insects! They are not native and are starving out the regular pollinators like honey bees. They are bigger and consume far more.
gees, you are anonymous and I have my entire name there. I don’t know, I read that they are pollinators just like wasps are.
you can spray most anything on a flying carpenter bee, it won’t work. their wings are moving so fast as to defect the spray. if they land though it is totally different situation most anything from wd40 to wasp sray will kill them.
I have a severe infestation on my wood camp. Originally killed as many as I could with a racket but couldn’t keep up. A friend brought some Bengal Roach spray with the little red tube to insert in their holes. Amazing results. Literally killed hundreds. I always thought one hole one bee, until we watched 17 come out of one hole, 12 out of another.
Now I have to try to repair wood damage.
BTW woodpeckers have done as much or more damage as the bees.
The woodpecker’s or after the Bee’s.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE INFO GIVEN ABOUT THE PESTKILL
Starting tearing down an old wood garage. Needles to say I found these large carpenter bees flying into my face. I was scared as hell tell I read that males don’t sting, they just fly into you. The female whom is all black can sting, but is reluctant until provoked. Trying to kill them sounds like provoking them. I used wd 40 on landing surfaces. Wasp killer in the holes. Fill them until it runs out. Wait til night or early morning. Spay again and caulk the holes. Observe them from a distance to see if there are more and repeat.
What oil is best to get rid of bees from my home and how much ratio in spray bottle some tell me peppermint oil or almond oil which is stronger that bees hate and go away ….please tell me how much water ans oil to put in spray bottle to spray outside my window …ty
Just noticed a silver dollar size hole in my cinder block next to my dryer vent. Sprayed a whole can of wasp spray in the hole 2 weeks ago when I noticed bees where going into the hole which at the time was not there. I killed 2 bees inside my house this weekend and am worried they are now in the house. Need some advise and fast. Didn’t know bees burrowed into concrete. Any advice will be appreciated!
Jim, I have the same problem. The bees have opened a silver dollar sized hole in my exterior concrete block wall. I’ve found two bees inside my bathroom which is the interior of that wall. I killed them very easily by spraying them with rubbing alcohol. But I have not been able to kill any of them outside with anytthing I’ve tried ( five different brands of wasp, hornet and yellow jacket aerosols and break cleaner. I’m at my wits end!
just retrieved a custom bumblebee trap from a guys house, i left it in place over a vent in concrete foundation wall, musta had 25 bumble bees in it.
I have not had any luck in killing the carpenter bees with the foaming aerosol spray (cannot connect with them). I had pretty good luck with the aerosol spray that sprays out in a wider spray. I cannot find any of that locally any more. Where can I get the non-foam spray?
The bees are under my shed and I cannot get to the holes.
I gave up I just burnt my entire cabin down, I win they lose..
orange oil. HA! THEY HATE IT AND NEVER CAME BACK
What strength vinegar do you recommend? I bought 30% (thinking stronger is better); mixed it with the orange oil and sprayed, but they are back. I think they are boring on the underside of my deck. I sprayed as well as I could under the deck, while standing at the edge, but I am afraid to crawl under there on my back.
Dusting the holes is the best way, They dust remains active for weeks and kills anything coming or going
Where do you get these orange oils?
I bought it online from National Chemical.
Hi can you provide the exact name through national chemical? Thanks
Cold Pressed Orange Oil – on the bottle, it says ‘Distributed by: FactoryDirectChemicals’. These guys were the cheapest I found (it’s not cheap). If you want ‘easy’, Amazon sells it. Hope this helps.
Help! We have a Lot of the bees just as we go out my back door. They are in the corner of our old wooden Garage. They have been there for several years, I have ask my husband to remove the siding on the garage and deal with them in the winter, but here it is summer again. We need help. I fear when we remove to masonary boards we well find a wall full. We need some emergency measures.
For fun, I use a 22 caliber pistol, 4″ barrel with rat shot and have killed more than you would believe. Not very economical, but it sure is fun. I just catch them as they hover before they go under the eave of the barn and squeeze off a round. Country boy method and no homes other than my own so no harm done elsewhere. I did read and tried it where you could stuff cotton in the hole at night, cover the hole with duct tape and using a syringe penetrate the tape and into the cotton as you inject ammonia in it. Some are so high though can’t get to them safely, hence the pistol.
That was good!!!!
The holes are UNDER my shed and I can’t get to them. They have been coming back for years. They are so bad now that I can’t get to my car without being swarmed. How do you treat the holes if you can’t get to them? Last year I bought a carpenter bee trap and only one got caught. Is there something I can spray on the trap that may attract them? We replaced most of the wood on the deck with a material they do not like. Under the deck is still wood, but they prefer the shed.
most carpenter traps, i call might or maybe traps, cause they might or maybe go into the traps. there is no way to entice a carpenter bee into any trap, except to get your existing nests killed and plugged and a treatment put on your wood, the you can hang a trap mounted close to the edge but where it will stays dry. the bees that are out will most likely go into the trap. bobby glover, carpenter bee control,llc
Thank you I still have the trap I bought last year.
spray tempo dust on ground where they enter
Thank you I will buy some and hope it helps.
check a couple of comments down – round up didn’t which product.
ROUND UP IS THE ANSWER!!!!
My house was their target several years ago, didnt really pay that much attention to the matter. didnt know it would turn out to such an infestation. I have tried everything you could possibally think of, some things worked a little bit. Other things didnt work at all. Got so mad, and so desperate cause I couldnt get a instant result, so I just tried spraying some roundup in 1 of the many many holes in my facial board, well to my suprise, 1 fell out dead! I waited a while watched it and it never moved again! Instant results! If u feel as I do about these pest, then I strongly recommend roundup! It worked for me! I think that their r plenty of these pest in the world, and for someone to kill all of the ones that have infested their home is not even going to put a slight dent in the population.
Where does one get the Tempo Dust?
I ordered mine from Amazon. There are also websites for “do it yourself” pest control from which it can be ordered.
Foolproof…..take a wet vac…put in on suction right under the hole…let it run all day….even next day if you have to…gets them coming and going….no chemicals…then seal area
I can’t buy Tempo Dust in CT. What’s the next best thing?
Tempo dust…Just don’t spray it in the rivers
diatomaceous earth – food grade – good for in the garden also.
Vinegar and dawn dish soap to repel. I bought some orange pull which I will try as well. The vinegar and soap worked for about a week. I had hundreds, now I have maybe 20. Traps suck, carpenter bee spray…they go right in after I spray, electric hand zapper…they fall down and fly away. No particular measurement…regular white vinegar and any scent of dawn.
Hoping the orange pull lasts longer.
*orange oil
Did they orange oil work?
Home Depot has a product called Wasp & Hornet Killer by Spectracide. I sprayed a carpenter bee as it was leaving the nest and it died in a few seconds. I also sprayed into the 1/2 inch hole. So far only one bee was found dead. If I do not see any more I will spray again tomorrow morning with Spectracide Carpenter Bee and Yellow Jacket Killer foaming aersol. It comes with a red plastic straw to insert in the hole. If that doesn’t work onto Tempo Dust
Why is tempo dust can’t be sold in ny?
No one should be killing these bees. Too bad the bees can’t attach you all like you attack them.
You have a “lack of Knowledge” You have not seen what destruction these pests can do. I would kill every one of these bees that I could.
Most pesticides have a patroleum base / get one gallon of diesel and add 1/4 quart of motor oil / use and all purpose spray bottle / set the sprayer for a tight bead able to reach out 12 ft / when you see one go in the hole you are unlikely to see that one again unless they almost immediately come back out / its easy to put a dent in the resident population however the neighboring colonies will repopulate when the population is depleted!
Good shooting
Go back to work at PETA
Spray paint in the hole, or in the air, no matter . Sticky wings at first , but the paint dries an they can no longer fly.
paints and wood sealants do not work. An oil based clear Concrete sealant will work. If you can find active holes petroleum based sprays (“WD-40”) definitely will kill them if they are in there. afterwards caulk the holes with “liquid nails”, or you can caulk without using the
“WD-40”. Bee Traps are also effective but hornet / wasps like to make their nests in them also. I hunt for holes during the day and arm myself with “WD-40” right at dusk or shortly afterwards. caulk in the morning
use and all purpose 3 or 4 dollar spray bottle / use diesel fuel /
this does not immediately kill them / if you see them going in a hole – you wont see them again / its the battle of the bore bees !!
The claim that carpenter bees will not bore through paint ( or stain, oil or acrylic ) is just plain wrong, or that they will not bother pressure treated wood – also wrong, or that they will not bore into maple or oak – also wrong.
If I had a dollar for everytime I’ve seen and treated a carpenter bee hole in painted, stained, or pressure-treated wood I could buy a small country. I’ve seen them bore into oak handles of shovels, oak, teak, and maple outdoor furniture.
The claim that you can kill them all by simply caulking up the holes is one of the biggest errors. These are nature’s natural drilling machines, they are NOT going to sit in those galleries ( tunnels ) and die because some rube sealed that hole up; they can and will simply bore out of the wood somewhere else. You cannot seal those holes up until Fall, and ONLY if you killed every bee and larvae in there first.
I killed or rather shot over 500 today with a mixture of diesel fuel and motor oil! You don’t have to get a direct hit. Most after being sprayed head for there hole never to return, occasionally a direct hit will bring them down immediately! As for pair, I’ve seen them go in a hole when the paint was still wet! The real dilemma is you have to kill the resident bore bees & the surrounding colonies! I use a gallon of diesel per week to put it in perspective.
Good luck in the battle of the bore bees!!
I bought carpenter bees traps but what would I use to attract them.
I’ve got a log cabin and they are really bad this year.
I am going to get Drione and use it on existing holes but want to utilize the traps that I purchased also
I have the carpenter bees traps, that I left in place over the winter with the plastic soda bottle underneath. Now they don’t seen interested in these traps. Any 0ne know why?
you can kill some with traps however you will never put a dent in them !! ive been battling them with diesel fuel with a little motor oil mixed in / killed thousands / I am finally switching my wood out for treated wood painted with a Sherwin Williams additive / I have been fighting the bore bees for 10 / I recently was stung by one
GOOD LUCK !!
I have used Black Flag flying insect spray and watched them die. How to do it and not to do it? First, trying to spray a moving object was useless for me primarily due to wind. Even if there was no wind, they moved quickly as soon as they saw the spray coming at them. So, I changed how to approach them. Since they are seek flower pollen, when I saw one land on a flower I grabbed my spray and quietly approached behind them so they could not see me or were too busy eating. I sprayed once and it took about 20 seconds for it to die after it fell to the ground.
One thing that I am reading is that you have to know when the right time of the year it is to plug up the holes and when it is useless. In the spring the female lays an egg. The egg turns to larvae and then pupates to an adult. The new adult emerges in the fall. AFTER the new adult emerges it will feed and store food for the winter in the hole it came from. This is the time to spray with insecticide and then seal the hole a few days later. It is useless to treat a hole anytime between the eggs being planted by the female and their emergence as adults because the mother protects her “children” just as human parents protect their unborn child in the mothers womb by creating a sealed chamber within the hole that is impervious to sprayed insecticides.
I have tried every year to paint inside the holes the bees have noted..they come back each year and use same holes, then bore more…I bought 3 in 1 oil instead of wd40….forgot which one it said so trying it on a cotton ball and stuffing the hole up….hope they leave, can’t walk out my front door…
Put ip one of the traps with plastic bottle , it is full of bee’s and seems like i have twice the amount buzzing around? Very confused by this, semms like they are being replaced faster than being killed……
For those with bees coming in through holes in the concrete and apparently living in the wall adjacent the hole: Have you tried a permethrin or pyrethrum-based fogger? I’ve used Raid Concentrated Deep Reach Fogger against yellow jackets that entered and nested similarly, and it worked well, applied after dark when they were all in the nest for the night. They could be heard buzzing furiously for a minute or two, then silence. Not sure if this would work for your situation and against carpenter bees, but might be worth a try; 4 1.5oz cans cost me less than $8. You’d start the fogger, shove the nozzle into the hole, then seal around the can against the cement/hole by whatever means; perhaps a water soaked towel. Best of luck.
I hired a so called carpenter bee expert, recommended by a pest control company. What a joke, he sprayed a water and dawn mixture into holes that were high, under my deck. I saw one come out and die, the problem is that the eggs were probably already laid inside. You can spot their holes by looking for a wood dust residue, coming down from the hole. So I paid a big fee for a small benefit. I have been fighting them ever since, and would love to enjoy my deck and give that guy a piece of my mind!
delta dust. puff into holes at night. kills them fast. remaining dust in holes is like a trap that will kill all other insects that try to crawl inside. seal up the holes in fall with caulk.