[BigJim]

For years now we have had swarms of wood bore bees eating our house and storage buildings. I THINK we have found the solution to get rid of them without insecticides. I saw recently where a fellow used large brown paper grocery bags blown up or stuffed to resemble a hornet's nest hung in the area when the bees are. So far it looks like it is working. Just after I hung two of them up we saw one bee, since then we have seen none. I hope it continues.

 

[YaterSpoon]

Neat idea. Then again, I don't mind carpenter bees. They attack our shed and picnic table every year.

 

[DoomsDave]

Carpenter bees can be the BANE of shake shingle roofs, sometimes turning them into Swiss Cheese.

 

[Thom Paine]

Carpenter Bees and similar do not like boiled Linseed oil.

 

[mark sr]

I don't like borer bees - they cause too much damage.
I finally got around to building 2 carpenter bee traps but so far all they've caught is one fly ....... but I've only seen 2 bees so far, one near the house and the other near the barn - I hope they work!

 

[Missouri Bound]

We have an old cedar rocking chair on our front porch.
Every year we have one bee that bores a hole in the back leaving a little pile of sawdust....then it leaves.
It's about two weeks of this...then gone until the next year.
Here in the Ozarks we have a lot of weird things.......................

 

[DoomsDave]

Carpenter bees also go after mailbox stanchions, and wood in the firewood pile.

 

[BigJim]

I saw one near sighted Carpenter Bee ( thanks for correcting me for calling them Wood Bore Bees) today, it didn't seem to mind the bags, hopefully it will go away. Usually there are swarms of them around the porch and out in the yard swing made of cedar.

 

[jukk0u]

great pollinators

 

[puttster]

I have several of them in bamboo stakes I use in a trellis. If the only damage is the hole, that doesn't seem critical. Is it?

 

[BigJim]

They don't just make holes, they make tunnels into the wood and make it much weaker.

So far this year, the paper grocery bags filled with paper to make them round so they look like a hornets nest are working for us. We haven't seen any carpenter bees this year after hanging the paper bags.

 

[puttster]

I was thinking that since bamboo already has tunnels there's no more damage they can do. Unless they eat wood for food, like termites.

 

[BigJim]

Hmmm, that's a thought, I don't see how they could hurt the bamboo either.

 

[chandler48]

Unless they eat wood for food, like termites.

They don't. They bore exactly 1/2" holes and turn sideways for a bit. Then they lay their eggs in the bore. God reverses the gestation period of the eggs so the one nearest the opening hatches first. HOWEVER, sometimes before this happens, woodpeckers have a feast on the eggs, and to get to them they destroy the wood.

 

[puttster]

Hmmm, that's a thought, I don't see how they could hurt the bamboo either.

Sometimes you have to think like a bug