Has anyone ever used an exterminator for Carpenter Bees?

9 years ago

Has anyone ever used an exterminator for Carpenter Bees? I seem to have a bee situation underneath the eaves in the front of my house. Since it's on the second and third story a DIY pest control might be kind of difficult Ã°ÂÂÂ©. Have no idea how I could get up there let along spray pesticide inside.
Also, I am assuming I will have to find someone to patch up my holes and paint over it , who does that? A general contractor or painter ?
TIA for any advice!

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Comments (9)

cold_weather_is_evil
9 years ago
It MIGHT be effective to spray with water from a hose with a narrow (like a sweeper) nozzle on it, and you could do it from the ground. Bees don't do well with wet.

Many painters carry 2 minute plaster just for things like this.
User
9 years ago
Yes, I used an exterminator for an infestation of Carpenter bees years ago.

They sprayed a dust in each and every bored hole, but did no patching. A few years later I subsequently had the house painted and it seems the painters filled the holes.

There were also some holes in the underside of the rails of my split rail fence... the exterminator treated them with the powder, but I can not find the remains of the holes.

Sorry, not much help.

This post was edited by saltidawg on Tue, Jul 8, 14 at 10:23
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It is yellow jackets!!!! I got up close enough to really see when they weren't stirred up and one came out of the hole and I could see the top of the nest down in there! I placed a rock there beside it so DH could gas them. I can't because I am highly allergic to this sort of things. IF it wasn't for that I would leave them alone but I am here by myself during the day and I can't have them biting me when I mow around there. Thanx everyone!!! :)
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You never want to seal any carpenter bee gaps until the late fall. Leave them all open until then. Otherwise if you seal them in they'll burrow another one to get out, especially if you didn't spray them with something that has an immediate knock down effect. They first appear in April or May, whenever temps go above 70 degrees. This was a long and really cold Winter so I know I didn't see any until closer to June. They dig tunnels and lay 5-6 eggs in each one for the first few weeks. Then you'll see them occasionally throughout the rest of the summer in the early mornings or evenings when they are leaving early to get food and then bring it back at the end of the day to store in the tunnel for their larvae. Activity will tend to die down after a couple months when the original generation of adults dies off. Then in the fall the larvae will come out to feed one last time and then go back in the hole to hibernate through Winter. You want to leave the holes un-sealed until then because you are going to treat them with a dust insecticide such as 7dust from Home Depot. Puff it into each hole you can find and then just leave it alone. This is a way more important step than attacking one bee at a time. The adults will pick it up and carry it inside with them and then the larvae will touch it and die when they come out in the fall. Patch the holes in September or October when you know for sure that everything in there is dead. Next year get some traps and put those up, and have an exterminator put a 90 day residual strength repellent spray on all exposed exterior wood. Be prepared to still see a few of them burrow fresh holes, which you can then deal with using more of the dust. If you follow this routine they won't go away over night but activity should die down to little or nothing after 2-3 seasons. If you are around an area where there is a heavy population of them then putting up traps and have your exterior wood treated by an exterminator should be the routine every year as soon as temps go above 70 degrees.
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jharris
9 years ago
if it's out of reach, I know they make spray products that can shoot many feet so you don't need a ladder. Do it at night though, they won't out out and about.
chscl
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks everyone for the feedback . I think I may have to go the exterminator route and subsequently find someone to paint and patch up the holes so they won't come back.
Yikes ! What a pain.Ã°ÂÂÂ©
User
9 years ago
chsci,

I am not absolutely positive, but I do not think that Carpenter Bees re-use the holes. I just left mine as is... it was a couple of years later that I had the house painted. There has been no sign of re-infestation EVER.

EDIT: Google should have been my friend... apparently the holes may be reused and should be plugged AFTER killing the critters.

This post was edited by saltidawg on Wed, Jul 9, 14 at 15:52
chscl
Original Author
9 years ago
saltidawg,

Yeah, I read that too that's why this is going to be such a pain . I have to patch up the holes quickly otherwise I risk them coming back. Or maybe I test my luck and wait to have to have it patched and painted and hope I luck out like you did.
jane__ny
9 years ago
I had the bees boring holes in my pool fence. I do not like using insecticides around the pool area or where my animals, kids frequent.

The exterminator said it wasn't necessary to use any poison. He patched the holes with wood glue (or something like that). Plugged the holes and the bees moved on. Of course, they wound up drilling into other parts of the fence. We just plugged the holes again.

They lay their eggs in the holes, don't live in there.

Jane
User
9 years ago
"They lay their eggs in the holes, don't live in there."

Jane,
Read the EDIT to my post above and also the OP's response to it. If you Google " Carpenter Bees " I suspect you will come to realize that they indeed can go back in and also live in these holes.

YMMV
chscl
Original Author
9 years ago
UPDATE: We had an exterminator come out and treat the little suckers.
He sprayed the holes with pyrethin insecticide and dusted underneath all our soffits and gutters. As of today no more bees helicoptering around Ã°ÂÂÂ
The underside of our eaves/soffit/fascia board was all untreated and bare wood Ã°ÂÂÂ© so now we have to fill up our holes and paint them.
Hopefully we can find someone to do it for relatively inexpensive otherwise hubby will have to get on that ladder Ã°ÂÂÂ

Has anyone ever used an exterminator for Carpenter Bees?

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Has anyone ever used an exterminator for Carpenter Bees?

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