# Carpenter Bee control



## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

My birdfeeder post is 4x4 PT pine. Last year a bunch of carpenter bees decided to use it as a home. Now I can clearly see the holes. I want to seal up the holes. Its cold now, so the bees are gone, but I understand that there are larvae in there. 

I am not finding an obvious place to buy bee killing dust in Ontario. That's the trouble up here, same with herbicides --- anything that works well is illegal. Maybe some generic insect killer? 

One internet site says just caulk the hole and they will suffocate, or to put cotton soaked with isopropyl alcohol in there first to help use up the oxygen.

Also read to spray hole with carb cleaner or WD40. I have both, but wonder if that needs to hold up until the spring, to be effective.

Any thought on best way to seal it up?


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

Being pressure treated I'm surprised they like it. I assume "sevin dust" isn't available to you, it does work well on yellow jackets. But the name "sevin" I think applies to how long it is active.

There are several versions of a derivative from the chrysanthemum flowers that are rather friendly. I use Bonide Pyrethrin but there are others. *Here* is a related link. Being they are used in pet flea collars perhaps they are acceptable. 

Bud


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## Drachenfire (Jun 6, 2017)

Using a stiff piece of wire, stick it down the hole to try and destroy any existing larvae.

Completely stuff the hole with steel wool and seal with latex caulk. Paint or stain the wood. 

Any larvae that hatch cannot get out and will die. And returning adults will not be able to access the holes they originally made and they do not like paint or stain.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

I use sevin dust to dust the holes as it's both cheap and effective. If you don't kill the larvae, they will hatch and find a way out. Just filling the hole doesn't normally work and yes I have seen them drill into pressure treated wood. I've sprayed the bees with carb cleaner and it will kill them but I have no idea if it would work inside the hole. The bees can carve out a pretty big/long cavity in the wood. The sevin dust works by coating the wood which will get on the bees and kill them as they exit.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Only pros can get their hands on Sevin up here. Really don't want to call in an exterminator for one birdfeeder post.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

You could try poking in a wire to stab the larvae but their tunnels usually turn so I wouldn't expect that to be too effective. I suppose you could spray the inside as good as you can with whatever you can use and see if that works.


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## Yodaman (Mar 9, 2015)

Drachenfire said:


> they do not like paint or stain.





Right there is your best ongoing defense, keep the wood coated.


Can't imagine what the issue with Seven is. It's safe your vegetable garden.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

Paint or stain might slow them down but it does not stop them! If they want in a piece of wood they get in :vs_mad:


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

I have read that stain won't slow them down, but they won't go through an oil based paint. Going to have to put a coat on it.


My deck is Ipe and Tigerwood. Pretty hard stuff, so bees don't waste their time on it when there is so much soft pressure treated pine in the neighborhood. Joists are PT, but I coated the bottom of the joists with brush-on roofing tar. Seems to work.


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## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

This leads me to wonder what the penalty would be for felony possession of a can of Raid in Ontario.

That's what I use, the can of Raid with the long tube that can be turned straight up. I've never found a case where the tube did not get to the end of the hole.


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## KHouse75 (May 14, 2008)

Can't stand them and can't get rid of them. They love soft wood of any type including PT SYP and cedar. This summer, they emerged early here due to a hot spell in the spring. It then got freezing cold for a few days and I didn't see another one after that. Same with canker worms. They were horrible here for a several years in a row. I spent a couple hours wrapping trees and applying tanglefoot only to have 0 canker worms the last two years due to the unusual weather we had.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

ChuckF. said:


> This leads me to wonder what the penalty would be for felony possession of a can of Raid in Ontario.
> 
> That's what I use, the can of Raid with the long tube that can be turned straight up. I've never found a case where the tube did not get to the end of the hole.



That's a good idea. 
But I'll bet that what was in a can of Raid when I was a kid, was a heck of a lot deadlier than what they put in there today.


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## PestGuy (Jan 15, 2018)

How about Evergreen Pyrethrum Dust? You can't get that shipped to you from Amazon?


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Pyretherins are listed as Class 9 --- not allowed for cosmetic control. But I think this is considered a lightly restricted category. I do find it on Ebay.ca, but not cheap. For just one 4x4 post, I like ChuckF's idea better - Raid. I already have that.


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## del schisler (Aug 22, 2010)

SPS-1 said:


> My birdfeeder post is 4x4 PT pine. Last year a bunch of carpenter bees decided to use it as a home. Now I can clearly see the holes. I want to seal up the holes. Its cold now, so the bees are gone, but I understand that there are larvae in there.
> 
> I am not finding an obvious place to buy bee killing dust in Ontario. That's the trouble up here, same with herbicides --- anything that works well is illegal. Maybe some generic insect killer?
> 
> ...


i had those bees , they make a 3/8 hole , get a dowel and wait tell dark and pound in hole , cut off and put in all the holes, i bet that will end them, that is what i did and never had any more bees


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

del schisler said:


> i had those bees , they make a 3/8 hole , get a dowel and wait tell dark and pound in hole , cut off and put in all the holes, i bet that will end them, that is what i did and never had any more bees





You got lucky, closing off the hole usually doesn't end well - they just 'drill' a new entrance. I once primed some brick mold on a new house I was painting. I puttied up the bee hole and when I came back the next day to apply the finish paint there was a neatly drilled hole right next to the one I plugged.


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## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Interesting discussion about banned bug killers in Ontario.

Maybe consider a piece of metal pipe for the bird feeder post?


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

I sprayed holes with Raid, then soaked them with carburetor cleaner, filled holes with PL Premium (readily filled entire passageway, but soon as I pulled out nozzle, the air pressure pushed the PL Premium back out), then painted post with oil based paint.


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## Mrbuilder (Nov 15, 2016)

Fall is just around the corner and this nasty carpenter bees will be going back to hibernate in the holes they were born. Get a jump start ahead of them by plugging the holes and hanging a bee trap next to where they are located. By doing this, you will have a jump start on spring when they mate and start looking to bore new nest holes.






Try this, seems to work for me here in TN. with sugar water in the jar. 1/4 cup


just sayin':vs_cool:


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## Yodaman (Mar 9, 2015)

I tried one of the jar traps last year with no luck.
I did however have about a 90% success rate when contact was made with
the Louisville swatter. Would you believe some them still flew away after taking a hit!


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Hornet/Wasp killer will take them down too. But you need to score a solid hit, not just a drop or two.


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