Carpenter Bee Control – Bert’s Method

Carpenter bees are a most annoying spring nuisance. They hover around decks and gutters and bore holes in exposed wood surfaces.

My typical advice has been to swat them with a tennis racquet to lower their numbers.

I didn’t care for spraying insecticide because of the risk to the sprayee.

Now comes my friend Bert with a GREAT idea for spraying insecticide into the carpenter bee holes. With the right spray can and a bit of handiwork, you can direct the insecticide where it’s needed and kill a lot of bees.

I’ll let him explain:

“Ace hardware sells the Bengal wasp and hornet killer and also the tubing you will need. This is the only can I have found which has a round spray nozzle to which you can attach a tube. You can make the tubing as long as you need.” (If you tape a dowel to the end of the tubing, you can direct it into a hole far above your head. Walter)

“Wait until about mid April or so, when you think the bees have made their final nest. You will know this when you see them chasing each other which is some form of mating.

“The day before you do the spraying, do a walk around your house and identify all of the holes you are going to treat.

“Just after dawn, while they are all in their nests, treat all of the holes you found the previous day using a ladder if needed.(Important: wear safety glasses as some of the holes may be shallow and the spray may splatter onto you.)

“That’s it. You will see them drop out of the holes and die. What I have noticed is that each year I have less and less of them because I have prevented their offspring from reproducing.”