Carpenter Bees

[hurleyjd]

How about the leaf cutter bees and what ever it is that stuffs a hose full of grass. Also some have to be pretty small as they will stop up 1/8 hole in a pieces of equipment setting in the shop.

 

[Jogeephus]

Hate them! I have one of those bug zappers that looks like a tennis racket - it's my guilty, somewhat sadistic pleasure. I believe there is an old thread about carpenter bees (maybe referred to as wood bees); someone made their own trap & evidently it worked great but the key is to catch a female - although I have no clue how you would tell the difference.

Female carpenter bee has a black face the male has the white dot on its forehead. BTW - the female can sting the male can't so be sure the female is dead before picking her up. I use a badmitten racket to catch mine.

 

[boondocks]

Google bee traps, easy to make and they work

I looked at them. They seemed pretty hokey. The idea they'd choose the trap over the 18,000 holes they have seemed too far fetched.

You need to bait the trap. Kill a female and place in the container and it will fill with others.

This is all I use and works well. I put the female inside the trap and now the trap is filled all the way to the first line and more are trapped each week.

This was helpful to us last year on the earlier thread. We had several ready to go this year and have caught a bunch of bees (not all, I'm sure). Didn't know you had to get a female--we just hung them and walked away. Nice fresh wood helps I think???

 

[Jogeephus]

Boondocks, you don't have to get a female and actually any will work better than nothing but if you do use a female I think you will see the number you catch will increase fourfold. Mine does anyway. I think the reason is most of the fliers are males looking to breed.

Another thing I've noticed is just what you said about new wood. I've also found freshening the drill holes at the beginning of the year helps a lot too but I'm not sure if its the smell or its the cleaning of spider webs from the holes. I had one trap that didn't catch anything and I found the holes had webs in them. I cleaned the holes out and the trap went to catching again.

Here is a picture I just took of a trap I baited with a female this year. Don't know how many are in the bottle but its a good many. This is about the average I catch with a female baited trap. Male bait is less than half this.

 

[TCRanch]

Hate them! I have one of those bug zappers that looks like a tennis racket - it's my guilty, somewhat sadistic pleasure. I believe there is an old thread about carpenter bees (maybe referred to as wood bees); someone made their own trap & evidently it worked great but the key is to catch a female - although I have no clue how you would tell the difference.

Female carpenter bee has a black face the male has the white dot on its forehead. BTW - the female can sting the male can't so be sure the female is dead before picking her up. I use a badmitten racket to catch mine.

I guarantee you I won't be close enough to check out the markings on it's face. You'd be amazed how fast I can run - but thanks for the info

 

[ga.prime]

Female carpenter bee has a black face the male has the white dot on its forehead. BTW - the female can sting the male can't so be sure the female is dead before picking her up. I use a badmitten racket to catch mine.

Used to trap them in Rose of Sharon (Althea) blossoms about a million years ago. No way to tell if they have the white dot on the forehead when your looking at their arse end feeding a blossom. Got stung once or twice doing that.

 

[Jogeephus]

Female carpenter bee has a black face the male has the white dot on its forehead. BTW - the female can sting the male can't so be sure the female is dead before picking her up. I use a badmitten racket to catch mine.

Used to trap them in Rose of Sharon (Althea) blossoms about a million years ago. No way to tell if they have the white dot on the forehead when your looking at their arse end feeding a blossom. Got stung once or twice doing that.

:lol2: I've done the same and learned the lesson first hand myself.

 

[boondocks]

Boondocks, you don't have to get a female and actually any will work better than nothing but if you do use a female I think you will see the number you catch will increase fourfold. Mine does anyway. I think the reason is most of the fliers are males looking to breed.

Another thing I've noticed is just what you said about new wood. I've also found freshening the drill holes at the beginning of the year helps a lot too but I'm not sure if its the smell or its the cleaning of spider webs from the holes. I had one trap that didn't catch anything and I found the holes had webs in them. I cleaned the holes out and the trap went to catching again.

Here is a picture I just took of a trap I baited with a female this year. Don't know how many are in the bottle but its a good many. This is about the average I catch with a female baited trap. Male bait is less than half this.

First really hot day and our log house had a carpenter bee convention going on. I dug out this thread and was glad to see we can refresh the holes rather than making all new ones. Do you just drill it out a bit?

 

[Jogeephus]

What I do is using the same drill bit I just stick it in the hole and run the drill a little and let it waller about a tiny bit just to scruff up the sides and pull out any spider webs. Almost like sanding the wood if that makes sense.

BTW - this year I never cleaned the bottles out and just left all the bees from last year in them. Earlier in the spring I had a pile of carpenter bees flying around the barn and noticed some live ones in the bottles but didn't pay them much attention. Reading this thread again made me realize I haven't even noticed a carpenter bee in weeks. Don't know if the traps got them all or if they just moved on but they don't seem to be around for some reason and I don't know why. I can't help but wonder if they aren't a little like honey bees and will return to an established nest even if you kill all the bees in the nest. I had this problem with my house and the only way I found to stop them from getting in the house was to stop up the hole they were entering. IF, this is correct I think it would mean your bee traps will become more effective the longer they are in place.

 

[True Grit Farms]

The cypress is tore up on my camp house from the woodpeckers going after the carpenter bees.

 

[dun]

That's one advantage to having stuff built from 100 year aged oak. It's so hard that they don;t bother it. The only ting I have to watch is new construction stuff that is exposed to the outside.

 

[HDRider]

I am not exaggerating, or at least not too much. I have swatted 100s of them things this year with a badminton racket. My batting average is approaching .500 and it is very satisfying, therapeutic almost, to connect with one.

 

[greybeard]

I am not exaggerating, or at least not too much. I have swatted 100s of them things this year with a badminton racket. My batting average is approaching .500 and it is very satisfying, therapeutic almost, to connect with one.

I've heard lots go thru the barrel fan blades on our porch. "PTINGGG!"
(at night, many a june bug has met the same end too..I put a light right behind the fan one night and it sounded like a machine gun right after the sun set)

 

[Workinonit Farm]

I've heard lots go thru the barrel fan blades on our porch. "PTINGGG!"
(at night, many a june bug has met the same end too..I put a light right behind the fan one night and it sounded like a machine gun right after the sun set)

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

You crack me up!!! Same with some of your comments on the "delicate" thread! :lol2:

 

[MRRherefords]

Love to kill these things with badminton rackets. Already over 100 and the season just started!