Carpenter Bees

The Culprit: Carpenter bees

looking very similar to bumble bees which have more yellow on their abdomen. one way you’re definitely going to know it is a carpenter bee is that it has a very dark, shiny, black abdomen on the back section. The male, however, has a white head, so you can definitely tell which is male and which is female.

The good news is that carpenter bees are not very aggressive. The male doesn’t even have a stinger. He is very territorial however and he may even come up and buzz you. But you will definitely see the white on his face and you will know it’s a male and not to fear. The female however, she does have a stinger, but since they are solitary insects, they are not social like honey bees. They have no reason to really defend themselves and sting you unless you really mess with them a lot. So, that’s the good news.

However, the bad news is the considerable amount of damage to wood. The female creates the infamous half an inch holes in the wood. Once she gets in there you can see that she’ll make a sharp 90 degree turn into the area where she will actually bring in nectar and pollen for the eggs.

What to Do About it: So, if you have wood siding on your house, fence, deck, that type of thing, you’re going to get a lot of damage. Because what happens is with each season, if you don’t close these holes, the new females will reuse them. And often times they won’t just go in and reuse the gallery as it is. She will actually extend that gallery out in more length in your wood structure, so years and years of use will actually cause a lot of damage.

First, to prevent the damage, you will want to use some type of synthetic pyrethroid, you can spray that on the structure. Consult a stain applicator or Log home finishing specialist. They can spray a preventative on the wood to prevent them from boring.

Now, if you already have damage, you are still going to want to do something about it.

Having the holes filled in discourages future behavior and prevents unsightly-and noisy woodpecker damage.

So, if you have wood structures in your landscape that are not protected with an oil based paint or polyurethane, you’re definitely going to be having a visit from the tiny drillers.