Are carpenter bees really destroying my home, or can we live together?
May 16, 2022 1:26 PM Subscribe
My partner and I are having a discussion about whether it's important to eradicate the plentiful and active carpenter bees using our eaves for their nests. My preference is to live with them; my partner has reached a point of action.
This is our third summer in our lovely house in the trees. The carpenter bees are at their most active right now, and we have many holes in the (soffits? fascia? never sure which is which).
I've asked him to use non-lethal methods if he really wants to get rid of them, so we are setting up a couple of traps today. I would prefer not to use poison if possible, since our yard is generally full of life of all kinds and I don't want to add to the pesticide burden faced by all our animal neighbors.
Are carpenter bees really the menace they are made out to be? Is there any way to live in peace with them, or are we looking at major repairs if we leave them unchecked? So far there are no leaks/major visible damage, but according to the guy who took out the giant hornet nest in my rhododendron last year (partner's arm and leg swelled up alarmingly following some stings) they are the worst, and their larvae are attractive to woodpeckers who will destroy our eaves in their foraging.
I know they are fairly weak pollinators, but I feel like that's okay, not everyone needs to be a honeybee.
Honestly they are super loud for about a month, and they are definitely chewing holes, but I kind of enjoy the feeling that my house supports different kinds of life (I am not too woo about it, I don't mind trapping mice and stepping on the occasional millipede).
I feel like google answers are going to swing in the direction of all the people who want to sell homeowners solutions to problems that may or may not be real. Same with talking to pest control people. I have local scientists but have not managed to corner anyone and ask this particular question yet.
This is our third summer in our lovely house in the trees. The carpenter bees are at their most active right now, and we have many holes in the (soffits? fascia? never sure which is which).
I've asked him to use non-lethal methods if he really wants to get rid of them, so we are setting up a couple of traps today. I would prefer not to use poison if possible, since our yard is generally full of life of all kinds and I don't want to add to the pesticide burden faced by all our animal neighbors.
Are carpenter bees really the menace they are made out to be? Is there any way to live in peace with them, or are we looking at major repairs if we leave them unchecked? So far there are no leaks/major visible damage, but according to the guy who took out the giant hornet nest in my rhododendron last year (partner's arm and leg swelled up alarmingly following some stings) they are the worst, and their larvae are attractive to woodpeckers who will destroy our eaves in their foraging.
I know they are fairly weak pollinators, but I feel like that's okay, not everyone needs to be a honeybee.
Honestly they are super loud for about a month, and they are definitely chewing holes, but I kind of enjoy the feeling that my house supports different kinds of life (I am not too woo about it, I don't mind trapping mice and stepping on the occasional millipede).
I feel like google answers are going to swing in the direction of all the people who want to sell homeowners solutions to problems that may or may not be real. Same with talking to pest control people. I have local scientists but have not managed to corner anyone and ask this particular question yet.
When we called an exterminator about a small number of carpenter bees drilling into our house, she told us not to worry about them -- that they aren't like terminates and don't do structural damage. She suggested we just leave them be, which we did, and it hasn't been a problem.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 1:47 PM on May 16, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Winnie the Proust at 1:47 PM on May 16, 2022 [6 favorites]
They are bad news. This is your estate, your real estate, they can nest somewhere else. Somewhere far away. If you had a beloved tree, and you were watching carpenter bees eat it up, and it were dying because of this; would you feel differently? Anyway, they are going to go away. You can go up to your attic, squirt vinegar in the holes and, let it dry. Then putty over the holes. Paint the attic get a sprayer put on two coats, allegedly they dont like painted surfaces. Plug the holes they use to get into yournattic, cover vents with screen. You can provide out door places for them to nest, 4x4 posts with holes, figure out a safe place for them, make it difficult for birds who feed on them, to get in. They sell nests for pollinators, that are cutesy little house looking things made of tubes.
Like this.
posted by Oyéah at 1:51 PM on May 16, 2022 [5 favorites]
Like this.
posted by Oyéah at 1:51 PM on May 16, 2022 [5 favorites]
anecdotal evidence from NotAnExpert. I live in condos with wood balconies. I've lived here since 2003 and they've been coming since then. Everyone complains, but no one does anything and yet the balconies are still here.
That yellow stuff is pretty icky though. It gets on my chairs and every now and then I get squicked out because I think that's insect poop, everywhere I look, insect poop!
Upon review, also nothing wrong with getting rid of them. See insect poop comment above.
posted by BeReasonable at 1:53 PM on May 16, 2022
That yellow stuff is pretty icky though. It gets on my chairs and every now and then I get squicked out because I think that's insect poop, everywhere I look, insect poop!
Upon review, also nothing wrong with getting rid of them. See insect poop comment above.
posted by BeReasonable at 1:53 PM on May 16, 2022
The conventional wisdom is that carpenter bees do cosmetic damage in the vast majority of cases, and only with extremely high density for many years start to affect structural integrity. Good fresh paint is indeed a good deterrent.
That said, assuming you have the eastern carpenter bee (X. virginica), they are common and abundant, and probably higher than 'natural' population density in many human settlements bc we build stuff that favors them over many other species.
So have at them with a fly swatter if you like; the aggressive ones are males that can't sting.
Bonus fun: keep your eye out for bee tigers, these predatory flies specialize on eating carpenter bee larvae, and will naturally come find the carpenter bees and keep them in check, if you have generally good insect habitat.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:49 PM on May 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
That said, assuming you have the eastern carpenter bee (X. virginica), they are common and abundant, and probably higher than 'natural' population density in many human settlements bc we build stuff that favors them over many other species.
So have at them with a fly swatter if you like; the aggressive ones are males that can't sting.
Bonus fun: keep your eye out for bee tigers, these predatory flies specialize on eating carpenter bee larvae, and will naturally come find the carpenter bees and keep them in check, if you have generally good insect habitat.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:49 PM on May 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
We have had success with keeping them out of the holes they begin to drill by using this combination: Take small pieces of steel wool (even the kind with soap already in it) and wet it with orange-scented goo remover. Stuff it in the holes and they won’t come back. In years past we tried wood putty and various types of glue and they would chew right through it. And, yes, the woodpeckers will come enlarge the holes to get at the larvae. This doesn’t harm the bees but encourages them to go elsewhere.
posted by serendipityrules at 11:30 AM on May 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by serendipityrules at 11:30 AM on May 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Our property is otherwise pesticide free, so we called the exterminator. Replacing eaves (maybe joists?) was no joke pre-pandemic, and the teeny-tiny bit of repair I recently did on our deck—the cost of wood added up very, very quickly.
posted by cupcakeninja at 1:42 PM on May 16, 2022 [1 favorite]