Carpenter bee advice

[Jasper Starbow]

I know there's lots of knowledge about the wider bee universe here so I'm wondering if anyone has advice on how to move carpenter bees out of my deck. This year they've suddenly found my deck and there are at least 4 or 5 active holes raining sawdust out of them. I love to see these cuties bumbling around my garden so I'd like to encourage the bees to find a different home, not kill them.  Any good techniques? 

Thanks!

Jasper

[Gerald Przybylski]

...  after all the other experts weighed in...

I guess none of us are carpenter bee experts.

A few general "facts" I've come across are:
Carpenter bees prefer deteriorated wood because it's easier to bore into.
Carpenter bees don't eat wood. They drill nesting tunnels for cells,
and fill them with multiple layers alternating
separator//food+egg//separator...
They're supposed to hatch out next year.
Some species are semi-social, some are solitary.

A good layer of paint keeps the bees from boring into the wood.

carpenter bee holes sometimes attract woodpeckers.

The bore holes are generally shallow.  superficial damage.

Read the Wikipedia article for starters.
Since they don't eat the wood, a pesticide treatment of the wood might
not help much.
If they're going into a cavity, screen them out.
A good layer of paint.  Stain probably won't hold 'em back.

Pest control companies probably have their own advice.

Sorry this isn't very helpful

[David Bogdonoff]

Not related to your question, but I saw a male valley carpenter bee today for the first time in South Berkeley. Didn't know what the heck it was until I looked it up. Bigger than a normal bumble, biggest bee I've ever seen, and solid gold in color. Fascinating!

[Paula Breen]

I remember a couple of years ago when we had a speaker from UC, and I think it was Gordin Frankie, the well know expert on native bees. He said that while Carpenter bees do excavate wood, they can't do any real structural damage like say, termites. 

I love watching those giant bees, both the VW sized females 😍 and the big orange males. They make me happy in the garden. 

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[Bob Nutter]

The Golden Snitch!

On May 21, 2024, at 9:06 PM, David Bogdonoff <dbogd...@gmail.com> wrote:

Not related to your question, but I saw a male valley carpenter bee today for the first time in South Berkeley. Didn't know what the heck it was until I looked it up. Bigger than a normal bumble, biggest bee I've ever seen, and solid gold in color. Fascinating!

--

[Phil Stob]

Also know as BOB.   Big Orange Bee. 

If you find BOB, or he finds you, you will notice his ranges is rather small, as he stays pretty close to the hole that he came out of in hopes of finding the emerging females.  He may seem aggressive, with lots of buzzing about, but he's pretty much harmless, and to us, mostly entertainment. 

Cheers, Phil 

[Mimi Edwards]

BOB is out in my front yard and so are the black female cohorts he is pursuing.  I didn't realize that the male looked so different from females, I thought he was a different type of bee.  Thanks for teaching me.  

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/the-alameda-county-beekeepers-association/c4199b91-87d4-4dc4-830c-2e1b8b8f1ffdn%40googlegroups.com.