How to Keep Carpenter Bees Away From a New Deck

The carpenter bee burrows tunnels into wood, creating spaces to lay its eggs, providing them nectar and pollen for growth throughout the day. Often confused for a bumble bee, the carpenter bee has a large body of yellow and black, yet unlike the common bumble bee, its abdomen is shiny and black. Male carpenter bees guard the nest, but for all of their intimidation, they cannot sting. Ridding your house of these bees prevents the wood from deteriorating, and keeps your deck free of other carpenter bee damage as well.

Things You'll Need

• Insecticide
• A blocking material
• Paint
• Pressure-treated wood

Instructions

1. Search out the bees' location around the house, identifying which tunnels are active. Often you can see bees going in and out of their entry hole, with a male bee stationed at the entrance to protect the nest. You should also see saw dust at the entrance and brown stains along the side of the structure.

2. Destroy the nest by spraying an insecticide into the tunnel the bees occupy. Insecticides such as deltamethrin, permethrin, cypermethrin, esfenvalerate, lambda-cyhalothrin, bifenthrin and cyfluthrin, as suggested by Noel N. Troxclair, Jr. and Michael E. Merchant of Texas A&M University, are very successful at penetrating the nest and killing the bees.

3. Wait 12 to 36 hours to make sure the bees spread the insecticide throughout the tunnels and to make sure that no bees are buzzing around after you block the entrance.

4. Plug the tunnel with a wooden dowel, a ball of aluminum foil, wood putty or caulk. This should keep any carpenter bees from entering the already burrowed tunnels. By killing any carpenter bees around the house, your deck stands a better chance of keeping the bees at bay.

5. Paint the deck, if the wood is unfinished, to discourages bees from re-infestation due to the their preference for unfinished, easily accessible wood. If you do not want to ruin the aesthetics of your wood, or if you prefer a stained wood, use pressure-treated wood when you build the deck to help prevent carpenter bees from setting up house in in the first place.

References

• Illinois Department of Public Health: Bees and Wasps Prevention and Control
• Troxclair and Merchant: Carpenter Bees
• Bambara and Waldvogel: Carpenter Bees