Carpenter Bees

Sooo...I've not identified any carpenter bees on my property but I keep seeing a listing on CL for traps for carpenter bees....so, I guess they are a "problem" for folks around here...

I did a little googling but wanted to see what folks here could tell me and if my thinking is on track -- I'm thinking these bees are good pollinators and not a serious threat to wood structures...yes? no? maybe?

They are indeed good pollinators, but many people with wood structures dislike them because they dig holes in wood to make their 'nests' to lay eggs. Some people are also frightened of them because most varieties are rather large, but also most people don't seem to realize they don't sting. You can actually buy them through some companies and/or the little homes for them to be attracted to. You can also make homes for them that are inviting such as a can full of bamboo rods of various sizes nailed to a standing post or a round of wood with holes drilled nailed so that the holes are parallel to the ground.

D. Logan wrote: but also most people don't seem to realize they don't sting.

I have to debunk this one statement, Carpenter bees do indeed sting.

They have 1. stung me twice 2. swarmed and chased an Electric company worker who disturbed a nest of them in my back yard, they chased and stung him for more than two blocks.
It was only when he removed and threw his workers vest that they left him alone, they followed the movement of that vest and attacked it even as it hit the street.

As a result of my being stung, the doctor discovered that I have a severe allergic reaction to bee and wasp venom, I now have to carry two auto injectors at all times since it only takes 1 hour from my being stung until I would be buried for the great dirt nap.

From what I know, male carpenter bees do not have a stinger.
The females do but they are usually calm and rarely sting unless angered.

Carpenter bees love my rabbit hutches for some reason. I mean MUCH more than any other wooden structures such as my porch. I've been thinking of building some sort of structure near the hutches with more of the features that seem to say "prime boring spot" to them, since so many of my fruit trees and other food crops are also nearby. I've never had them being aggressive toward me or, as far as I can tell, to my rabbits. It's interesting to see that they can behave that way. I guess I should do a bit of research before putting very much into it.

You do not want carpenter bees. They are very destructive. If you get them I would suggest traps and try to eliminate them. They are supposed to be deterred by painted surfaces or somehow otherwise finished

I think some people miss identify carpenter bees. They are solitary creatures and do not swarm. They don't have singers and are very docile.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Carpenter bees do indeed sting.  They have 1. stung me twice 2. swarmed and chased an Electric company worker who disturbed a nest of them in my back yard, they chased and stung him for more than two blocks.

Emma Carver-Barrass wrote:I think some people miss identify carpenter bees. They are solitary creatures and do not swarm. They don't have singers and are very docile.

While I couldn't definitively confirm or deny whether carpenter bees sting, they've never stung me nor acted even remotely aggressive, even when I'm trying to kill them.  And they are not communal.  They nest individually, laying their eggs in the tunnels they carve into dead wood.  So whatever "nest" was disturbed resulting in an angry "swarm," it was not carpenter bees.

Having said all that, I still go out of my way to trap carpenter bees or otherwise kill any I see.  They are making Swiss cheese out of my house before I can even finish building it.  Unfortunately, that is a level of damage I simply cannot tolerate, no matter what ecological benefits (pollination, predation) the bees may offer.  I have diverse polyculture habitats on my property, so there are doubtless other species offering the same benefits without threatening my architecture.

If you have buildings with all vinyl or aluminum siding, soffits, facia, etc., then go crazy embracing the carpenter bees.  Otherwise, beware!

they are major pollinators here for me for certain plants: pigeon peas, passionfruits and pumpkin. (there is a P joke in here somewhere...)
I have seen them boring wood (in stakes in my garden) but they seem to prefer rotting wood in the garden as opposed to my rabbit hutches or wooden back deck/porch.
I often am out among them and have never had an issue with stings. We have many different types of large carpenter type bees here and I'm not an expert. But years ago in the US I was stung by what I assume were bumblebees, which I would not recommend. (I was wearing black and in bear territory and I never did nothing to the little guys, but they apparently saw me as a threat).

In defense of carpenter bees,

The swarming and stinging and disturbing a nest does sounds like misidentification.  None of those behaviors are characteristic of carpenter bees.  I do know someone who swears they were stung several times by carpenter bees but I’ve ‘literally’ (up to squashing them in my hand) done everything possible to get a carpenter bee to sting me and never been successful.

They are very easy to tell apart between male and female, and the males can be gently caught in your hand and held and they won’t and can’t sting.

I am very much on the page on build them something out of garbage 2x4s and let them go to town.  I absolutely love them and love watching them pollinate my blueberries in early spring when nothing else is out and about.  They surely must do 90% of the pollinating of my blueberries.

It’s also very easy to prevent them boring into wood.  A light dusting with a propane flame thrower on whatever wood you’d like to protect will do the trick.  They don’t like the taste of the burn and will leave it alone.

However, when carpenter bees leave a structure alone, they don’t protect it from other nesting stinging wasps and hornets.  So in my mind you get to pick between carpenter bees and hornets that’ll sting you when you open the door to the outdoor facility that you didn’t shou shugi ban. 😂
I’d rather have carpenter bees.  Word on the street is they reuse the same holes and mostly only eat the soft wood anyway. (is that true?? I can’t remember)

Anyway, I like em and I advocate for not swatting them.  We’ve all got better things to do.  Like eat the blueberries!  And make more gorgeous shou shugi ban!

So many possibilities of misidentification with the generic identification of carpenter bee.  Different cotenants, different regions on the same cotenant,  different habitats in the same region; will have different species referred to as carpenter bees.  Some confusion may come from bees reusing holes made bey other insects such as wood boring beetles.  So if lumber was used that had wood boring beetle exit holes the blame may be put on the solitary bees reusing the holes.   Large cavities may be used by colony wasps and hornets that have aggressive protective workers.  Classifying permaculture  as a design science we need to develop the observation skills of science and collaboration with other observers so that we culture, that is work together with other creatures, instead of kill all others and discover it was to our loss.

Like the original poster do some Wikipedia search  and be as specific as posible in describing your experience and observations so that others are not mislead in their permaculture design or decisions.  

I had carpenter bees making holes in my porch rafters until I put up a fake hornet's nest. I bought a few of these, and they effectively prevent both hornets and carpenter bees from making a home within view of the fake nest.

I discovered this method after spraying a real hornet's nest and leaving it in place for a couple of years. During that time, no other nests were built within sight of it. The fake nests I use resemble paper lanterns and cost about $2-$3 each online. However, you can also make your own.

I've been using these fake hornet's nests for several years now and have never had an issue with new hornet nests being built within view of them. The carpenter bees have also vacated the area.

Arthur Gagnon wrote:I had carpenter bees making holes in my porch rafters until I put up a fake hornet's nest. I bought a few of these, and they effectively prevent both hornets and carpenter bees from making a home within view of the fake nest.

That's brilliant!  I'd never heard of that.  If they are indeed inexpensive and available online, I will immediately buy several and report back in time if they worked for me.  Thank you Arthur!

Matthew Nistico wrote:

Arthur Gagnon wrote:I had carpenter bees making holes in my porch rafters until I put up a fake hornet's nest. I bought a few of these, and they effectively prevent both hornets and carpenter bees from making a home within view of the fake nest.

That's brilliant!  I'd never heard of that.  If they are indeed inexpensive and available online, I will immediately buy several and report back in time if they worked for me.  Thank you Arthur!

So the opinions I find online are mixed: some say these will deter territorial insects like wasps and carpenter bees from nesting close, while others say the concept is BS.

I just bought 8 on Amazon for $16 delivered, enough to saturate the perimeters of my two buildings.  At that low price, why not give it a try?!

Arthur Gagnon wrote:
I've been using these fake hornet's nests for several years now and have never had an issue with new hornet nests being built within view of them. The carpenter bees have also vacated the area.

Wow! I am definitely going to try that! Thanks!

On the topic of carpenter bees, I read up on them last year when we decided we'd had enough. A few holes where it doesn't matter much is one thing, but they were increasing.
A few interesting things:
- Males hover around holes waiting for females to come out so they can mate with them.
- Their holes go in a short way then turn 90 degrees and can go rather long in that direction; so they can live in a board, which I've seen them do.
- If they fly in front of your face and hover a moment, they are memorizing you! Just smile and stay still, you'll notice they'll just pause there and then buzz away!
- Females can sting, males cannot. But the females will only sting if provoked. They are usually inside the holes boring slowly, so it's rare you'll encounter them unless you're repairing the wood they're currently in. As stated above, it's the males hovering around outside the holes that you'll encounter, and they can't sting. They just want to take your picture then get back to waiting for their darling sweetheart to come out for mating.
- They will avoid living in wood that has vibrations, such as if you put a speaker touching it, or hang windchimes on it.
- They don't want to chew through paint, but they will go through stain.

Being that they want to bore sideways, they won't be too interested in the common 'houses' you see with holes in it if they don't go very far in. I am going to try making one by using a board just like on my soffit or a 4x4, and starting some holes of the right size and various depths, to get them started. I'll put it somewhere horizontally, like my soffit is. Maybe I'll put it on some branches of a tree farther away. Then we'll repair the soffit area of the house and see if we have successfully relocated them.

Kim Wills wrote: - They don't want to chew through paint, but they will go through stain.

Being that they want to bore sideways, they won't be too interested in the common 'houses' you see with holes in it if they don't go very far in.

Sadly, I must report from personal experience that neither stain NOR paint seem to have any deterrent effect.  I have bees boring two holes into freshly patched and repainted structural members outside my door even as I type this.

I have a couple of those little "carpenter bee house" traps.  I need to make more.  They work.  I've not caught tons and tons of bees, but enough over the years to say they are definitely worth hanging.