When is carpenter bee season

Inside the hole, the tunnel is typically about inches long, going with the grain. Small egg chambers are along this tunnel, each with a bit of food for the larva when it awakens. These nests can expand year after year as the colony grows.

If you think you have carpenter bees, they can be removed, and the hole can be sealed and painted once the process of carpenter bee removal is done. Working with a wildlife removal expert can offer you a number of things. You get peace of mind that the problem is fully removed and treated in a way that they are not likely to return. Swatting hovering bees will often prove to be just as effective. Although it is a time-consuming and seemingly endless task, treating the entrance holes with an insecticidal spray or dust can reduce future nesting activity.

Products containing carbaryl Sevin , cyfluthrin or resmethrin among other chemicals are suitable. A list of chemicals for use against carpenter bees can be found in the North Carolina Agricultural Chemicals Manua l. Avoid inhaling the insecticide or contaminating your clothing with the spray.

Always stand upwind from the surface you're treating. Treated tunnels should be sealed with a small ball of aluminum foil and caulked after hours. Since active or abandoned tunnels may be used as overwintering sites or can be re-used next spring for nesting, it is important that they be sealed. The insecticide treatment is important because it kills both the adult bee as well as any offspring as they attempt to emerge later. Simply plugging untreated tunnels with wire mesh or similar material might trap bees inside, but more resourceful bees will simply chew another exit hole.

Another option is to go the route of replacing wood siding with composite materials such as masony, cement board siding, or vinyl siding as well as replacing porch rails and balusters. For some people, these alternatives are not always preferred from an aesthetic or cost perspective. For assistance with a specific problem, contact your local Cooperative Extension center. Recommendations for the use of agricultural chemicals are included in this publication as a convenience to the reader.

The use of brand names and any mention or listing of commercial products or services in this publication does not imply endorsement by NC State University or N. Individuals who use agricultural chemicals are responsible for ensuring that the intended use complies with current regulations and conforms to the product label.

Be sure to obtain current information about usage regulations and examine a current product label before applying any chemical. For assistance, contact your local N.

Cooperative Extension county center. Cooperative Extension prohibits discrimination and harassment regardless of age, color, disability, family and marital status, gender identity, national origin, political beliefs, race, religion, sex including pregnancy , sexual orientation and veteran status.

Receive Email Notifications for New Publications. NC State Extension Publications. Related Publications. Carpenter bees will often eliminate their waste before entering their nest, so you might see yellow stains on the surface of the wood, just below the entrance hole.

Though they burrow into wood, carpenter bees don't eat wood like termites do. Since their nest tunnels are limited in size, they rarely do serious structural damage.

However, because such excavation requires a lot of energy on her part, a female carpenter bee will often prefer to refurbish an old tunnel to digging a new one.

If carpenter bees are allowed to tunnel in the same structure year after year, however, the cumulative damage can be significant. Your best defense is a good offense.

Carpenter bees prefer to excavate untreated, unfinished wood. You can prevent carpenter bees from nesting in the first place by painting or varnishing your home's exterior. If an infestation has occurred, you will need to use an insecticide to eliminate the carpenter bees. Many professionals recommend sprays or dust, which can reach the interior surface of the entrance holes. Apply the pesticide at dusk, when carpenter bees are less active.

For the insecticide to work, the bees much come in contact with it as they crawl through the entrance hole of the nest. Apply the appropriate insecticidal dust in the spring, just before adults emerge to mate. Once you see the bees emerge, wait a few days before filling in the nest holes with wood putty or filler. If you didn't apply the insecticide before the spring adults emerged, you will need to treat the nests in the spring, and again in late summer, when the next generation of adults is foraging.

In the fall, seal the nest holes with steel wool, then close off the hole with putty, wood filler, fiberglass, or asphalt. A professional pest control service is your best choice, especially if you have a large infestation because they'll have specialized tools that can reach deep into crevices. However, if you want to do it yourself, any name-brand insecticide formulated to kill flying insects should work.

If you'd prefer to use a natural remedy, there are several, including boric acid, Diatomaceous earth, and citrus spray. Call Bee season depends largely on temperature and the seasonal patterns of flowers. After hibernating over the winter, bees awaken in time to collect pollen and nectar from their preferred plants; flowering plants also bloom in correspondence with the arrival of their most effective pollinators. Certain bee species are active pollinators during certain seasons, as native flowering plants and bees have established a relationship throughout their lengthy evolution.

Some bees have no seasonal preferences and feed off a variety of flowering plants. Three of the most commonly encountered bees by homeowners are honey bees, carpenter bees and bumble bees. These bees usually become active in the spring with the warm weather and flowering of plants. They remain active throughout the summer and into the fall.