Carpenter bees

Advantage Pest Control Solutions has the answer to your Carpenter Bee problem. We offer fast, affordable, and guaranteed Carpenter Bee Control.

Carpenter bees or wood bees are large black and yellow bees that infest wood facia, decks, trees, branches, and other wood outdoors. Although stings are rare, their sheer size and erratic hovering while gaurding their nest entrances can be a disturbing and scary experience. The bees seen guarding the nest entrance are stingerless males. Carpenter bees are large black and yellow bees with a hairless shiny black abdomen and large stinger on females.

Carpenter bees do not eat wood but bore dime sized holes in outdoor wood surfaces for a few inches then make a 90 degree turnand bore along the grain for up to several feet, laying eggs in cells along their tunnels and can cause significant damage if left untreated. Damage can also occur as woodpeckers hunt for carpenter bee larvae. Adult Carpenter bees spend the winter dormant in their nest and usually emerge during late spring. The bees then colloct pollen for food which they line the tunnels with for their soon to be hatched young. Eggs hatch in late summer and early autumn. Their boring also leaves unsightly yellow stains of chewed wood pulp outside their entrance holes.

Carpenter bees or wood bees can cause damage to wood through their boring activity. Unprotected wood such as unpainted decks, porches, trim boards, and facia boards are prime targets for carpenter bee damage and wood bees will reuse tunnels left by other bees year after year. Besides the direct damge caused by carpenter bees, woodpeckers will often damage wood looking for wood bee larvae. Although unpainted wood is preferred, painted or stained wood can also be attacked, particularly if there are unprotected parts of the wood such as nail holes.

Carpenter bee control is acheived by directly treating nests and attractive nesting sites, ajoining wood surfaces, and plugging nest entrances to reduce moisture damage to wood and re-infestation.