By Keith Mickler, County Coordinator and agriculture agent
Here we go again, like clockwork, every March and April comes the first sightings of the flying bad boy, the flying cordless drill. Yes, Carpenter bees are back, these large, black and yellow bees are habitually seen hovering around the eaves of our houses, wooden fences, underside of decks or even your head on warm days. Blasted critters, who made these things?
Carpenter bees are often mistaken for the adorably cute bumble bee but differ in that they have a shiny black hinny (abdomen) in comparison to the yellow hinny of the bumble bee and will slam eat the fool out of your deck or any other pieces of wood they can get their little chompers into.
In today's article, my buddy Wade Hutcheson, a UGA Spalding County Extension agent shares a few life experiences and methods of madness on how to combat those, well you know those bad mamajamas.
Wade says that "as a boy full of energy, he used to try and hit them with a baseball bat, but a tennis racket sure would have been a much improved choice, but there were no tennis courts on the farm."
Wade told me they would catch them going into their holes, plug the hole up and listen to them cussing in bee talk. "Carpenter bees sure were a lot of fun for boys growing up on a farm that is until someone got stung."
Most homeowners, though, usually aren't into fun things like that, are we? Most of us sticks in the mud just want to get rid of these obnoxious bees. I understand, for those who live in cedar-sided homes, they see no humor in the #%&$$*%% at all.
If you have been outside at all in the past, oh say a day or so, these large black bees will soon find you and commence to hovering around your head but only to see if you are a "scare de cat." Listen people, grab hold of yourself, they are just the bullies of the bee world and mean no real harm.
One big difference between carpenter bees and bumblebees is where they sleep, hang out and party. Bumblebees usually nest in the ground. Carpenter bees build their nests in the tunnels they have created in your wood. They chew a perfectly round hole about the size of a dime and call it home.
Boy carpenter bees look to be mean, but it's all an act. They'll hover in front of anyone who is near their nest, even dive-bombing you on occasion. But these boys are harmless, they don't have any stingers.
Girl carpenter bees do have stingers, and they know how to use them. As with most mean little girls, their sting can be quite painful. Take it from me, who had to be stung several times before I learned to let them be. The girl bees seldom sting unless they are provoked or handled aggressively.
Even if they don't sting you, the girl carpenter bee ain't harmless. It's the fertilized ones that excavate the tunnels and lay eggs in a chain of small cells.
They give each cell a ball of pollen and a little dirt wall between each cell. The baby carpenter bees will hatch and then feed on this pollen until coming out as adults in summer. The newly emerged adults will have a sleep over during the winter in the old tunnels to return again next year.
Carpenter bees prefer bare, unpainted or weathered softwoods, especially redwood, cedar, cypress and pine. Painted or pressure-treated wood is less likely to be attacked.
Common zones of attack are eaves, window trim, fascia boards, decks etc. Sawdust beneath the hole should be a dead giveaway that your stuff is under attack.
Getting rid of these dreadful critters is a combination approach. A fresh coat of oil-based paint is said to be very effective but I've had several of you all tell me they really didn't seem to mind your new coat of paint. So I would guess to say wood stains and preservatives are less reliable, but are better than bare wood.
Preventive insecticide sprays applied to the wood surfaces are effective but only for a short time, meaning that you would have to reapply the insecticide about every two to three weeks. However, where the bees have already attacked, spraying insecticide on the wood surface does no good since they are in their tunnel of protection.
You have to inject the bug killer (insecticide) it into each hole, yes each hole to do any good, like right now. An aerosol spray for killing wasp and hornets will work if you're a good shot and can get the stuff in the hole. You can also use insecticidal sprays or dust such as carbaryl (Sevin), cyfluthrin, permethrin, bifenthrin (Ortho Bug B Gone Max) or resmethrin. In late summer but before they go back into the tunnel for winter, plug it with wood putty or a piece of wood dowel coated with wood glue. This keeps them from reusing the tunnels.
For best results in kicking their little shinny hinny, spray late in the evening or at night; this way we can make sure to kill the mommy and baby bees. Get a flash light, possibly even a ladder and go at it. If you spray during the day, the adults may be gone and end up starting a new colony once they realize someone has been messing around.
Remember, the girl bees can light you up pretty good, so treating towards sunset or at night, when the bees are less active, helps you, too. Or you could make it a two-person job and arm the other with a tennis racket.
For additional information on insects and how to make their life miserable, contact the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Office in your county.
Keith Mickler is the County Coordinator and agriculture agent for The University of Georgia/Floyd County Cooperative Extension. Located at 12 East 4th Ave, Rome, GA 30161 (706) 295-6210. Office hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension - Learning for Life. Agriculture and Natural Resources, Family and Consumer Sciences, 4-H Youth. An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution. To obtain extension publications please visit our web site www.ugaextension.com or contact your county Cooperative Extension office.
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