Eliminating Carpenter Bees

LESLIE: Dan in New York has some unwanted visitors around the property. Tell us about what’s going on.

DAN: Well, I’ve been living in a house for 19 years and in the 20th year we had visitors. We had carpenter bees all around the house. I think they made the holes …

LESLIE: Yes.

DAN: … and it’s all cedar on the outside and I’ve got maybe 100 or 200 holes all over the house.

LESLIE: Ooh.

DAN: I called an exterminator and he said that he was going to do something about the holes; put something in there, which I think he did.

TOM: Right.

DAN: And I think it was just a chemical, though, and it didn’t work because they’re back again.

TOM: And when did he do this? Last season?

DAN: Yeah, I guess last season. And the worst part of it is that the woodpeckers are pecking away at my house. I mean it’s just incredible.

TOM: OK.

DAN: We can’t live here with these – I guess they’re going after larvae in the holes.

TOM: Right, exactly. Because they know that the bees are in the holes. So you need to do two things. First of all, you need to have the holes treated again. Secondly, you need to have them repaired so that there are no longer holes there.

DAN: Right.

TOM: And unfortunately, those carpenter bees tend to be very strategic.

LESLIE: They’re feeding mechanism happens to be a 3/8-inch wood plug size.

TOM: Exactly.

DAN: OK, thank you.

TOM: 888-666-3974. Leslie, who’s next?