Carpenter Bee In Pressure Treated Wood

Your best defense against carpenter bees is prevention by maintaining wooden surfaces all year long.

Carpenter bee in pressure treated wood. Third if the wood is subject to a lot of moisture mold and fungus it will increase the odds of it becoming a nest site. The trap is a simple wooden box with 1 2 holes drilled in all 4 sides at an upward angle. Common carpenter bee nesting sites include eaves rafters fascia boards siding wooden shake roofs decks and outdoor furniture. Treating carpenter bee holes.

If your wood is covered with a thick coat of exterior wood paint you will probably not have much trouble with carpenter bees. You can use any wood you like for the box as long as it s unfinished and not pressure treated. Carpenter bees do not consume wood but their tunneling can be destructive to softwoods and hardwoods alike. The most likely reason is that the bees recognize their nesting material by taste and painted wood does not taste like a nest should be flavored.

The chemicals in cca prevented rot and insect damage. When carpenter bee. To avoid bee damage to newly built wooden decks and porches people relied on pressure treated lumber containing cca chromated copper arsenate. Making the bottom of the.

Second if the pavilion is left natural as in no stain or exterior finish this will no doubt increase the odds of it becoming a target because carpenter bees seem to target naturally decaying wood over all else. You can prevent carpenter bees from nesting in the first place by painting or varnishing your home s exterior. Carpenter bees are big black solitary bees that look similar to bumble bees but have bare shiny backs. Remove and replace damaged wood with pressure treated or chemically treated lumber 2.

This is probably due to the fact that pressure treated lumber tends to be more dense. Carpenter bees prefer to excavate untreated unfinished wood. That being said in my experience it would seem that in general most carpenter bees prefer untreated wood over pressure treated lumber. Making carpenter bee traps step 1.

Painted or pressure treated wood is much less susceptible to attack. Maintain all painted surfaces making sure to pre fill nail holes and cracks with caulk 3. Carpenter bees prefer unpainted weathered wood especially softer varieties such as redwood cedar cypress and pine. The bees actually chew into the wood to make holes and they don t like the taste of paints.

Any carpenter bee holes you can reach should be treated and plugged since existing holes. Unlike the bumble bee that typically builds colonies in the ground the carpenter bee is a solitary bee preferring to live and nest alone in wood tunnels. If an infestation has occurred you will need to use an insecticide to eliminate the carpenter bees.