Do Carpenter Bees Like Treated Wood

While fairly harmless carpenter bees increase the number of nests over the course of years causing noticeable damage to wood.

Do carpenter bees like treated wood. Carpenter bees typically avoided stained or painted wood and still do though they may still attack it. Before talking about 10 tricks to keep carpenter bees away from your wooden furniture let s get to know more about carpenter bees. 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. No it s not for their food.

Carpenter bees also known as wood bees because of their diet and choice of habitat are large black bees that look very similar to bumble bees. The females bore holes by using their mandibles as a rasp against the wood while vigorously vibrating their bodies. 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. They re also pollinators which make them very important for helping crops and gardens grow.

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. Carpenter bees don t actually eat wood. Luckily there are a number of ways to get rid of carpenter bees some without using insecticide and prevent them from causing any more damage to your. Though they burrow into wood carpenter bees don t eat wood like termites do.

But they use the hole inside the wood as their nest. They don t eat wood. To avoid bee damage to newly built wooden decks and porches people relied on pressure treated lumber containing cca chromated copper arsenate. Carpenter bees as the name have the behavior to drill into the wood.

Carpenter bees are so named because they drill into wood to lay their eggs and build their nests. That being said in my experience it would seem that in general most carpenter bees prefer untreated wood over pressure treated lumber. They can also create stains with their feces. If the problem is unrelenting you may need to look into non wood siding and trim options such as aluminum vinyl fiber cement or masonry.

This is probably due to the fact that pressure treated lumber tends to be more dense. Since their nest tunnels are limited in size they rarely do serious structural damage. They can dig neatly through wood. Females can sting but will only do so if bothered.

It also tends to mask the natural odor of the wood. These bees have a habit of drilling holes into the wood and building galleries to breed and rear their young ones. The sudden appearance of carpenter bees crawling out of wood often frightens people.