Carpenter bees scare homeowner in Little Silver, NJ

Recently, I was sent to homeowners in Little Silver, NJ, who were in the midst of a heavy carpenter bee infestation around their garage. Every time that they were going to and from their cars, they were scared of being stung. Carpenter bees are large intimidating-looking bees that like to get up close and personal and buzz right in your face. But the reality is that they are more “bark than bite.” Carpenter bees are solitary, as opposed to social, insects and do not live in colonies like yellow jackets, paper wasps, and other stinging insects. Instead, these solitary bees live on their own. They are called carpenter bees because of their “carpentry” work. The female constructs galleries, usually in weathered and unpainted wood. You’ll often find their excavation work around sheds, deck rails, and under fascia boards. She drills out a perfectly round hole, boring out a chamber with the grain of the wood to deposit her larvae. Over time, these bored-out holes can be quite deep, up to 20 inches long with six to eight larval cells. The eggs develop over several weeks when the adult bees finally emerge. One of the big problems with carpenter bees is that they return to the same sites every year, expanding existing galleries and making new ones after they mate in the spring. 

Male carpenter bees hang around nearby acting as protectors of the galleries. They fly and buzz around potential intruders to scare them off. However, it’s all show. The male bees don’t even have stingers! Although the females have stingers, they rarely use them. They are too busy excavating wood and depositing their larvae. To be stung by a female, you pretty much have to step on her or try to grab her. Nevertheless, even though risk of stings are low with carpenter bees, these infestations need to be treated. Their excavation activities can damage wood and allow water seepage and wood rot. Also, woodpeckers love carpenter bee larvae and those with a carpenter bee infestation sometimes find themselves with noisy woodpeckers pecking the wood in search of larvae, causing even more damage.

I treated the galleries with an effective dust that will not only eliminate any bees as they return, but will also eliminate the new emerging bees as the larvae develops. The treatment for carpenter bees is highly effective and these homeowners will once again be able to go to their garage without fear.