Wood Carpet Bees

The most common signs of a carpenter bee infestation are the round smooth holes that carpenter bees bore into wood.

Wood carpet bees.

Spray wooden surfaces with. The holes carpenter bees create may seem small on the outside but the galleries are much bigger and more damaging than meets the eye. Painted wood is slightly better at discouraging infestation than stained wood but the difference is effectively marginal. Although carpenter bees can attack all wood surfaces they tend to prefer untreated wood.

Paint or stain with varnish any untreated wooden surfaces outside that may attract carpenter bees. Carpenter bees are species in the genus xylocopa of the subfamily xylocopinae the genus includes some 500 bees in 31 subgenera. They don t actually eat wood though. Nearly all species burrow into hard plant material such as dead wood or bamboo.

Signs of an infestation. Plug existing holes to prevent a future worker bee infestation. Carpenter bees do not feed on wood but bore into it to create nesting galleries where they lay eggs in the spring and take shelter in the winter. The common name carpenter bee derives from their nesting behavior.

Use a carpenter bee spray to kill active wood boring bees combined with an insecticide dust application in the holes.