Carpenter Bees (part deux)

Well, the carpenter bees are back again behind our garage. My first post about this topic was two years back when they first appeared. Here's what I found out this time around . . .

The State of Illinois Health Department, Division of Environmental Health had some great insight. They shared that the male carpenter bees, the ones that are flying around the back of my garage, can't actually sting. They put up a mean show though!

Here's another site that has some great info, including the names of a few chemicals I could get from the hardware store that have a 30-day residual effect.

The local exterminator, BeeLine, guaranteed that their chemical application would have a 90-day residual effect. I'm guessing that they're using a combination of these products.

This company said we would get 16k square foot of coverage for the liquid and 1 lb of coverage on the powder. It should last us 2-4 years! Hard to pass up . . .

Dave's word on . . .

Here begins a stream of posts that may seem to be out of place. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to research a lot before I make a decision. I also tend to have very selective memory retention.

Since I've spent many hours becoming literate in a variety of things, I thought this would be a good forum to share that knowledge with others and also use it as a reference for myself.

With this blog, you'll notice going forward that I'll be adding posts on things I have researched in the past or am currently researching. This includes things like personal finance (life insurance, annuities, IRAs, mutual funds, etc.), technology, cooking/recipes and where (and sometimes how) to find good deals. Stay tuned!

Carpenter bees

When we bought our house back in August of 2004, we had an insect inspection done. Unfortunately, the inspectors missed a fairly large infestation of carpenter bees. If you've never heard of them, you're in good company.

Visually, they look like bumble bees but are bigger and black. If you're brave, you might find yourself practicing your tennis swing on them or maybe even using a pan head shovel to swat them down. The bees aren't very fast moving -- just don't miss! ;-)

The bees tend to return to the same place each year and are really hard to get rid of. There's a good write-up on bee psychology at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture website.

When the exterminator came to treat my infestation, they used 4 chemicals, some of which supposedly aren't available at retail outlets (i.e., only available to licensed exterminators). At the time I had the work done (in the Spring of 2006) they charged $80 and guaranteed results for this year. In other words, the following spring, they wouldn't guarantee results for any new larvae.

The products they used were:

• Wasp Freeze - quick kill of stinging wasps and hornets . . .does not leave a long term residual (is absorbed into the wood).
• Demon WP - longer residual effect than Wasp Freeze . . .3-4 months. Stops bees from smelling decay odor put off by wood and keeps them from boring new nests.
• Intruder HPX - put in cracks and crevices to allow bees to carry into nests. Best sprayed in evening . . .causes bees to go neurotic and leave "safe places", which then subjects them to other listed poisons
• Drione Dust - flea powder-like substance . . .isn't absorbed into the wood, provides quick knock-down and residual control (1 year) against bee larvae. Plug holes with 1/2" dowel or cork after treated.

If you were to treat the infestation yourself, here's what you'd be facing:

• Wasp Freeze and Drione: $44 for a 2 cans of Wasp Freeze and 1 lb. of Drione dust or $7.50 for a can of Wasp Freeze
  
• Demon WP: $19.50 for 2 to 4 gallons (sold in powder form)
  
• Intruder HPX: $13.90 for 14 oz