carpenter bees...ive done battle and won after several attempts and lots of money and finally a education about carpenter bees
have since passed this along dozens of times...always works
topically spraying the wood/material does nothing, they dont ingest the material they just chew it and make that nice pretty hole
putting dry poison in the whole may or may not work for limited time
spraying a liquid and hoping for the wood to absorb it so the eat it and die..nope
dust type products while they will kill them depending if they return will get washed away in the rain and after its exposed to moisture or sun the chemicals become less effective over time
they burrow in and then make a left and right hand turn, usually about 1" deep on the "warm side" of the wood
if you look around you will see holes straight through some boards...bees dont measure before the burrow so it the board was too thin they pop out before the "turn"
so, they keep going in and out of the same hole bringing nutrients to the new hive/unborn
when the new bees hatch they burrow out and now you have what looks like a 3" scrape about the size of your pinky finger
putting caulk, stones, wood dowels does absolutely noting because they are apparnetly like elephants
they remember where they were born so you have to kill several generations (several seasons) for them to finally vanish
the males do not sting only the females do, but the males will bump into you so they still scare the shit out people..im one lol
physically killing them with a racket (like i had) doesnt make a dent on the population
spraying them while on the flower bed doesnt make a dent in the population
during my battle after repainting, replacing, changing the type of wood, spraying, coating, calling exterminators...no money was spared as it was a very large expensive redwood swing set, the kids loved.
personally i was more afraid of the little kids running away from the big bastards and getting hurt falling off the set than the actual sting
so, after all that i bumped into a product called "bee grease" which is now off the market, pulled by the FDA because he was selling a product with out a license
but i make it myself and it truthfully life changing... no BS
permethrin and petroleum jelly in a big syringe
some of the dust products do work as they get between the hard shell joints and act like sand paper "ripping the bug apart"
permethrin is a poison..child safe which is what the wife was yelling about as i was poisoning the earth like Carthage at one point
and it stay where ou put it so just tell them not to touch the "slime" if you are paranoid
its what is used as lice treatment for kids and pets, it gets absorbed through the skin/shell of the bug
it gets mixed in the petroleum jelly and the jelly not only makes the poison stay put it also protects it from the weather
give a squeeze of the jelly about 1" not much is needed in the entrance
as they have to push through the jelly they have to get the material on their bodies, while pure surface dust may not always touch
walk outside a little while later and there will be a big buzzing bee on the ground...guaranteed
no shit...i had about 5 holes on both sides of the slide and i filled the holes on the way to work one day
i come back and there is a big dead or buzzing bee on the ground exactly below the hole
fill the holes before bed, next morning 4-5 more dead bees
i keep doing the cycle and every day there are more dead bees...it was insane the amount of bees i was killing
did that religiously for a few seasons .. literally there are no more carpenter bees...none
this guy used to sell it before it got pulled, hes a little strange but the results are what really happens
think im lying about how many other ideas i tried.. just think of how much searching i did to finally bump into to this video lol
since i told my exterminator, and they saw the results (actually 2) they now use it when there are carpenter bee problems for customers