So we have those carpenter bees. We have tried for years to get rid of them, by filling holes, putting poison in the holes, then filling them, trying those jars under wood to trap them. So we finally found something that has really helped - not gotten rid of them totally, but helped I would say more than 50%. Those fake, paper wasp nests. They are like paper lanterns. We got three from Amazon for $11. Poof, only one or two bees, in some places none. Thought I’d pass it along. I don’t know if it will work for anyone else, but for a cheap thing to try, I recommend it.
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I’m going to mention this to my BO. They are all around the barn door. I don’t know if they sting but they divebomb and hover and buzz and freak me out.
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They don’t sting. They are just the nosy buggers. I mean, I have worked too hard in my life to have those little shites ruin my barn!
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Thank you!!! Going shopping!!
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Let me just clarify - they don’t look like a paper wasp nest at all, and paper wasps are very benign. These look like HORNET nests. That’s why your crazy friend ten years ago hung a plastic zip lock bag of water over her door to keep out pests. It looks like a dang hornets’ nest and all the insects get scared. And leave.
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Or, paper lunch sacks (remember those?). Blow them up and tie a string around the neck, hang a few in the area you want to discourage carpenter bees from drilling holes in the wood.
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I mean, why not try something so cheap and easy? No poisons.
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I love mine. They pollinate EVERYTHING - tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries, squash and they don’t sting me. If they want to drill a few holes in the overhang to the barn I am OK with that. After dealing with wasps that sting me because I dared to step out my front door I am fine with anything that works hard and does not hate me. We co-exist just fine.
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We had them all around our house for years and tried borax, steel wool, insecticides, etc. Then after about 10 years a huge pileated woodpecker showed up and spent about two weeks pecking out the nests and feasting on the larvae,
At the end of the feasting, we had all the bee and woodpecker destroyed trim boards replaced with PVC boards, and that was the end of our carpenter bee woes.
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Yes, but they are very destructive. I live in a log home. I HATE them.
Not to make it seem like they don’t work - but the worst time to see those bees was about 3 weeks ago and now they are almost nonexistent - the larvae are still in the holes somewhere, but the males have stopped defending them. Not sure why, but the time of year makes a difference.
I was going to buy those fake hives but read that it won’t scare existing bees away but will prevent new bees for coming. So it might be useful to have them so bees next year don’t take up residence.
I’m selling my house (log home) and it was terrible for about 2 weeks and now nothing. I’ll let the next owners hang a hive though. 
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I’m with you. I don’t find them to be hugely destructive (a few holes in my run ins are ok with me). I will have to replace one diagonal fence support at some point, but that’s also no big deal. I really like having them around. Their role as a pollinator is even more important as honeybee populations decline.
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I’m going to have to try this.
The carpenter bees are out of control at my place and I feel really bad about killing them. Although I’d be happy if they’d move along elsewhere.
Mine are pretty destructive.
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Not me. You can take them out pretty easily with a Badminton racquet if you can reach them.
I appreciate that they are a pollinator; but there are lots of places they can live other than in my house.
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The small circular holes lead to extensive lateral tunnels where the eggs are laid and the larvae live.
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I don’t mind them, as in I’m not scared of them, but they are super destructive and can live somewhere other than my structures.
They are very difficult if not impossible to eradicate or prevent with chemicals. They laugh in the face of wasp spray/Cyzmic in my experience.
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And then the woodpeckers drill out the entire channel and you have more than just holes you have trenches. I have a few pine trees near my house that are completely destroyed as well by woodpeckers; probably carpenter bees, but maybe other insects.
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They are working for us as well….the paper hives from Amazon. Kind of like brown paper lanterns. Like $12 for a package of 3.
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I put the fake nests in in April and posted my findings here after a reasonable amount of time. I know when I posted it was at the end of Carpenter Bee season. I’m glad that they don’t do as much damage to y’all’s places! Here, there can be fifty holes, easy, just in one season.
The best thing you can do for carpenter bees is to keep wood surfaces stained or painted. The only building we kept on our farm was a shed row barn. The bees were terrible. I had to replace the main support beams and reinforce the roof trusses because of all of the damage. Before I put the new stuff up I primed it all. Once it was up I sprayed painted every thing.
The exterior of out house is almost 100% synthetics. The only wood is the support beams under the porches. I went under there and any wholes got killed off, filled and then I spray painted the whole thing. We see very few carpenter bees now.
OK. If that’s the case, then yes I agree it was because of the nests. Since you didn’t say that, I thought you may have just hung them up, which was exactly when they were starting to disappear. And yes - my house gets very damaged. I spend a lot of time spraying holes and filling them in. 
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