As the summer heats up, you’ll see fewer people outside. Fewer people, but that doesn’t mean less bugs. Today, we’ll talk about one we haven’t really touched on here. And that is the Florida carpenter bee.
Florida Carpenter Bee: Overview
Within the United States, there are two categories of carpenter bees. These are, simply, the large carpenter bees and the small carpenter bees. The ones most likely to make their presence known, and are associated with damage, are the large carpenter bees. If it isn’t obvious, the easiest way to differentiate these two bees is their size. The large ones are about the same size and look similar to bumblebees. They come in black, greenish-black, metallic blue, or purplish-blue in color. They have yellow sections on their face, and yellow hairs on the legs, thorax, and abdomen, while having no visible hairs on the top of their abdomen.
The small bees don’t look too different but are noticeably…smaller. They’re uniformly dark in color, have a metallic looking shell, few body hairs, and yellow markings on their face and body.
How serious are they, and what attracts them?
Unfinished or weathered wood attracts the robust, black, and yellow carpenter bee. While the pests do not eat wood, they excavate tunnels to use as nests. These are usually in the eaves of homes, as well as in decks, siding, fascia boards, or porches. Carpenter bee adults use their nests over the winter and reemerge in the spring. If left alone, the pests may continue to use and expand the same tunnels or find new ones.
In all honesty, a single carpenter bee is fairly harmless. But, over the course of years, they can expand in number and dig more holes out and cause noticeable damage to wood. Their feces can also create stains around their nests.
And then you have the issue of people being startled by the simple sight of bees crawling out of your wood. The females can sting but usually don’t unless you press them. Males also may appear aggressive, as they can fly around people and your pets. But, the boys have no stinger and, as such, aren’t dangerous. While they may cause damage to your wood and give you a small fright, there are a few small things you can do to keep them away. Like painting the wood, and keeping outside doors closed to keep them from coming across any wood that can be used to construct nests.
Florida Carpenter Bee Infestation Signs
Infestations can be relatively easily identified. A few telltale signs of the bees start with wood openings. Entrance holes dug into the wood by the bees, and sawdust under the ground where the hole is drilled. Pollen and feces is another good sign, as the combo of pollen and bee excrement mixes together near the entrance hole.
Carpenter bees do not eat wood but do feed on plant pollen and nectar.
The female is capable of stinging but seldom does so unless she is provoked or handled. The males do not sting, but they usually make property owners mistakenly interpret protecting their territory for aggression and the possibility of stinging.
Males do look to be very menacing – as they hover and dart after any other flying insects that trespass into their territory and fly near people or pets as they move nearby. However, they will back off and hover a short distance away.
Wood Damage
Large carpenter bees excavate dry, unpainted and weathered wooden objects such as the following:
- doors
- windowsills
- roof eaves
- railings
- decks
- untreated poles
- fences
- wooden lawn furniture
One of their favorite items to excavate is the rails and posts of oak split rail fences. They prefer pine, fir, Cyprus, oak, and redwood, especially if the wood is not covered with bark, is unpainted or unfinished.
The bees sometimes bore into painted wood, especially if the paint covering is old and weathered.
Gallery construction is a labor-intensive process that takes a lot of time and energy. As a result, females often prefer to inhabit existing nests instead of excavating new ones. Refurbished tunnels may increase several feet over several years. When required, females will use their strong mouthparts to chew round nest entrances in flat wood surfaces.
This hole is slightly less than 1/2-inch wide, which is about the diameter of her body and looks much like a carpenter used a 1/2-inch drill to create the opening. The borehole goes into the wood perpendicular to the wood’s grain for about 1-2 inches and then takes a right-angle turn continuing as an excavated gallery (tunnel) that runs about 4-8 inches. The female then partitions off brood cells into linear rows. When finished, she places a food ball (made from pollen and regurgitated nectar) inside a brood cell, lays an egg, and blocks the chamber off with chewed wood pulp. After laying eggs, the female dies. The eggs hatch and become larvae that feed on the food ball until they pupate.
Florida Carpenter Bee Control
Carpenter bee prevention starts with a thorough inspection performed by a professional pest control specialist. During the inspection, your technician will inspect to accurately identify the offending pest and locate any damage.
Once the bees die, the drill holes can be sealed and repainted. Sometimes it may also be useful to apply an aerosol spray to control free-flying carpenter bees. While only a temporarily effective method, applying a liquid insecticide to the wood surface is a less time-consuming process than applying dust to drill holes. A control technique that does not use insecticides is to paint any bare, exposed wood surfaces that are being attacked with exterior paint or a polyurethane finish. Your PMP (pest management professional) will also inspect for weathering that will make it likely that the bees will attack. Also, your PMP may recommend sealing existing boreholes to discourage bees that are searching for possible nesting sites.
So if you need natural pest control without the use of damaging and dangerous chemicals, give us a call at 1-800-634-1313.
