Reply #72: Yeah, those are carpenter bees... [View All]

...and one thing that might help is to put some carpenter bee houses out for them in an area away from the house and near where you want them pollinating (the veg garden, the wildflower area, whatever.) They will use the houses and when there are several of them nesting in an area its unlikely you'll get too many more.

They like older wood that is starting to soften/rot a bit, so if you have some old fenceposts or something like that put it where you want them and they'll likely leave newer wood alone. I used to have a bunch of 'em nesting in a post-and-rails fence that ran right down the middle of one of my biggest borders. Early in the season they'd do the aggressive behavior displays whenever I came out to mess in the border (frequently!) but they seemed to get used to me rootling around there and just went about their business eventually.

Best thing for protecting old wood you don't want nests in is a coat of stain or thin primer or even a light poly varnish.

I used to kind of like 'em but they can be a nuisance. Of course, so can honeybees if they nest too close to places where people hang out a lot.

philosophically,
Bright