Battle of the Species (Carpenter Bees): 2009 - the first encounter

This weekend, Mary had a girls' nite out, so I headed out to the cabin to do my annual carpenter bees battle. To all of my Facebook friends, thanks for your kind words of encouragement!

Also, by the way, what I am about to outline here is not a green or sustainable approach. I have had to compromise on this for this item because of my past experience with wood damaging insects at the cabin. Long time readers will know about the extensive termite damage we had to repair (check the label "big projects" for details) - so I am not about to let the carpenter bees get out of hand.

Before I get into the details about what I did this year, here is a photo of me in the protective gear...rubber gloves, breathing mask, plastic eye goggles (sunglasses are under these), hat, and long pants. It was too ridiculously hot for long sleeves on Sunday, with temps in the 90's...use your own judgement on this if you decide to do what I did; the pesticide advises complete skin coverage.

Here is a photo of the pesticide I used last year and this year. This bottle costs about $35 at the co-op. It is concentrated, and you only need 6ml to mix a gallon. If you can see the little blue lines on the measuring cup on the upper left of the bottle, that is the second line of that.

When I got it at the co-op last year, one of the selling points was the use of this stuff on chicken coops, the large buildings where chickens are farmed in Page County. I am pretty sure most of the success I had last year in limiting bee damage was due to this - I'll be writing about the Carpenter Bee Chambers soon too.

The next photo is a picture of all the gear I used. My Gorilla ladder, the tool kit for taking down the old chambers, spray bottle, pesticide, and protective gear, all shown on the brick terrace. This area around the front door, protected from most elements, has seemed to be the hot spot for bee activities.

This year, I focused my spraying around the edges and soffits of the cabin, especially in the area where the standing seem metal roof is turned down over the trim and soffit boards. I have seen bees hovering around looking for nesting areas, and they seem to end up under the metal this year. So the entire circumference of the house was doused in this way.

The second hot spot this year is by the little screened room by the master bedroom. I noticed bees going under there last week, so I sprayed all of the wood work along the front of the house, including this area, being careful to stay away from certain areas. For one thing, there is a little bird's nest above the screen room, so I made sure no misting could get up there.

It does seem to be an intensive season for carpenter bees this year. I am not sure that I am through with them yet for the spring. For one thing, I noticed some activity back near the shed, but did not get to that over the weekend. I may relocate the carpenter bee chambers there next weekend.

More to come, I'm sure!