Hello,
We live in a very wooded area and have a major problem with both carpenter bees and woodpeckers. The carpenter bees are boring in to a new wood door, which was stained and sealed last summer. Is there anything we can apply to the door directly to prevent them from boring in to it? If not, can we add NBS or another treatment to sealant and simply reseal the door?
As I mentioned, we’re also having issues with woodpeckers who are drilling in to the wood trim on our home. We just had all of the trim replaced this fall (cedar, if I remember correctly) and had it painted of course, so none of the wood is rotting. Nevertheless, they are very determined little critters and have already made several holes again. Any suggestions on what we can do?
I would GREATLY appreciate any suggestions!!
Thanks!
In fact what you’re describing is quite common. As explained in our CARPENTER BEE ARTICLE, woodpeckers will be drawn to any wood boring pest and they love bees. What you didn’t mention is if the door was sealed last year after plugging any holes from carpenter bees of if it was installed new with no insect activity that you knew about? I ask because if you did seal it without first treating any obvious carpenter bee holes with DEMISE, the process of getting rid of both pests will be much tougher than normal.
At this point you can either spray with MAXXTHOR EC to get rid of the bees or even the NBS used the same way should do the trick. Of course, using the NBS in another coat of sealant should help accomplish the same goal. Prior to this you’ll have to dust with the Demise though if you have current holes already drilled.
As for the woodpeckers; I’d install a JUMPING SPIDER. You can see it in action on our WOODPECKER CONTROL site. It works great at keeping them away and once you resolve the bee problem, the birds are sure to move away so you won’t have to have the spider out there forever.
Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:
Carpenter Bee Article: www.carpenterbees.com
Demise: bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/dust/drione-demise-dust-6-oz
Maxxthor: bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/liquid/maxxthor-ec
NBS: bugspray.com/exempt/additive/nbs-paint-additive-16-oz
Moving Spider: www.bugspraycart.com/repellents/visual/attack-spider-w18-line
Woodpecker Control: bugspray.com/woodpecker_problems.html
Give us a call if you still have questions.
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