I noticed that there were two holes made by carpenter bees on my doorframe – I sprayed insecticide and also bordered up the holes with steel wool. I watched the carpenter bees try to get thru the steel wool and they were unsuccessful – that was 2 days ago and they have not been back. My question is if in fact larvae had been laid in the wood prior to me sealing the holes, can that larvae do any damage?
At this time there is a strong chance the holes in your frame have larvae. As our Carpenter Bee article explains, females drill holes and then lay eggs inside that will take a few months to mature.
Now in our article you’ll also learn that the only product which will last long enough in the nest to control all stages is Demise Dust. This is because liquid treatments typically get absorbed by the wood and will be gone within a week or two so are not a viable treatment option for this kind of problem.
Additionally, female bees are not likely to give up and move away from established nests. In fact they typically will do whatever they can to get back inside so if they can’t get through the steel wool you inserted, they’ll probably end up drilling new holes.
At this time I suggest you remove the wool and treat with some Demise. Next, leave the holes open. This way the females will return, crawl through the treatment and die. After 3 days, you can go ahead and cork the holes and the problem should be resolved for good. This is because the Demise will lay active in the nest so that when the developing larvae try to come out later this year or next spring, they too will crawl through the dust and die. This will happen whether they crawl through it as larvae or adults.
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Demise: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/dust/drione-demise-dust-6-oz
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You may want to review our article for more information on why it’s important to get these nests treated properly. This article can be found here:
Carpenter Bee Control: www.carpenterbees.com
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