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treyball3 · Sep 18, 2007, 02:14 PM

I live in Nebraska and I have a bee problem. I was doing some landscaping work when I found them. I'm not sure if they are carpenter bees or bumblebees. And I'm not sure how to get rid of them either. They look like carpenter bees but live in the ground. Where the brick foundation meets the dirt, they fly down in a crack there. There is no wood in that spot. I've done some online research that says bumblebees nest in the ground, which makes me think they are bumblebees. But I also found pictures online of both bumblebees and carpenter bees. And they definitely look more like carpenter bees. One got stuck in a spider web at my house (I watched as the spider about a quarter the bee's size attacked it and wrapped it up. It was quite neat). I looked at it very closely. It looked EXACTLY like this picture (http://www.westopthebugs.com/picture...enterBeeLg.jpg). It was over an inch long. I guess my question is, do carpenter bees ever live in the ground like bumblebees? If not, are there bumblebees that look like this? I'm trying to determine for sure which they are, so I can take the appropriate action to get rid of them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Todd

Edit: the URL was messed up. Fixed it

KISS · Sep 18, 2007, 04:55 PM

I have a similar condition in a shed. I always thought bumblebees were relatively tame and I didn't realize that they could be carpenter bees. I don't know exactly where they are hiding, but they are very aggressive and will attack people. Their sting doesn't seem to hurt much.

I hit the shed with a fogger during the day, but night time is when to hit. I found about 13 bees af various sizes without really looking. I set a fogger off at about 10PM at night. I don't know if I got them all or not.

treyball3 · Sep 19, 2007, 01:15 PM

What kind of fogger did you use? Do you know if it worked for sure? I tried a couple different sprays, but with no success.

KISS · Sep 19, 2007, 06:54 PM

I used "Raid deep reach fogger" It came in a small cans in a 3-pack. Gone? Not sure. Dramatically reduced the first time - yes, but that fogging wasn't done at the most optimal time. The second time done at 10 PM - no data.

I was using Ortho wasp and hornet foam to kill them one at a time. Target practice, I guess. I have not seen the nest.

I doubt spray is going to be too effective without direct contact. The foam wasn't.

KISS · Sep 23, 2007, 07:00 PM

These are the critters I've been dealing with. Carpenter bees?

KISS · Sep 23, 2007, 07:03 PM

I didn't notice the UPLOAD button.

rpg219 · Sep 24, 2007, 02:47 AM

Sorry to disappoint, but we have had these forever. You can spray poison and plug the hole, but they will return. Treyball... if they are carpenters that you have, they may be getting to the wood frame of your house. Call someone soon! They drill a hole and have their babies inside of the wood.

KISS, if you tear down your shed... you'll see the inside of the wood looks like swiss cheese.
You try this link and see if it helps. I found it on another thread in pest control forum.

Carpenter Bees, HYG-2074-06

treyball3 · Sep 25, 2007, 12:44 PM

The frame of our house is brick, so I'm not too worried about them digging into that. The problems I'm having is that I don't know just how big the colony is. It could be 15 bees, it could be 1500? I've never seen more than about a dozen at a time, but that doesn't mean they aren't down in there somewhere. So, it makes me nervous. I've tried Sevin powder as recommended by a local entomologist, not so sure that it did anything. I bought a concentrate made by Ortho that you mix with water. That seems to work as long as you spray it in direct contact with the bees. The problem again is that I don't know how many bees there are. I don't want to think I got them all and then dig it up and have 1000 bees swarm me. I'm almost to the point of calling an exterminator just to make sure they are gone and be done with it. But I have no idea how much they cost. Seems like they're probably not cheap. Anybody know? Also someone mentioned just dousing the area in gasoline. That they don't like petroleum products. Any truth to that?

rpg219 · Sep 25, 2007, 01:02 PM

Treyball... the house frame (I'm pretty sure) isn't brick, the outside is trimmed in brick. So there is still the possibility that they are getting to the frame of the house. An exterminator is going to cost roughly $100 (in my area), but you may have to have several treatments.

KISS · Sep 25, 2007, 01:20 PM

I just ordered some stuff from here:

Carpenter Bees , Carpenter Bee Control, How to Kill Get Rid Of

They have a pretty comprehesnive method on their website to treat them.

treyball3 · Sep 28, 2007, 08:10 AM

Rpg, sorry, not the frame, the foundation. The foundation sticks up about 2 feet above ground and is brick. The wood frame and wood siding then starts there. They go down into the ground at the foundation. I've been spraying them as I see them. I even dug around a bit last night and couldn't find any. I'm not sure how deep they burrow but I think I'm just going to start digging with one hand and have the spray in the other and hope its only a few bees left and not thousands :) wish me luck!

rpg219 · Sep 28, 2007, 10:12 AM

"bee" careful :) I don't think they are carpenter bee's, so you may be dealing with stingers... Good Luck

treyball3 · Sep 28, 2007, 11:37 AM

Haha, nice rpg. ;) I actually haven't seen any last night or today at all... maybe digging around last night messed up their home a little and they decided to move. :) or maybe all the chemicals I've been using finally got them all. Thanks to everyone for your input.

KISS · Sep 30, 2007, 09:28 PM

rpg219:

Took a peek in the shed in the back yard and saw a pile of bees next to a bag of something, so there is at least some of the area I wasn't able to inspect. The two fogger attempts must have got most of them. Delta dust seems to be killing the straglers. Mom bee didn't train everybody to wipe their feet when they come home.

So, I went out in the front yard and got stung 3x by a swam of yellow jackets.

I've been stung more times this year than I've been stung in my entire life.

rfulton105 · Oct 1, 2007, 05:59 AM

Originally Posted by treyball3

I live in Nebraska and I have a bee problem. I was doing some landscaping work when I found them. I'm not sure if they are carpenter bees or bumblebees. And I'm not sure how to get rid of them either. They look like carpenter bees but live in the ground. Where the brick foundation meets the dirt, they fly down in a crack there. There is no wood in that spot. I've done some online research that says bumblebees nest in the ground, which makes me think they are bumblebees. But I also found pictures online of both bumblebees and carpenter bees. And they definitely look more like carpenter bees. One got stuck in a spider web at my house (I watched as the spider about a quarter the bee's size attacked it and wrapped it up. It was quite neat). I looked at it very closely. It looked EXACTLY like this picture (http://www.westopthebugs.com/picture...enterBeeLg.jpg). It was over an inch long. I guess my question is, do carpenter bees ever live in the ground like bumblebees? If not, are there bumblebees that look like this? I'm trying to determine for sure which they are, so I can take the appropriate action to get rid of them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Todd

Edit: the URL was messed up. Fixed it

I have found that a good saturation with WD40 takes care of bees of all kinds. They have never, all kinds, come back to the same place once I spray WD40 on them or there nest. I live on a 150 acre farm in Pa. and I have a lot of out buildings and I have seen all kinds of bees, wasps and hornets. It even works on ant hills and standing water for mosquitoes, I tell you it is the best.