Carpenter Bees are a common problem for owners of log homes. Since they don’t eat the wood and only drill into it, most pesticides applied to logs to prevent termites will have no effect on them. We’ve been log home owners for 20 years now, have found an effective method to control carpenter bees and prevent them from causing further damage.

Carpenter Bee Treatment With Tri Die

The product we use is called Tri-Die Pressurized Silica + Pyrethrin Dust. In 2014, it costs about $20 for an 8 oz can. Buy a couple cans of Tri-Die. While a little goes a long way, it’s best to be ready with the carpenter bees awake in the spring and not be caught without the solution. Spray this product into the holes the carpenter bees have drilled into your home. The carpenter bees will quickly exit and die. This works really well for carpenter bee infestations that you can reach easily.

Reaching High Up Carpenter Bee Colonies

If you are like us, though, and your log home has high areas, then you need a little help in the form of Spray Close. It’s this great device that hooks on the end of a high reach paint stick. It holds a spray can and with the use of a string you can press down on the spray cap and inject the Tri-Die into carpenter bees nest high up. We’ve used this method to effectively wipe out all carpenter bees in our home.

The Tri-Die can is a little too small for the Spray Close tool. So you’ll need a trick. Take the cap off the can of the Tri-Die and using vinyl electrical tape, attach the cap to the bottom of the can of Tri-Die. Now place the can into the Spray Close tool. Since the Tri-Die can is slimmer then the average insecticide you’ll need to tape the can to the tool with vinyl electrical tape. Make sure to tape tight at the top without interfering with the activation lever. With a little practice, you should be able to get the straw from the Tri Die to aim into the carpenter bee nest so the insecticide reaches the target bees.

Our Setup With Spray Close and Tri Die for Killing Carpenter Bees

Take a look at our setup in the picture below and see how we did it. Now you are ready to solve your carpenter bee problem at areas as high as your long reach paint pole reaches. Ours went to 30 feet but we didn’t need that much. Note that the string pulls down along the length of the paint stick and that action pushes down on the spray dispenser. Don’t try to have someone else activate the spraying of the Tri-Die as it won’t work right. It’s the person holding the paint stick pulling toward oneself that activates the spray action. Look closely at the picture to see how the nozzle gets depressed. Click on the picture to see the full size image noting how the string operates and how we taped the can of Tri Die to the Spray Close tool. We have no carpenter bees around our home now.

The Carpenter Bee Honey Pot

The reason that the Tri-Die works so well is carpenter bees will visit other carpenter bee homes. So while you should try to get every one of the carpenter bees voids sprayed, if you miss a couple, it won’t matter. You probably should seal up the holes in your home to prevent other pests from causing trouble, but I think you need to leave a few carpenter bee holes open (The Honey Pot) to treat annually. Otherwise, a new brood will come along, drill new holes and you’ll be back to the starting place.

About the Author: We have been an owner of a Lok-N-Logs log home for 20 years. This solution works!