If you have carpenter bees, also known as wood bees, then you are probably not a fan. Today I am going to tell you how to trap and kill carpenter bees as well as wasps, hornets and yellow jackets naturally.
First, let me just tell you…I’ve been battling these horrible flying dive bombers for years. Our backyard is surrounded by wood fences, and so we have wood bees. I’m so so glad that you can’t see me in action when they start buzzing around my head when I go out back. Let’s just say it includes an old tennis racket, a lot of smack talking and well…a few misses and some down right smack downs. I’m tired though, y’all. I kill one, then another comes to take its place. The good thing is that the males that are the ones that do the protecting and dive bombing don’t sting or I would be in a world of trouble, but they do make outdoor hanging and entertaining impossible. So…they must go. A reader explained to me that the queens that do the work and put the holes in the wood do sting, so beware of them 😉
Last week, my friend Jaque from The DIY Village posted a pic on Instagram of her new wood bee trap, and I knew I must have one for my own. I feel like I now have my own fighting pit for bees…let the entertainment begin!
***NOTE— Honey bees and other lovely bees are not attracted to these traps, so no harm will come to them. And…if you have a big issue with me killing these dive bombing bees, don’t even bother commenting. They are the worst, and must go.
See that hole right there? That’s where the wood bees enter this lovely trap.
To make this bee trap work for other stingers like wasps, hornets and yellow jackets, you just need to add a little sweet soda and 5 drops of dish liquid to the Mason Jar. Screw it onto the lid at the bottom of the trap and get ready to trap em up! Once you get a few in there and they have properly passed on, you can empty the jar by unscrewing it, then add your syrup again and catch some more…it’s the gift that keeps on giving 😉
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We hung ours near the spot where we constantly get dive bombed so that they will be attracted to it. We caught two within the first two days of hanging and hope to trap many more until they get the message! Looking for a Carpenter Bee Trap of your own? Find my favorite Carpenter Bee Trap HERE!
You can find even more Home Tips and Cleaning Tricks HERE!