Bed, Buzz and Breakfast

I saw the evidence when I was watering my herb pots on the front porch.  We have unwanted guests.  They seem to appear every spring, but this year, it looks as though they called some relatives.  

Sure enough, as I got closer and examined the porch railing, I found the first clear sign that our “friends” are making themselves at home.

I kept looking, and found a couple of additional guest quarters.  It appears that our front porch is being turned into a nursery of a different kind.

For those who don’t recognize what those symmetric round holes represent, we are playing host to carpenter bees.

Carpenter bees are quite large and they are similar to a bumblebee.  However, bumblebees have a “furry” abdomen with more yellow on it and carpenter bees have a shiny black abdomen. And, to state the obvious, bumblebees don’t drill their way into your home, while carpenter bees don’t hesitate to nest in any convenient piece of untreated wood.  Male carpenter bees tend to stay near the nest and will “buzz” over and dart at any creature coming near it.  At our house, our dogs have been the target of these protective males, but they are guardians on their own right, and will leap into the air to try to snatch the bee in mid-flight. 

Logically, I can understand why the bees are here.  We have several large holly bushes that flower each spring, attracting swarms of different types of bees.  In fact, during a few days in mid-spring, I tend to give those bushes a wide berth and primarily use our back door, because the holly bushes in the front are loudly droning and humming with activity.

Also, both our front and back porch badly need fresh coats of paint.  We bought our home as a foreclosure, and it’s obvious the only coat of paint the porch ever had was one quick (and partial) job done several years ago, probably immediately after the house was built.  We stained the floors of both porches and our deck after we moved in, but the white porch railing needs attention as well.  The neglected wood, just feet (and in a few cases, inches) away from the holly bushes provides a perfect nesting place for carpenter bees.  I also have learned that the bees overwinter in their nests, and next generation bees often return to their original nesting area.*

Carpenter bees, nuisance that they are, do act as pollinators.  They aid in pollinating eggplant, tomato, and other vegetables and flowers.*  Pollinators have been declining in recent years, and their disappearance poses a true threat to agriculture everywhere.

The recommended treatment for the bees is spreading pesticide dust around the entrance of the hole.  That way, the bees entering the nest spread the dust into the nest, which is usually located in the length of the wood next to the hole.  The dust then kills the bee and any other bees and larvae it comes into contact with.

I am not inclined to follow these treatment guidelines for three reasons:  1) carpenter bees are not particularly aggressive, as the males are incapable of stinging and the females rarely sting** 2) I don’t have any interest in killing things that may help my garden, and 3) I’m not excited about the prospect of spreading poison near my home if it’s not absolutely necessary.

Instead, we’ll just do what we have needed to do for the last couple of years anyway:  paint the front and side porch railings and posts.  We’ll plug the holes before we do so, and then paint over them.  I also have discovered a product called NBS that can be added to paint and can act as a bee repellant (but not a bee killer), and I may use that as well. 

In return for taking away our bee hotel, I plan to leave some untreated wood in the thicket on our property, across the driveway from the holly bushes, to provide some alternative nesting sites for the bees in future years.  We have leftover, worn wood from an old fence we tore down after we moved in, which we haven’t done anything with.  I’ll just leave it out there and keep it far away from any structure (so we don’t attract termites).  I’m not ashamed to admit that I rather admire the carpenter bee.  The holes they drill to create their nests are perfectly round, as though made with a precise mechanical drill rather than the jaws of a small insect.  They pose no threat to humans, and attempt to scare rather than sting.  They re-use their nests, and they pollinate plants that produce flowers we enjoy and food we eat.  I’d rather work with these nuisances than against them.  In fact, I hope to see them again next spring when the holly bushes bloom, gathering nectar and feeding their families and mine for another year.

*http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/carpenter_bees.shtml

**http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/pdf/2074.pdf