re: Carpenter/wood bee extermination

Had the same problem when I moved last year. I went after them with a racket last year and thought I made a good dent in the population. But this year they came back twice as strong. I learned that around every hole there are at least 2 bees. The male bee is the one on the outside defending the hole and the female is inside the hole having babies and making it larger. The racket usually only allows you to get the male and not the females and babies when they hatch. So I went to Chastamt Bros. in Lafayette and got 2 different sprays. The first spray I had to spray in an around the holes the bees have made. This killed all the bees it came into contact with. The next day there were dead bees everywhere and hanging out of the holes. The second spray was a repellent that drives away any bee that wasn't killed. They then recommended caulking the holes, and reapplying the repellent before the start of spring next year