Carpenter Bee Extermination Folly

Sunday, the DH, kids and I visited the Greater Montgomery Home and Garden Show. As usual, it was very interesting and this year's addition of the Party Palace's Disney characters even made it fun for the kids. I especially enjoy the garden section. However, I was slightly perturbed at this booth, whose product aimed to trap then chemically kill carpenter bees:

This company is obviously not familiar with the important role carpenter bees play in pollination.

Yes, they can be pesky creatures boring into our wooden structres as detailed in this post from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. However, instead of fighting nature, we should compliment it. The bees are boring into wood looking for a suitable place to lay their eggs. Build a bee house to draw the carpenter bees away from dwelling structures, by grouping several wooden cylindrical shapes together; bamboo works well. A female will nest, sealing up only one side of the bee house so that the young bees can escape from the other side. (Of course this is a process you'll likely have to repeat every year.) The bees can bore till their heart is content, your wooden structures will be protected, and no bees will be killed in the process.

I thought about explaining this either to the man in the booth, or to his potential customers, then decided against it. My husband and kids probably would not have appreciated me getting kicked out. Let's hope in this instance, the pen is mightier than the sword and those same people are reading this post.

A Bit of Misfortune. A Bit of Luck.

Upon another infestation of tomato horn worms, I dug the bushes up. It's such a shame, since I thought I'd gotten rid of them all. The bushes recovered and I even got to harvest a few more tomatoes. But I'd missed two applications of Neem treatment, and quick as that, they were back. Obviously Neem treatments need to be consistent during the growing season.

In other news, one of my birdhouses was severely damaged when it's post collapsed. It was a combination of termite damage (the post was untreated so this wasn't entirely unexpected, but sooner than I thought) and carpenter bees burrowing tunnels up and down the post. The thing nearly felt hollow when I picked it up and was filled with young bees buzzing inside. Couldn't get that curbside fast enough!!!

However, every difficulty presents an opportunity. In one of the areas where extra tomato bushes were planted, I created a new flowerbed. It's early yet and the plants still need to grow in, but I can't wait to see it next spring. Especially since it includes bare root Red Dragons which should be spectacular.

My Dad came for a visit, and built a birdhouse to replace the one I lost. Porch and all. We couldn't put the new birdhouse in the old location since we couldn't dig up the concrete without damaging existing plants, so we put it in an even better location. Can you say opportunity for a new flower bed!!!!!! Maybe in the springtime.

Nesting

Recently, carpenter bees have infested our yard, and began attacking our fence and other wooden structures. For those of you unfamiliar with these pesky creatures, they drill into wood to lay their eggs. Since too many carpenter bees + too much wood = big money problem, I decided to follow a few that seem to have set up house (hard to believe I occassionally have this much time on my hands), scope out their nests and inform my husband who has a master plan to kill the eggs and fill the holes.

While following one such bee to one of my birdhouses, I was surprised to discover that a bird made a nest inside. AND there are four beautiful tiny eggs. (I'm a city girl at heart, so to come face-to-face with any bird egg not found in the dairy section at the grocery store is a wonderous experience.)

I raced inside and grabbed my camera. I know, I know, what I did next probably wasn't the smartest idea, but I just had to document it. Plus, I figure if I didn't touch anything, it would be fine. Because of the height, angle and my fear of getting too close, the pictures aren't the best, but they sure made my day.

Isn't it amazing how quickly bad experiences can segue into good ones through the beauty of our world. In my mind, this is no coincidence that today is Earth Day. I pray we all do our best to protect these little eggs, and their little eggs, and their little eggs, and their little eggs...