OHIO – Spring has sprung and that brings this large annoying bee to your deck or exposed wood around your home.
The Carpenter Bee looks a lot like a bumblebee and can be pretty aggressive, but it most likely won’t sting you.
These bees find themselves looking for nests in the spring to hatch their young, by creating those nests in wood. The bees mostly are attracted to unfinished wood and bore a small hole about the size of the bee into the wood where they lay eggs.
Even though these bees are annoying the males, mostly the ones who are hovering around and don’t seem to go away, don’t have stingers, and cannot sting you. The females do, but most likely unless you are trying to handle them will not sting.
Carpenter bees are beneficial for pollinating vegetable gardens. You may also see them buzzing around flowers early in the morning. Carpenter bees are out early in the day, bouncing from flower to flower and vegetable to vegetable providing pollination.
These bees can cause some structural damage with holes, so prevention of filling holes in the fall, natural bee traps, keeping your decks sealed, and insecticides can prevent them from being around. The bees mate twice a year and don’t always use the same nests.
