Best Bee Brothers Bee Blog

Pesticide - it’s a big word that can have an even bigger impact. These days ‘pesticide’ seems to be a catch-all word for any chemical we spray to get rid of insects or weeds. To be a bit more exact there are two main types of pesticides: herbicides and insecticides. Herbicides are designed for plant/weed intruders, while insecticides are used against unwelcome insects. Pesticides are classified by their chemical basis. The most common classifications are organophosphate, carbamates, miticides, pyrethroid, and neonicotinoids (Rohrich, 2017). The use of these pesticides can be different from product to product. Some kill the insect or...

The Queen Carpenter Bee: Mating and lifestyle differences between honeybees and carpenter bees. When someone mentions bees, the image of a large honeycomb bee hive with a big queen bee probably comes to mind. It’s no wonder then that honey bees are probably the most talked about and most popular of all the bee species. And for good reason - we love the honey and wax they produce and have been studying their intricate colonies for ages. In recent years, the growing research validating the vast importance of the honey bee in pollinating our crops to make more food has...

To bait the trap or not bait the trap, that is the question! Or at least it seems that we keep getting questions about supposed bee bait solutions for carpenter bee traps. Here is the honest truth about baiting our traps - You do NOT need to bait them. Our carpenter bee traps work all on their own. There is no magic sugar solution, or compound chemical needed to get these traps going. All you need is that first dead carpenter bee. A carpenter bee will approach the trap when they are looking for a new nest. This typically occurs...

Did you think that carpenter bee damage stopped with the nest tunnels they build? Unfortunately it doesn’t.  Carpenter bees are a favorite food of the ever-so-destructive Woodpecker.  Woodpeckers absolutely love carpenter bee larva and will peck their way through a carpenter bee nest to get after their tasty treats. Bottom line - if a woodpecker is attracted to your carpenter bee nests and you haven’t handled them properly, the damage to your home can increase dramatically. Preventing carpenter bees from nesting in your wooden structures is incredibly important to keeping those woodpeckers away.  Being proactive in the spring, rather than...

California seems to be the state that has it all – beautiful coastlines, mountains, Hollywood, and…a variety of carpenter bees! While the most common species of carpenter bee in the U.S. is the Virginica, if you live in California and are looking up pictures of carpenter bees you may be thinking you’ve got the wrong pest. However, there are four different subgenera of carpenter bees in California alone. And not one of them resembles the typical carpenter bee on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. The Californica: This species of carpenter bees has 3 different subgenera: Californica Arizonensis Californica...