Master Gardeners need hours

We graduated a Master gardener class a few weeks ago, and this past weekend some of them gathered to work on getting the 40 hours of volunteer service that they have to have to become Master Gardeners. The new folks need 40 hours, and once they become Master Gardeners they need 24 hours per year to maintain Master Gardener Status.

This group meets monthly and works on several projects throughout the year. Some of the group?s work during the past year was done at the Warren County fairgrounds and for Habitat for Humanity. This past weekend the group collected a pickup load of trash at the park where Shellsford road crosses the river. We also collected some poison ivy and a blacksnake. This event was part of the Great American Cleanup that is going on throughout this country during the month of May.

Mary Lou Ward is the Warren County Litter Program Coordinator and was very happy to pitch in and assist the group this past Saturday.

This group is always looking for someplace to do a project related to community beautification or landscaping. They are also pretty knowledgeable about the subject. Give me a call if you have a good project that maybe they could help you with.

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CARPENTER BEES

I?ve gotten several calls already this spring about carpenter bees.

I hear complaints about them every spring so I gathered some information up for the folks that have problems with them. This information was provided by Karen Vail and John Skinner, Entomologists with the UT Extension Service.

Carpenter bees are becoming active and many folks are alarmed by these large bees flying near eaves. Quite often it is the male carpenter bee that is seen patrolling the area or hovering like a hummingbird. They often fly close to your eyes and seem to ?stare? at you. Males are unable to sting. The females are not aggressive, but may bite and sting if handled. Males are easily distinguished from females by a large white marking on their face.

Carpenter bees are large robust bees and are similar in appearance to bumble bees. While carpenter bees are pollinators for several species of plants such as may pop, wisteria, and holly, they are considered pests when they bore into wood. Bare, unpainted, weathered softwoods, especially redwood, cedar, cypress and pine, are preferred. Painted or pressure-treated wood is less likely to be attacked, however, older wood that has been exposed for several years is also acceptable.

Some common nest sites include eaves, fascia boards, siding, window sills, wooden doors, wooden shake roofs, overhead trim, decks and outdoor furniture. A gallery for brood is excavated in weathered and usually unpainted wood and the exit hole is a nearly perfect circular hole about 1?2″ in diameter. These holes often appear as if they were made by a drill bit. The gallery initially extends straight from the opening, but soon makes a right angle turn to go with the grain of the wood. In the gallery the female lays an egg, provisions it with nectar and pollen and seals the cell with chewed wood pulp. Galleries may contain six cells and are four to six inches long on average. However, because the galleries are reused and may be used by more than one bee, gallery lengths of up to 10 feet have been reported. The new adults will appear in late summer.

Other signs of carpenter bees include coarse sawdust the color of fresh cut wood beneath the entry hole. Splatterings of yellow-brown feces and pollen are often found below the entry hole. Burrowing sounds and buzzing may be heard inside the home when the bees are flying or burrowing nearby.

There are several preventive, non-insecticidal controls. Wood surfaces can be painted and individual bees can be caught with a net and killed or swatted with a badminton racket. Also, a flexible wire can be inserted into the hole after dusk to kill adult and larval bees, but the wire needs to be strong enough to break the wooden cells and flexible enough to make the right angle turn.

Insecticidal dusts such as Tempo 1D (cyfuthrin), DeltaDust (deltamethrin), Apicide (carbaryl) can be puffed into nest holes in the evening when the carpenter bees are at rest. An insecticidal dust fills the void very well and will not soak into the wood as a liquid might. The bees should have access to the nest for at least 24 hours to allow them to spread the dust through the galleries. The hole is then sealed with a wooden dowel coated with suitable sealants, such as carpenter?s glue or wood putty, to prevent re-infestation, moisture intrusion and wood decay. Painting the wood after the dowel is sealed may prevent woodpeckers from banging against the wood in search of the bees.

Carpenter bees often winter in previously used galleries, so the structure should also be inspected in the fall and any holes that may have formed should be treated and sealed. Homeowners may not have access to insecticidal dusts labeled for wood treatment and thus may need to apply sprays (Bee/wasp killer aerosols, Ortho Termite and Carpenter Ant Killer [bifenthrin], Bayer Advanced Home Pest Control Indoor and Outdoor Insect Killer ready-to-use pump [cyfluthrin] or others) into the nest opening.

A broadcast spray of a pyrethroid, such as Bayer Advanced Powerforce Carpenter Ant and Termite Killer Plus Concentrate [b-cyfluthrin], Ortho & Carpenter Ant Killer [bifenthrin], Spectracide Bug Stop (lambda-cyhalothrin) or others, is often warranted when carpenter bees are riddling large areas of wood such as siding on a barn, wood shake roofs, decking or similar wood surfaces. Always check the label to ensure areas to be treated are listed. Take precautions to avoid pesticide exposure when applying pesticides where drift or dripping may occur. A broadcast treatment is best accomplished with a pump up or hose end sprayer that targets the wood surfaces that are most favored by the bees (fascia boards, joist ends of redwood decks, etc.). Residual effectiveness of deterrent surface applications is very limited and may last only about 1-3 weeks, so the treatment may need to be repeated. The residual effect may be reduced by rain which may wash the chemical from the boards? surface.

Sevin insecticide works well if you can get it to them. If you need more information give me a call here at the Extension office.