Skip Harsh Chemicals: Grow These Herbs Instead To Naturally Repel Carpenter Bees

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Carpenter bees are an important part of your garden ecosystem. Not only are they beneficial pollinators, but they also seldom sting and are quite fun to watch. Their one downside for homeowners is their tendency to create holes in decks and other wood structures. The female bees then lay their eggs into these holes. While there are a lot of different methods for repelling carpenter bees with natural ingredients, one even easier strategy some people try is to simply surround their deck and other wooden structures with herbs that the bees hate. Since some educational publications, like Cornell Cooperative Extension, as well as gardeners on social media forums like Reddit, have reported that carpenter bees avoid citrus and mint oils, growing herbs with these scents, like peppermint and citronella geraniums, could potentially be effective.

Citrusy-smelling herbs and plants are popular choices for deterring carpenter bees from visiting an area. One Redditor even claimed mixing citrusy essential oils and spraying their porch solved their carpenter bee problem. There are also some nontoxic sprays designed for repelling them, like Best Bee Brothers Citrus Carpenter Bee Repellent Spray, which is citrus-based. However, it's worth remembering that essential oils are far more concentrated than what you'll find by just growing the plants, so fresh herbs alone may not be enough to completely ward off the bees.

Peppermint essential oil is another popular and effective ingredient for keeping carpenter bees away, so try growing some mint plants to see if that has a similar effect. Just make sure your mint is in a pot or container so the fast-growing plant doesn't take over your yard. Strategically placing pots of mint around your deck or other wood structures could be a beautiful and easy way to deter busy bees. You could also try creating your own mint oil from the fresh plant for spraying onto your wooden structures.

One thing to keep in mind if you try to use mints and other strongly scented herbs to repel carpenter bees is that while the bees may not like the essential oils made from these plants, they often adore their flowers. So if your mint or other herbs begin to bloom, you may actually be attracting more bees than you deter. While you can try removing the flowers, you may also want to implement additional strategies for persuading the carpenter bees to relocate. Filling in holes in wood structures and painting or staining the wood is often the best long-term management strategy for preventing carpenter bees from invading the wood in your garden.