Mortar bees

[agamemnon]

Hello, I have mortar bees infestation, I repointed few bricks before, but new holes appeared after few days. Not sure what else I can do. Don’t want to repoint the whole wall.

[scottishjohn]

easy solution is too squirt wasp powder in holes 

anything that walks through it is dead

cannot comment on the legality -but it will stop your problem 

[Bonner]

Leave them be, they are unlikely to do any structural damage. I had them in a previous property for 13 years without any issues. Masonry Bees are solitary and do not gather in large numbers although a few will choose the same patch of wall which suits them best.

[agamemnon]

I had them erode a whole 1.5sqm patch of a wall. And I don’t want it to happen with the rest of the wall. It if was only one or two holes, I wouldn’t be worried. But after I come back to the wall, there is always two or three more holes per area as I have two different patches. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by agamemnon

[MikeSharp01]

Killing the Bees that are there wont stop them coming you need to encourage them to go elsewhere. Either make life a bit easier for them IE get a Bee brick ( or even a wall) or much tougher, IE see what the effect of washing the wall with waterproofing solution is or a weak mixture of peppermint oil and water - works for spiders.

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, scottishjohn said:

easy solution is too squirt wasp powder in holes

Can we still get DDT.

Side benefit is you won't get malaria.

2 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

weak mixture of peppermint oil and water

Always find it odd that what we can smell may discourage what we don't want.

I very really see suggestions that smearing human excrement around foot paths will discourage dogs.

Different fauna have very different senses to us.

[Marvin]

6 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

Can we still get DDT.

RSPB:

 

Horrors such as the pesticide DDT – which led to the loss of millions of birds during the 1960s and 1970s – have now been banned in the UK.

[SteamyTea]

6 minutes ago, Marvin said:

loss of millions of birds during the 1960s and 1970s

Silent Spring was based on it, even though the science that Rachael Carson based the book on was rubbished several years before.

Strange how some things stick.

Not saying that DDT is a good thing, but environmentally agriculture is the worse thing, except for mass starvation.

[agamemnon]

I don’t want to use a waterproof solution. As my mortar/bricks will retain moisture and had previous issues with that, which are solved now. I had to do 4:1:1 mix for the repointing of sand, hydrated lime and cement. Wanting the mortar to be breathable. Will go down the route of peppermint oil spray. 

[Dave Jones]

put a bee brick in our garage, have to look after nature.