bee deterrent

I found a better solution. It's a brown paper bag.

The carpenter bees were coming back- I saw fresh sawdust under a hole, the plug of steel wool missing. My husband saw one flying around under the deck again. He saw this idea online somewhere- hang up a large paper bag. The carpenter bees think it is a paper wasp nest and stay away. I tried it, several weeks ago. I have not seen a single carpenter bee near our deck since. There are plenty still busy on the celosia and tithonia flowers. I'm very pleased. Of course, if the bag gets soaked or torn in a storm, I have to replace it. We always have some around, that's easy enough. And our deck is getting new boards, so part of that problem will be fixed soon too.