We have had carpenter bees around our deck (that's another problem) and the woodpeckers come around to eat them, leaving big holes in my deck railing. What's the best way to repair? Wood filler and stain over that to match?

 

First you need to treat the bee holes with an appropriate long acting spray or dust or when the larvae hatch, the woodpecker will be back digging for them. You'll probably need to treat multiple times and then fill the holes later in the year.

 

The carpenter bees dig 1/2" round tunnels in your wood, laterally once their hole is made. That is where they lay their eggs. As they develop, woodpeckers come around and harvest them, cutting your wood to shreds to get to the larvae.

If you can find an epoxy wood filler that is stainable, then you have it. If your deck is stained with a solid stain, you may be better able to match the color.

 

If you treat the carpenter bee holes, how long should you wait to fill in those holes? Will the dust kill the eggs before they hatch? What about the carpenter bee traps I've heard of, do those work?

 

If you do a search for carpenter bee control...you'll probably hit the same commercial site I saw. It's a pretty good site, but it attracts way to much spam when it's mentioned.

They said treat with liquid or dust for at least several weeks then wait until cooler weather to seal it up.

 

How extensive is the damage? replacement of the affected boards might be a better solution. Wood fillers on decks doesn't always work well and as mentioned getting the filler to disappear can be a real challenge unless you are using a solid body stain.

I use a duster to squirt sevin dust in the holes the bees bore and have found that to be very effective. The chemical dust formulated just for the bees is too expensive. I would think that as long as you've dusted the hole well [assuming it doesn't run too deep and there may be more than one hole] that plugging the hole the next day shouldn't be an issue.