Talk about mason bees
ltilton
10 years ago
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mayadawg
10 years agoltilton
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Mason Bee Harvest report 2010: Four different nesting systems
Comments (7)Echoes: 1) Height or width of the overall house isn't very important for the average residential gardener. What -is- important is tube diameter and the presence of orienting marks for the bees, like colored straw tips, or patches of color, or a few straws sticking out further than the rest. These bees like irregular surfaces with lots of identifying marks. They can see blue, yellow, green, and black. 2) Ideal placement is where 1) it will get sun in the morning to help the bees warm up for flight and 2) It's protected from weather. I live in Seattle and place my bees on the south side of the house because they get the most sun there (7 hours during the warmer part of the day) Our storms in Seattle come in from the south, so that also means the houses are exposed to a lot of rain and wind, which 1) encourages them to disperse (fly away and not return to nest there.) and 2)creates great moist conditions for pollen mites. That was a bad idea last spring, which was cold and wet and windy. This year I'm placing some houses on the south side of the house and some on the east side to see which perform best. The east side gets five hours of sunlight during a colder part of the day. For the ones on the south side, if we're in for stormy weather, I have two options: 1) build a more protective roof over each house or 2) Take the entire house (bees and all) and put it in a bag in the fridge for about 24 hours. SARE's guide to Alternative Pollinators says you can do this for up to five days with no harm to the bees. We'll see how that idea works out. :-)...See MoreMason bee block
Comments (8)I have had issues with GW lately failing to email me when subsequent posts to threads come up, so you're not the only one it doesn't like! The mason bees have one generation per year. It makes them so easy to have around. You certainly don't need to bring in the bee cells to your home if that's not your thing. If you don't, there could be several predators that will mine little holes into some of their tubes and attack the developing larvae. Some suggest waiting til fall to bring them in, but if I remember, I just grab the blocks that are filled up and store them in the basement once the adults are no longer visiting the blocks (usually around the beginning of June). Bringing them in greatly reduces the risk of predators. The adults are only out from late March to early June. Once you've got all your planting done for the season, but the end of May early June, then it's time to start to monitor the boxes for adult visitation drop off. Yep, we've certainly had a few bees in the house! If you forget them in the basement, they will emerge by about mid April no matter the temperatures, so you gotta get them outside by the end of March. If a couple do emerge earlier, I put the freshly emerged adults into the refrigerator with a cotton ball soaked in sugar water 2:1 water to sugar. The cold slows them down and the sugar water sustains them for a few days to a few weeks. I then put the entire little box in the fridge until it looks like Mother Nature is cooperating, and providing them with blossoms to visit. To avoid any issues, I try and put the boxes and bee cells out when the flower buds on the fruit trees start to look like they are about to open. I wish I had some pictures of the larval cells. They are like little bullets with mud on either side. As a note, the roofs on the boxes for mason bees are totally not needed, though I think the little workers appreciate a little rain cover. I've seen people stack 2x6 blocks in their yard without any rain cover or roof, and they still keep their bees happy. In the late fall, you can often find folks selling starter mason bee pupal cells on Craigslist and EBay for around 20 bucks. Of course you can purchase them from online sellers as well. I never have had that many blocks where I had a bunch of surplus bee cells, but maybe I'll build a few more boxes this fall to increase the reproduction opportunity next spring. I'm not in it to make money, but I would be willing to donate some starts to someone wanting to give them a try if they produce enough next spring. Zach, as much as you seem to like insects, this little cheap project should be on your to do list! Of course, I'm happy to answer any questions that may come up along the way. Dan...See MoreOther bees in the mason bee house
Comments (1)Leave things alone. Likely are other kinds of solitary bees which nest in hollow tubes/stems....See MoreMason bee cocoons failed to hatch?
Comments (1)Open a few and look. Likely parasitized or diseased....See Moremrsg47
10 years agobeeman_gardener
10 years agoltilton
10 years agomayadawg
10 years agoltilton
10 years agoBradybb WA-Zone8
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoI live one city away from Crown Bees and tried Mason bees for the first time last year.Starting with ten cocoons and thirty cardboard tubes,plus a house that a coworker made,twenty six tubes were filled with about 150 of them.
I left them there til Fall I think and peeled open the tubes and put the cocoons in a refrigerator.This year,I'm using the few leftover tubes,plus a block another coworker made using a lathe,that comes apart and splits in half,each hole,of which there are 45.I've also just added a Corn Eco Stack that I bought from Raintree Nursery,that splits each cell in half also.They like the wooden block the best so far and have sealed about five holes with mud. Brady
PS I'll try to get a picture to post.I took this photo this morning.It was still kind of cold and some bees were in the holes,waiting for things to get warmer.
wisconsitom
9 years agoBradybb WA-Zone8
9 years agowisconsitom
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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