I don't know what that is but it is so cool that you have new tenants ! Now tell me about it when you have time. Thank you , Caroline

Congratulations, Edna!

Thanks for showing us your board. I'm very interested in learning more about it and about mason bees.
I wonder if we have them here in the NorthEast?

Patti

Mason bee's are shy little bee's and are about the size of a fly. In fact they kind of resemble a fly. They are great little pollinators for your garden and they don't sting. Rarely will you see.

I've attached a little info below for those who are interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mason bee

We've bee building boxes for these little guys for about 10 years now, they're great little pollinators.

Annette

That's just amazing! What a unique idea! Does this work for honey bees? :-)

Cameron

I like your Mason Bee condo! :-) I just read the article, too. They really are fascinating creatures.

What I found amazing was seeing the bees and wasps living in close proximity. For some reason I didn't think that would work, but obviously it does.

I hope they are busy pollinating all your beautiful flowers, Edna.

Marilyn

Very cool, Edna! Now how are ya going to decorate it? Cottage style? ; )

We have a lot of those bees here. I think they like the fruit trees and some of the old wood in a pile out back. Maybe I can talk Mark into making them an appropriate home. ; )

How are your butterfly nurseries doing?

Diana

Not good, Diana. They have been dying. OE virus is so bad this year. Poor monarch's.

Haven't seen any wasps yet Marilyn. I'm afraid of wasps. Nasty and aggressive buggers they are.

It wouldn't work for honey bee's Cameron. Honey bee's are hive dwellers where as the masons are solitary.

Edna

I would LOVE to add some of these to my yard. I have seen so few bees in the yard the past few years. The honey bees especially two years ago in the fall, they were just dying all over the yard for some unknown reason. This year I think I have had hardly any germination. Can you imagine no fruit on a zucchini plant?!

I can't figure it out. I am an organic gardener and don't use any pesitcides and have plenty of beneficial attracting plants in the yard.

Can someone point me toward some directions for how to build and hang these?

Thanks and glad to see you are getting some results from your efforts.

:-)
pm2

That's very interesting, Edna. I have some bees that come every spring. They dig tunnels in the earth, pushing the dirt out an up into hills, and seem to especially like building them in between the bricks of my sidewalk or along side it in my garden. They swarm around the holes during the day and disappear, I assume within them, in the evening and at night. They don't sting either but it sure is an odd feeling to walk amongst them when they are swarming around.

PM2, I have had the same problem two years in a row with the bees not pollinating my zucchini or squash. I'm just now finally getting a few squash. Last year I only got two zucchini. Yesterday when I picked the garden I could hear the bees swarming around in the squash plants, I never saw them but I could sure hear them. We have honey bees here so I think that my flowers kept them so busy in my big garden that they just never ventured over to the vegetable side of the yard. All my flowers are done blooming now. Maybe I'll have to plant the squash along the fence, in the flower garden, next year?

MeMo

How to build a Mason bee house:
With drill bits of various sizes (5/16th of an inch works best for Mason bees) take some scrap lumber and drill holes 3 to 5 inches deep but not all the way through the wood block. For example, get a 4 inch by 4 inch piece of wood and drill holes that are 3 and 1/2 inches deep. I mounted mine with brackets.

Turns out the hole plug is from a Leafcutter bee. I couldn't be happier :-) The Masons are using the holes as well.

Edna

MeMo...my squash plants are just about in my flower borders, and so that doesn't seem to have helped. Last year and the year before I got zucchini squash so this is the first year I have had this problem.

I just noticed yesterday that late in the day, my Butterfly Bush was covered with Bumblebees! I was so excited..I just have hardly seen any all season. I wonder if they spent the whole season repopulating their hives? Now I am keeping that Butterfly Bush well deadheaded to keep it blooming as long as I can this year. I just can hardly believe how many bugs are all over that shrub all day and night. Butterflies and bees and wasps all day...at night I sometimes go out with a flashlight and the last time, I saw some strange looking moths with laser beam eyes..lol. I added another butterfly bush this year. Nothing else in my yard is so full of bugs.

Edna...thanks for the directions for building the mason bee houses. I am going to try that. When is a good time to hang one up? Do they hibernate or die for the winter? Should I try to put one out this fall or wait for the spring?

Thanks! :-)

Mason's lay eggs in the holes and pack with mud. Leafcutters pack with leaves or flower petals. The larvea will hatch and eat the nectar/pollen left behind and emerge in the spring as bee's.

I think anytime is a good time to make one. Place it in a sheltered area. I have mine under the awning of my window.

Edna - this project is most definitely going on my (extensive) to-do list. We have them in our garden and I want to encourage more. I'm not as fond of the leafcutters as you are. They really have done a number on my rose leaves this year. I guess I don't really mind because the roses seem unfazed. They just look a bit unsightly.

Sorry to hear about your Monarch sadness. I've seen less than a half dozen this year. But we sure do have plenty of wasps! I'm going to go into that on a separate thread.

Great project and thank you so much for sharing!

Steven