I havn't seen any cherries on Citation. Nectarine is Lovell anyway. Cherries I'm interested in are on New Root 1, Mahaleb and Mazzard. The Mazzard one is a sour cherry that is supposed to stay small. I'm leaning toward a small branched out Stella on Mahaleb. Or going with a miniature peach. I didn't see any DWN vids that had different types of trees, just multiples. The ones in the vids were closer together than mine will be. As far as food and water issues with the trunks 3 ft apart and lots of room in the rest of the box, will they be similar enough in needs for it to work out? Thanks.

Greatings estreya, I'm not near as knowledgable on Mason Orchard Bees as perhaps I could/should be; however I have maintained the wood block style "home" around my house for the past many years. I would offer up this observation, first the darker coloured mud plug doesn't necessarily mean a different species of bee - probably just means the dirt around your home is different than what they have, where you bought your bees from. Also, the term 'Mason bee' is fairly widely used and a quick search on the internet will reveal this label can (and is) used to describe bees of varying colour; from greenish to blueish to almost blackish. Maybe the newest generation of bees you're seeing are from 'indigenous' (gotta love that term...even, if used, on a local regional scale!) bees. However, if the reason you got Mason bees to begin with, was for pollination purposes, I'd say let the indigenous bees make themselves at home - you're still serving the same end result, right? But also some wasps can make themselves at home in your cardboard tubes and they are MUCH less efficient pollinators than Mason bees - so I'd be more on the lookout for them. Look for very smooth mud cap plugs that the wasps build - roughly finished mud cap plugs are the Mason bees. It appears from the photo that your tubes have the paper inserts used to help keep the tubes clean (clean holes being much prefered by female Mason bees). That also allows for the ease of refrigerated storage - which you may want to consider. I, personally, DON'T do this - I simply leave them alone and let Mother Nature take it's course. I do clean the holes out from time-to-time however. This is one topic you need to reasearch yourself and come to your own decision about. My sense is, in your part of the country, there is a tendency to use the refrigeration technique. Perhaps someone else will enlighten us and point to the error of my ways... feel free to comment all you Mason Bee experts!

I think it's funny that I'm one of the few who actually use her name, and it's my real name - not my middle name, not a nickname, but my name. I guess that isn't prudent, but I've been on a couple of boards where I've done the same, forged great friendships, etc. kk: Please don't even hint that Southern's education is fictional. That's insulting. She is genuine - I have no doubts - I've enjoyed her take on some medical issues dealing w/ my family. I guess you don't believe me w/ my profession, either, as it could be 'made up.' Really, I'm sure neither of us would have the time on our hands to be able to look up answers to questions so that we could pretend to be something we're not. Sheesh! In fact, I was once on a board for moms wishing to add to their families and one of the other women called me at my office! I must have given my last name at some point, my city has never been a secret, and she felt badly about something and gave me a call. I've also met another cyberfriend who was visiting my area, and exchange Christmas cards w/ my email group of moms parenting only boys or only girls. I've had phone calls - actually once, late at night, of a cyberfriend needing dental advice. It was great to be able to help someone in rural Nebraska who would otherwise have nowhere to turn at that hour. I don't hide behind anything but the truth. I'm happy to help anyone in their hour of need, really - a real life person or a cyberfriend. I wonder if we were biomoms - would you accept everything we said as gospel? Dana

"Possible winter damage?" Probably not given the location. Definitely in a steep decline...something changed a few years ago. It could be disease, root damage, improper planting (that finally caught up with it), etc. Looking at the age of the neighboring house, the tree was probably purchased as a large B&B and probably planted by a landscaper. I'll bet it's still in it's wire cage and also has something wrapped around the trunk just below grade (that is now killing it).