Inviting Mason Bees Into the Garden
Around here, The Japanese Beetle Plague 2018 is still in full force, as is an apparent appearance of the Where's Waldo? of tomato plants, the disgusting horn worm (even though I'm just guessing because I haven't found him yet). So, while we put our eight year old on Japanese beetle eradication research duties, we thought it would be a good idea to invite a new insect into our garden: Mason bees.
Based on the small amount of reading I've done, I've learned mason bees are not carpenter bees. They (males) don't sting; females do but it has been described as no more unpleasant than a mosquito bite (I'll let you know the first time one stings me). Mason bees are great pollinators, which is why we built three houses to attract them. There are kits you can buy online but Rob built some using scrap 2x4s we had laying around. I don't anticipate any bees living in our houses this year because we didn't hang them up until well into the summer. Typically, they find and make a home in mid-to-late March so we'll keep our fingers crossed for next summer. We'll know we have mason bees when we see mud plugs in the drilled openings (hence the name "mason bee"). It's my understanding that once we have occupants, we'll have to gently remove the cocoons inside each plug in the fall and house them in an unheated, dry, protected area (like our garage) for the winter. In the spring, we will...well, I'm not sure yet so if anybody knows what or where exactly you place the little not-yet-hatched baby bees in the spring, let me know. I'm guessing if we place them outside in the warmer temps, they'll hatch and do their pollinating, mason bee thing.
Based on the small amount of reading I've done, I've learned mason bees are not carpenter bees. They (males) don't sting; females do but it has been described as no more unpleasant than a mosquito bite (I'll let you know the first time one stings me). Mason bees are great pollinators, which is why we built three houses to attract them. There are kits you can buy online but Rob built some using scrap 2x4s we had laying around. I don't anticipate any bees living in our houses this year because we didn't hang them up until well into the summer. Typically, they find and make a home in mid-to-late March so we'll keep our fingers crossed for next summer. We'll know we have mason bees when we see mud plugs in the drilled openings (hence the name "mason bee"). It's my understanding that once we have occupants, we'll have to gently remove the cocoons inside each plug in the fall and house them in an unheated, dry, protected area (like our garage) for the winter. In the spring, we will...well, I'm not sure yet so if anybody knows what or where exactly you place the little not-yet-hatched baby bees in the spring, let me know. I'm guessing if we place them outside in the warmer temps, they'll hatch and do their pollinating, mason bee thing.
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| For Rent: Small, cozy, bee house |
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| Tunnels where mason bees will live |
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