How do you attract and keep mason bees?

During the early spring months, you can try attracting mason bees by providing nesting tunnels, plenty of bee food, and a mud source. Mason bee houses can be bought or made from wood, thick paper straws, or hollow reeds. My father started his mason bees years ago by making a few wooden nest blocks in one afternoon.

What do you feed mason bees?

Mason bees prefer to feed on nectar and collect pollen from fruit trees like apple, cherry, and pear. They also forage on dandelions and Oregon grape.

How do you get mason bees?

There are 2 ways to get mason bees. You can either set up a bee house and wait for them to come, or you can buy mason bee cocoons. Mason bee cocoons are typically bought online. There are various websites that sell different types of mason bee cocoons.

How do you attract solitary bees?

Plant large swaths of long-blooming plants, and provide successive blooms from spring through fall so bees always have a ready source of food. Bees prefer bright blue, yellow and white flowers that have flattened blossoms to act as landing pads. Without a colony to protect, solitary bees rarely sting.

Where should I place a mason bee house?

The optimal location to hang your mason bee house is 6 to 7 feet off the ground, preferably under an eave of your house, garage, shed or some other shelter. If this is not an option, choose a house design that provides adequate shelter from the elements on its own, like the Beeworks Kit with Bees.

Attracting Mason Bees to Your Yard

When should you hang a mason bee house?

Put your house out when the blossoms are starting to swell and the chance of frost is low. For Blue Orchard Mason Bees and other spring time bees this is when the temperature exceeds 50*consistently. Bees will emerge 1-14 days after warming up.

What time of year are mason bees most active?

Mason bees are most active in early spring, in time to pollinate the early spring flowers on fruit trees and berry shrubs. Most other pollinators are not active until the warmer summer months when the fruit tree blossoms have faded.

What is mason bee attractant?

Description. Research suggests that mason bees are attracted to pheromones left behind from previous nesting seasons. InvitaBee™Plus+ Mason Bee Attractant is a USDA patented formula designed to mimic these pheromones and lure a variety mason bee species to artificial nesting sites –such as bee houses.

What kind of flowers do solitary bees like?

They like nectar on our valuable crops but also daisy-like flowers such as gaillardia, asters and sunflowers, to name a few. A diverse garden with many plants is more bee-friendly.

How do you start a mason bee house?

The Bee House should be placed against a flat surface and located in an area protected from high winds. The front of the house should have a south or southwest exposure where it will get the most sun in winter to keep bees warm. After bees mate, the female places eggs in the bamboo tubes.

How deep should a mason bee house be?

The nesting holes for mason bees should be ¼ to 3/8 inch in diameter and at least 3 inches, preferably 6 inches, deep. The hole should be open only on the entry end. Mason bees prefer wood (not pressure- treated or cedar) in which to nest but will use other materials.

How do you maintain a mason bee house year after year?

If you can't replace the tubes in your house, it's best to only use it for one year and start with a new one in spring. But you don't want to toss out any bees! To make sure they're all out, seal the house in a cardboard box and set it outside in the sun.

Can you feed mason bees sugar water?

In truth, feeding bees is a topic that is hotly debated. The short answer is bees don't really need sugar water, also known as syrup. They need food. Sugar syrup is only a substitute when the real thing is unavailable.

Do mason bees eat sugar water?

Mason bees, on the other hand, don't make honey. Since they use nectar solely for drinking, they are perfectly happy with a low-sugar beverage as they collect pollen for their young.

What do mason bees do in the winter?

During the colder months, fully-formed adult bees hibernate in their cocoons inside the nesting chamber. Once-daily temps warm to around 55°F/13°C, mason bees begin to emerge as fully formed adults. They spend the next several weeks mating, building nests, collecting food for their offspring, and laying eggs.

What plants do mason bees need?

You can also encourage mason bees by creating a garden that includes plants that bloom during their excursions in March to mid- or late May. Consider plants such as crabapples, redbud, flowering currant, elderberry, huckleberry, Oregon grape and lupine. Even the often-dreaded dandelion is a great source of food.

How many flowers do mason bees need?

They are the best pollinator in the world of bees! They will pollinate effectively 1,600 flowers per day whereas a European Honeybee will visit 600 – 700 flowers per day, but only pollinate approximately 30 of them – a dismal 5% success rate. Do mason bees make honey? No.

Do mason bee houses work?

Unlike garden-variety honeybees, mason bees are nonsocial creatures that nest in holes rather than in a hive with a queen. Mason bees work alone, but like to nest in groups when possible; there is no cooperation concerning the nest's construction or the rearing of the brood, and therefore, no aggression issues!

What Colours attract mason bees?

Grow blue, purple, and yellow flowers to attract the bees.

While bees love lots of types of colorful plants, they're attracted to these colors, along with white, the most.

What kind of mud do mason bees like?

Features: Spring mason bees use moist clay-rich mud to protect each nesting chamber and female mason bees prefer clay-rich mud, not just clay or wet dirt. Our Mason Bee Mud Mix is just the right texture that mason bees are looking for. You can ensure that your yard provides a clay-rich mud source.

What colors do mason bees see?

Humans base their color combinations on red, blue and green, while bees base their colors on ultraviolet light, blue and green. This is the reason why bees can't see the color red. They don't have a photoreceptor for it. They can, however, see reddish wavelengths, such as yellow and orange.

How many mason bees should I buy?

How many mason bees do I need? A single Mason Bee visits 20,000+ blossoms per day and pollinates 12 lbs. of cherries, a job for 60 honey bees. We recommend 10 Mason Bees per fruit tree.

Where do mason bees sleep at night?

Mason bees rest at night and sleep at the entrance to their nest holes. If you have a mason bee nest, you may notice the female's eyes if you shine a light into unplugged tubes or recesses.

Do masonry bees return to old nests?

Yes, despite being solitary bees mason bees will return to the same nests for years to follow so chances are if you're seeing mason bees now you will be for the foreseeable future too.