One house had a better-than-average set of mason bee tubes filled, but many ended up with very few cocoons.
The past season was not a good one for mason bees on southern Vancouver island. Cool temperatures delayed hatching and there was poor fertilization in some of the locations . I had mason bee houses stocked with Phragmites tubes and mason bee cocoons in eight different farms of neighbours.
As I have been cleaning out the tubes and getting the cocoons in the refrigerator for storage, I have noticed a significant increase in a species of native mason bee that is much smaller than the native blue orchard bees.
Another interesting observation. was that at the bottom of the tube below the cocoons in several tubes there was a pocket of the dead but hatched parasitic mono wasps.. I cant explain that one (my best hopes would be that this smaller mason bee cocoon has some super power over the parasitic wasps…lol)
male?
smaller species of mason bee (female?)
smaller species of mason bee
Cocoons of smaller species
note frasse on the outside of one cocoon
final compartment with dead mono wasps
one of the few tubes with mono wasp larvae still alive
dead Mono wasps removed from bottom compartment
note long ovipositor for penetrating softer tubes
another end packet with dead mono wasps
pollen packets in tubes where there were no eggs laid
ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2015 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information
RESERVE YOUR MASON BEES NOW
Now sold out for the 2016 season- there’s always next year!
Mason Bee
Many garden and on-line supply outlets sell cocoons of the most efficient pollinator, the mason bee, for a much higher price. I can provide them now locally until the end of March (2016 )for $6.00 per dozen as supplies last.
Blue orchard (mason) bee just emerged from a cocoon
Mason Bees (also known as blue orchard bees) can be picked up at our farm if only a few dozen are needed or for significantly large orders we may be able to arrange for refrigerated delivery within the BC lower mainland/Vancouver Island area any time this spring. They can either be released in late February or March for early flowering peaches etc. or they can be held refrigerated until as late as June for release coinciding with the blooming times of other plants: blueberries, strawberries, apples, pears, cherries etc.
The local reed grass, Phragmites tubes for mason bee culture.
I will also be selling a limited number of packets of the local Phragmitesreed tubes for $10.00 for two dozenthis year. They can be inserted in a simply made house –- see other posts on this website for suggestions.
You can place orders now and arrange for pickup now or later by e-mailing.
NOTE OF CONCERN: As a former Biology teacher, I am concerned that websites advertising mason bees to send anywhere on the continent are making a big mistake in promoting population genetic contamination. As well as competing with local strains, introduced genetic lines could easily turn out to promote problems such as new parasite introduction and elimination of naturally evolved species . So be sure to ask your supplier where they have originated, in order to be sure you are getting bees have been cultured from natural varieties from your own area. That’s why I would sell only to Vancouver Island or the lower mainland of British Columbia. I have never bought mason bees. Fortunately I live in an agricultural are which avoids the use of pesticides, so native bees still thrive. My native mason bees from our farm found the first nest boxes I put up on their own, and it is from them that I continue to produce new cocoons each year.
Garry Fletcher: email to garryf use the at sign gmail.com (Jan. 2016)
ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2015 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information
The native reed grass here on Vancouver Island,Phragmites australis subsp. americanus provides the best tubes as homes for Mason bee larvae. This is from the native, non-invasive reed grass.
I am selling these for $10.00 for 2 dozen tubes.(OLD PRICE) They can be used one season, then split open easily to harvest mason bee cocoons for the next year’s pollination season. (and then added to your compost!)
Some advantages of using Phragmites tubes over other commercially available tubes:
Phragmites reeds are impervious to the parasitic wasp Monodontomerus, which can damage mason bee populations in thin straws.
Reeds are cut at the node providing a natural wall providing a plug that allows moisture to escape while preventing water from entering the reed.
You can build an inexpensive home by putting them in a piece of sewer pipe or a straight-walled jar, or you can assemble a wooden box to hold them. See several suggestions in the link above
Contact me to reserve your tubes for the spring 2016 season at the following e-mail: garryf (use the at sign) gmail.com
ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2015 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information Last year with the long warm season, our mason bees on the farm were successful in filling a large number of reed tubes with cocoons. Now I am removing them from the tubes, cleaning them and storing in the refrigerator until release time from the end of February until the end of June. I will be selling them locally again for a price much below that of commercial outlets and they are available immediately at the price of $6.00 per dozen cocoons.
Also, one of my last year’s clients showed me the mason bee house he had made with cutting channels in wood. He also included a section with reed grass tubes which I had given to him to try out. The comparison was quite astounding, as can be seen in this photograph with a definite preference for the Phragmites reed grass tubes being demonstrated.
I will be selling a limited number of these reed tubes for $5.00 a dozen this year.
Contact me at this e-mail: garryf (use the @sign) then add gmail dot com.
NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information
We seem to have no problem with insect pollinators here. By providing certain plants which flower at different times in the year, insect pollinators can be attracted. I show a few plants here that have been very effective in the last few weeks and have swarms of pollinators around.
ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2016 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information
Wings held partly erect.
In the previous post I indicated I was trying to identify wasps that had taken up residence in mason bee tubes, without actually parasitizing the mason bees
I found the larvae in tubes while removing the mason bee cocoons in the winter, and transferred them to a separate jar where I let them hatch. By May 1 they were hatching so after taking a few pictures, I sent the images off to BugGuide.
The result after several months was an identification by an expert in entomology : Our thanks to Matthias Buck of The Invertebrate Zoology Section, Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada http://bugguide.net/node/view/1218699#2158789
So he thinks there are actually three species represented in these pictures.
Ancistrocerus albophaleratus
Ancistrocerus antilope female
Ancistrocerus albolacteus
Food
Eumenines prey mainly upon moth larvae, although some take larvae of leaf-feeding beetles.
Adults take nectar.
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals) Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods) Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods) Class Insecta (Insects) Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies) No Taxon (Aculeata – Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps) Superfamily Vespoidea (Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps and allies) Family Vespidae (Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps) Subfamily Eumeninae (Potter and Mason Wasps) Genus Ancistrocerus
There were three species identified from my photographs( labelled above) although it is very difficult to confirm identity without being able to examine a specimen. Next year I will be sure to send him samples to confirm, and I will certainly not destroy these larvae when cleaning out mason bee tubes.
This week I took out a few more mason bee which had already emerged from their cocoons while still in the containers in the refrigerator. They sit very dormant when cold but take only minutes to get active as they warm up. Their normal time of emergence from dormancy would be much earlier in the year but releasing them now ensures pollination of the late blooming fruits.
It was time to add a few more bees to the population outside since the strawberries continue to bloom and the kiwi fruit have started to bloom with this very warm weather we are having.
Kiwi fruit flower buds
Female kiwi fruit flower. Note brush of stigmas in the centre of the flower.The yellow capsules serve to attact the bees.
Male Kiwi fruit flower
Stamens in the male Kiwi fruit with pollen on the terminal anthers.
Strawberry flowers
I also went around to all my mason bee boxes and removed the few cocoons that had not already hatched.
Bee cocoon with one of the many parasitic wasps which had developed in it.
Parasitic wasp
Try not to let these hatch
They either contained a dead bee or the larvae of the Monodontomerus, or “mono” which is a parasitic wasp that lays its eggs on the larva, usually within the cocoon of the mason bee. The tiny adult wasps emerged from one such cocoon. You can see the long penetrating ovipositer on the tail end. These have to be destroyed before they get to the bee larvae in the new cocoons.
NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information
ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2016 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information
The mason bees have almost stopped their work of pollination by now. However several bumblebee species and honey bees were very active around certain plants in the yard this week.
Honey Bee Apis melliferaon Deutchia
Bombus calignosus??Bee on Deutzia gracilis
Bombus sp.
Today the bees preferred the shrub Deutzia gracilis
Two different bee species
Note differing location of colour bands on these bumblebees.
An unidentified bee on Deutzia
A hover fly on Escallonia possibly Lapposyrphus lapponicus
I have received several inquiries about making homes for Mason Bees. Here are some useful references that may give you ideas. They are expensive to buy and really not that hard to make , just make sure you use the type that can be cleaned out at the end of the season, removing the cocoons cleaning out the parasites and storing them for the winter. Do not use holes drilled in a wood block unless the holes are large enough to have a tube fit inside of them, so that the complete tube is removable. The tube diameter that is best is 5/16” (8 mm) , but a variety of sizes close to this wont hurt.
They need a house, so go online and you will see a variety of ways to make one, buy one etc. They are easy to make if you have access to a table saw or router. Place the bee home when completed against a warm south facing wall.. be sure not to move it once they start using it as they cannot find entrances that easily if moved.
Next winter I will harvest more of the Phragmites tubes so that I will have extras to sell. Then you just need the equivalent of a birdhouse without the front on it.
NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information.
NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information
When Mason bees are laying eggs in their tubes it is essential that they have an easily available source of wet soil for building the individual chambers in which the pollen and nectar are deposited and the eggs will be deposited . Separating each egg chamber is a mud wall and capping the tube at the entrance will be a mud plug. I have dug a trench a few metres from the nest boxes a metre long and about 20 cm deep in which I periodically soak with water. Along the walls of the trench I have poked small tunnels since I have observed that the mason bees prefer to go into horizontal holes to pick up the mud.
moist trench near mason bee nest
A mason bee landing in the mud trench.
mason bee crawls into the side tunnel
Mason Bee
Mason bee pollinating the wall cotoneaster ( Cotoneaster horizontalis)he w
