Tag: mason bee homes

Phragmites tubes and Mason Bee Cocoons–2025 season

See all my posts on Mason Bees here https://www.gfletcher.ca/?cat=2

I will not know until the spring of 2025 if I will have mason bee cocoons to sell this year, as results in my boxes here in the southern end of Vancouver Island were very poor this year– most likely a weather-related cause. However, I do have for sale, Phragmites reed grass tubes for culturing mason bees .   I can ship the tubes through the mail.–  For customers who are not local, I package these tubes in lots of 30 for $15.00 plus shipping costs of $7:00. So 15 tubes =$22.00, (Canadian) Included are a variety of lengths and diameters. A few smaller diameters attract other mason bee species and leafcutter bees. Indicate the maximum tube length you prefer when ordering.

See all my posts on Mason Bees here https://www.gfletcher.ca/?cat=2
If I have enough Cocoons this year I will sell 25 Mason Bee Cocoons for $25.00 for pick up at my farm in Metchosin. Please check with me first by email before ordering.
NOTE: I DO NOT SEND COCOONS BY MAIL. you can pick them up at the farm

The native reed Phragmites australis ssp. americanus  is grown on my farm. These are  considered to be the best tubes for encouraging the native mason bee pollinators….Check out the reasons for using Phragmites tubes and comparisons with other types of tubes here: 

Also by putting out the tubes alone without releasing bees, you can in some areas attract the native pollinators to build their nests in the empty tubes anyway.  That’s the way I first obtained mason bee cocoons.

See below for details on ordering if you cannot pick them up at the farm. I can have these available at any time of year, and it is best to get them set out by mid-March. 

For shipping in Canada, the price for 30 tubes=$22.00 Canadian

For shipping in Canada, the price for 60 tubes=$44.00 Canadian

For shipping in Canada, the price for 100 tubes=$70.00 Canadian

For shipping in Canada, the price for 130 tubes=$90.00 Canadian

In a separate email with your address, state your size preference as sizes 4″ (10cm) to 7 “(18 cm)  or mixed are available. This will depend on the depth of the box you have in which to put them, as there should be at least a 2 inch overhang to keep out the rain–
Use the email garryf followed by the@ sign then gmail.com for e-transfers address

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Scroll down through other posts to see my suggestions for building inexpensive Mason bee homes out of recycled and re-purposed material

See all posts on Mason Bees here https://www.gfletcher.ca/?cat=2

Making the best of a bad situation

So you have gone out and bought or have been given a Costco bee house, shaped like a pretty alpine bungalow . Only problem is, their design is contrary to all the best practises of mason bee housing.

See the previous post I did on this here:

However, all is not lost. You can rehabilitate the house so that it has a better chance of working .

Steps to follow:

1. Remove all the short bamboo tubes which are glued in .. Just get a screwdriver and pliars and pry them out.

Nodes in bamboo tubes which meake the tube useless for bees.

2. Reject the ones with nodes halfway down the tube which allows only a few inches to be useful to the bees.  However if you have a drill, you could drill out these tubes.

3. The following diagrams show how you can split the tubes with an exacto blade and then tape them back up. This will allow you to remove the cocoons for cleaning at the end of the season and prevent a deadly buildup of parasitic mites.

4. In the tubes which have too large an opening, insert tubes of either phragmites reed, cardboard or rolled paper tubes so that these can be extracted at the end of the season to recover the cocoons.

5. Open-ended tubes should have the back end sealed.. I used a glue-gun to do this.