Tag: mason bee homes

Mason Bee Cocoons and Phragmites tubes —-2024 season

Note I AM NOT ABLE TO SUPPLY ANY MORE MASON BEES OR TUBES THIS SEASON

SEEDY Saturdays/Sundays where I sold  Mason Bee Cocoons and Phragmites Reed Grass tubes in  2024

 

 

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

Mason Bee Cocoons are sold out for this season
and I will again be able to supply Phragmites Native Reed Grass Tubes after May 14.
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Pre-ordering cocoons by Paypal is possible:
30 Mason Bee Cocoons for $25.00.for pick up at my farm in Metchosin.
NOTE: I DO NOT SEND COCOONS BY MAIL. you can pick them up at the farm

I also have Phragmites reed grass tubes for culturing mason bees for sale.   I can ship the tubes through the mail.–For customers who are not local, I package these tubes in lots of 33 for $15.00 plus shipping costs. 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.

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 March. 

For shipping in Canada, the price for 33 tubes=$20.00 Canadian

For shipping in Canada, the price for 66 tubes=$40.00 Canadian

For shipping in Canada, the price for 100 tubes=$60.00 Canadian

For shipping in Canada, the price for 130 tubes=$80.00 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.–

QR CODE
QR CODE for PayPal

Scan this  QR code to download and checkout with Paypal.

use garryf followed by the@ sign then gmail.com for my Paypal address

I can also accept e-transfers to this email 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.