mason bees – Page 3 – Mason Bees and Phragmites tubes for sale

Put Out Your Mason Bees when Pollinators are Needed

NOTE: I have updated this 2016 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information

The time to put out your mason bees which have been overwintered in your refrigerator is when you need them to do their work. I release mine in batches. The first batch was several weeks ago when the peaches and nectarines were in bloom. This week, the pears, plums and cherries are in bloom so I just put out another batch of cocoons near my bee homes. I will save the last batch for my apple trees which bloom later.

Cheery blossoms in full bloom this week.

Currants have small flowers but are still loved by the pollinators

Don’t forget the native plants like this flowering currant need pollinators too

Marsh marigolds, the first pond plants to bloom, will seed themselves if well pollinated.

I had to transplant this peach tree this year to the corner of the vegetable preparation building so I found another good spot to place a bee home.

Mason bees always need good mud

NOTE: I have updated this 2016 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information.

Don’t forget to make sure that your mason bees can find a good source of mud while they are laying their eggs in your tubes. I discovered a year ago that if you provide a reliable source within a few metres of the bee houses, they will use less energy to gather mud and will therefore be more efficient.

See this post I did. Another observation has led me to believe that they prefer to collect mud in horizontal holes in the side of a trench. This trench is kept wet throughout the nest-building period, and I dig holes into the walls of the trench. It is probably an adaptation to prevent predation, as they would be easy targets on an open patch of wet soil. They also prefer “clayish ” mud, as any good mason knows that their mud needs to be sticky… Sandy doesn’t do it!

This year I gathered some freshly exposed clay and added it to my mud trench.

Holes drilled in clay for a mud source for mason bees

Mason Bee Morgue

So that’s what we call them when people drill holes into blocks of wood and then never clean them out. The result is an eventual loss of the colony from an ever increasing infestation of mites.

If you aren’t willing to look after and properly clean your colony every year in the fall, then you are not doing a service to help in pollination, you are harming it.

Place on each row and crack it open with a hammer

Phragmites Reeds for Mason Bee tubes

NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information

Phragmites in estuary/marsh — Last years stems of ***Phragmites*** in estuary/marsh being harvested for mason bee tubes. It is important that this is done only before new shoots start to emerge. I have a theory that this native ***Phragmites*** exists in this marsh only because the marsh was fenced in the early years to prevent grazing by cattle and sheep. It has been eliminated from most of the other marshes in BC by grazing (personal communication with Robert Prescott-Allen). The reason this marsh was fenced was that the plant **Triglochin maritima** (Sea arrow grass) grows in the marsh and it is toxic to grazers.

(http://metchosinmarine.ca/gf/triglochin-maritima/)

“Seaside arrow-grass (Triglochin maritima) is a native plant found sporadically across Canada in saline, brackish, or fresh marshes and shores. This plant contains cyanogenic glycosides, which can release HCN during mastication by animals. Poisoning occurs primarily with ruminants, including cattle and sheep. The concentration of toxic chemicals increases during times of moisture depletion (Majak et al. 1980, Cooper and Johnson 1984, Poulton 1989).”

Mason Bee Houses–Make your own

There are various values in the commercial community in regards to increasing the presence of Mason Bees as pollinators. Some items for growing Mason bees currently on the market tend to appeal more to the human than the bee, and people are willing to pay for these.

However in order to increase the populations of Mason Bees for our interests in pollination of our plants, more emphasis could be placed on providing homes that bees find favourable for their sole purpose: that of increasing their progeny.

At recent “Seedy Saturday” events, I have been encouraging people to use recycled materials to build houses and then to send back pictures of what type of structure they have come up with. Below are a few examples for a start.

Pallet wood is ideal for making houses holding tubes. This design holds 2 dozen *Phragmites* stems. The small plastic bottles taped to the side are for cocoon release.

Another Pallet design holding 4 dozen tubes. This website shows how to use only pallets that are chemically safe

A plastic peanut butter jar with a wire mesh over the mouth to prevent bird predation.

This is a 2 inch water pipe which holds 2 dozen tubes.

A pill bottle with a hole (covered with tape until release) for the bees to exit is attached to the water pipe

A metal coffee tin holds a large number of tubes.

This is the size of box I use with a small compartment for cocoon release. Above are two sections of plastic wood decking with empty *Phragmites* stems inserted. .

A honey container has an ideal sized hole in the cap to allow release of bees from their cocoons. The idea of this protective container is to prevent predation. Don’t leave this in the direct sunlight however as condensation will accumulate inside.

A pill bottle with a hole for the bees to exit is attached to the water pipe

I do have available for sale several of these 2 inch water pipes with 2 dozen + tubes inside for $15.00.

NOTE: I have updated this 2016 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information

Beware of this Bad Buy

Recently this Mason Bee house has appeared on the market and it has to be one of the worst pieces of equipment I have seen for encouraging mason bees. I have recently sent a request to Costco management requesting that this item be removed from their shelves.
The following are the reasons that I have made this criticism:

1. The tubes are made of bamboo and are impossible to break open to remove cocoons for cleaning to prevent parasitic mite infection. The manufacturer even gives directions to put them back outside in the spring without cleaning out the parasitic mites. This is totally irresponsible as it will lead to an increase in mite population since you are creating a monoculture which encourages parasites.

2. The maximum depth of the tubes is less than 4 inches. Mason bees need at least a 6 inch depth. Also some of them are open ended allowing parastic wasps in the back end as well.

3.The diameter of many of the tubes is away too large. The ideal size for mason bees is 5/16 inch.

4. The diameter of many of the tubes was too small for mason bees.

5. Some of the tubes were glued in upside down with nodes at the front end preventing bees from entering.

6. Many of the tubes had nodes near the centre, rather than at the bottom end, meaning they were less than 2 cm deep and no sane mason bee would use those tubes.

The partial solution if you end up buying one of these things if you can’t return it, is to remove all the tubes as in the video below, and fill them or replace them with disposable phragmites or cardboard tubes.

See an update on how to modify these tubes if you happen to be stuck with having bought a house like this.

Mason Bees at Seedy Saturdays/Sundays

ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2016 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information

Selling mason bees and reed tubes today proved to be very successful. I had registered for a table selling mason bees cocoons and Phragmites reed-stem tubes at the Victoria Seedy Saturday.

My schedule for attending upcoming Seedy Saturdays is as follows, also you can follow the links to their websites for more details.

March 12: North Vancouver Seedy Saturday

April 2: Surrey Seedy Saturday”>Surrey Seedy Saturday

February 27: Sooke Seedy Saturday
March 6: Nanaimo Seedy Sunday.

March 12: North Vancouver Seedy Saturday
April 2: Surrey Seedy Saturday

I produced the poster below to identify my location at the seedy Saurdays. A big thankyou to all who were willing to get engaged with raising mason bees and I encourage all those who buy my bees and tubes to give me feedback on their experience with raising them.

Seedy Saturday in Victoria 2021

NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information

On Saturday I set up my display table in the Victoria Conference Centre to sell Mason Bee Cocoons and Phragmites Reed grass tubes for the Seedy Saturday event. I had decided to donate the profits from my sales to the Gofundme project I had started a few weeks ago while I was in Medellin Colombia, so I was able to donate $400.00 from todays profits.

http://www.gofundme.com/f/operation-and-hope-for-jorge