Orchard Mason Bees

[BeeAware]

To all those who have purchased cocoons or filled nesting tubes of OMBs from me, this is a reminder to keep them refrigerated with about 70% humidity until time to place them outside. If keeping them outside in an unheated building in the northern states, they should be protected from hard freezes. You can place them in a rodent proof container filled with straw or shredded paper. I think the fridge's crisper with a moist sponge is still the best place to store them, assuming the wife will allow it.

The time for placing the bees outside will depend upon your location and climate. The emergence should be timed to coincide with fruit tree blooming.
In my area this is late March but will be later in more northerly locations.
Be certain to have at least 6 new empty tubes for each filled tube you locate outside so the females can lay and increase your population of mason bees.

I hope this answers some of the more common questions that have come to me. I try to answer each individual inquiry, buy I may have missed a few.

Garry
bees@post.com

[gingerbee]

Garry,

I'm just beginning to learn about solitary and native bees. I've seen bees out foraging flowers nearby and did not know what they were.

This may be a good place to list your bees, it's part of the website for the Natural Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, section on native bees as alternative pollinators.

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html#suppliers

[BeeAware]

Thanks Gingerbee. I've seen that site but never posted on it. Oddly, I don't advertise the mason bees much and still I sell far more than I produce. Many go to Universities for research but a lot go to home orchardist and nature lovers. Masons are easy to keep so lots of people get them.

[2ndCharter]

I made and hung 9 orchard bee nests last winter and hung them out on the sunny side of my garden fence. This one alone had been used by the orchards and one more had been partially used by leaf-cutters. Do you think that the population will build over time? I did not purchase any nesting straws from anywhere. These are just local bees in my area. I live in a very rural area with lots of nectar and pollen sources.

http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv179/2ndCharter/IMG_0158.jpg

[BeeAware]

Mason bees are capable of up to 600% increase each year if conditions are favorable and ample nesting sites are available. If either of these is lacking, the bees will leave in search of forage and empty nesting locations.
For each filled tube you place out you need at least 6 empty tubes for the females to nest in.

[2ndCharter]

Wow, didn't know that. If they don't increase a good amount this year, I may have to contact you for a boost next ordering season.

[tim]

If I remember correctly, the mason bee will travel about 300 ft. from their nest.
With that fact in mind, what happens to the bees in the center of a massive orchard where their nest is 1000's of feet from the orchards edge?
After two weeks, there isn't any pollen for bees to collect and you are not suppose to move the nesting tubes, so what do the bees and the beekeepers do?

[BeeAware]

The mason bee nests would need to be placed throughout the orchard and not just at the edges. This is easy to do since the nesting boxes are small and easily removed after the bloom.

[tim]

Thanks for the info and now for another question.

Do you move them at night (when most of the bees will be in the tubes) or during the day and take the risk of losing some bees?

[solitaryb]

Mason bees are capable of up to 600% increase each year if conditions are favorable and ample nesting sites are available. If either of these is lacking, the bees will leave in search of forage and empty nesting locations.
For each filled tube you place out you need at least 6 empty tubes for the females to nest in.

Hello BeeAware,

Just wondering about these calculations - are you saying that under ideal conditions one female will produce six females - i.e. one per tube plus two/three males (in front)?

@Tim - if Bee aware is talking 'after the bloom' I would imagine it's after the flying phase so the adults are gone and all the life is contained inside nest cells.

[tim]

solitaryb:

"@Tim - if Bee aware is talking 'after the bloom' I would imagine it's after the flying phase so the adults are gone and all the life is contained inside nest cells."

1.) On a very large orchard, what would be the pollen source be for the Mason bees after the trees are done blooming?

2.) Isn't there a concern of contamination of the nest when the orchard is sprayed?

[portlandhigh]

I am trying to start my interest in bees with the Orchard Mason Bee. I am not at this point ready for colonies of honey bees but maybe in the future. I see a lot of houses online for the solitary bees. This is the one I wanted. Is there any advantage to structures with more holes, tin roofs, cedar vs plastic? Finally, can I put it up now even thought they are "early pollinators"
Tx
Orchard Bee House

http://www.growingwisdom.com/index.aspx?pid=38&sid=1&cid=457

[solitaryb]

Good questions - I am sure you know that keeping mason bees and keeping honey bees are relatively different activities. Mason bees are good for pollination, but don't produce honey, relatively shy and non-aggressive and are present mainly when fruit trees are in blossom, not all year round.

I suppose the cedar may be durable, a tin roof also... plastics will depend on whether there are gasses given off or whether there's a risk of humidity where you are, whether you want to see a little of what is going on.

I'd also check out Andrew's Reclaimed products (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5707832&section_id=5812142) if you want to compare your source with something of quality (and it's reclaimed wood).

He's also got a leafcutter bee block (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26292156) design, and these are active later in the year.

Different bee species may also arrive later in the season - I have just had nine holes in my bee block filled with concave plugs in the last two weeks when I had though all my bees had gone (my mason bees normally finish with convex mud plugs) ... so I suppose you can get a bee block now out all the summer and see what happens.

You can also make your own habitats. Here's a video of four different solitary bee habitats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3n__V8Ddn8) I had made - a bee block, brown paper straws, gathered hollow plant stems (hogweed, bamboo, reeds, etc..) and my plastic tube observation box which allow me to film inside their nest cells.

Good luck.