When to put out Mason and Bumble houses?

Here is a little trick I use. You can adjust this to your own yard. Just keep a little log of what opens when and when you spot your first mason bees; they will be males in nature. Example: When I see the buds on my plum tree just crack and show a little white on close inspection it is time for my release box to go up. This is the first tree I found males on 3 years in a row. By putting my release box up then there is plenty of time for the bees to emerge naturally.

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Originally Posted by Renthorin

It reached 65 today, but supposed to be in the 40-50 range the rest of the week.

I hung them in what I believe will be the best location where I plan to have my garden. They might be happier in the front yard by all the fruit trees...but that's only 55 feet away or so.

Here is a picture of the two houses.

http://caninesportsrec.com/mason_hou...x%20816%29.jpg

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I like your DIY house there; simple but effective. Is it 2x4 bee blocks in a 2x6 frame? How long are your paper liners in it?

Thanks.

Cheers.
Jim

2x6 in 2x8 house.

I used parchment paper and cut them so they hang out about an inch or two on the back.


Will

DelewareJim...

Make sure that you don't have all of your straws uniformly spaced. It's hard for the mason bee to find their own hole. Rather, push some in, pull some out, and place sticks/pencils/anything in the middle of them so that the holes seem easy to find.

Also, you're using just large holes. If you're trying to attract summer mason bees, you'll want to have smaller holes as well. Crownbees.com has a mix of smaller holes. (my website).

Also, try to attact pith bees... these are small bees that go into dead canes. they create thier hole rather than use existing!

Dave;

Didn't think about Pith Bees. Thanks for the reminder.

I'm on it about the spacing and 3-D effect for orientation. Thought I'd pro'ly scorch the face with a torch too.

Will;

I'm assuming you bent down the tails of your tubes and screwed the backer board into your blocks to hold the tails and the blocks secure?

Cheers.
Jim

yeah, there was about an inch left over when the fronts were flush so I bent that down before attaching the back strip.

My holes are a little staggered but that's due to my pathetic skill with a drill :-)

Next year I plan to use some color on some of the alternating blocks to help distinguish them for the ladies.

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Originally Posted by Renthorin

My holes are a little staggered but that's due to my pathetic skill with a drill :-)

Next year I plan to use some color on some of the alternating blocks to help distinguish them for the ladies.

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You mean your holes are a little staggered to help distinguish them for the ladies! (wink, wink)

I know what you mean. Without a pencil, ruler, and a drill press I'm bloody aweful!

Cheers.
Jim