Small Garden..Mason the way?

[Hambone]

A buddy of mine has a small garden. I would put a hive there but he lives 100 miles away. I was thinking Mason Bees would be best for his set up. Yall agree? Small garden being a 1/4 acre or so. If so, What is the best Mason set up? Who sells Mason Bees? Cheaper the better he says. I would like a Mason set up to.

[Omie]

Sounds like a good plan to go with native bees.
If you want cheap then just make or buy some nesting tubes or blocks and put them up before the fruit trees bloom in your area. Bees will find them if you offer them tempting nesting sites. Make sure there is water and a little mud nearby, and have the blocks a bit protected from rain and facing the warm sun. You need to do some homework to figure out what kind of nesting sites you want to go with. Look on this forum for the thread called Resources and read through some.
If you want CHEAP then you won't be buying any cocoons, but rather just making nest sites and trying to attract some bees in your neighborhood, which is not that hard to do if your nest boxes are pleasing to them. Easier than catching honeybee swarms.

[BeeAware]

Keep in mind that mason bees are early spring pollinators. They are great on fruit trees and early blooming plants but mine are all gone before the veggie garden is in bloom. My masons are active from about April first til end of May. In my area you can't plant most veggies until late April to early May due to cold nights. The masons work the fruit trees and blueberries which bloom in April.

bees@mysite.com