I've planted lots of alyssum & marigolds in my garden & I have a huge colony of hover flies & lady birds living in my garden. I also found that lady birds are also attracted to sage.
Another good tip that has been making the rounds lately is to avoid picking up leaf litter until quite a bit later into the season, as all sorts of things overwinter in piles of leaf litter.
Useful advice. With common sense the roof can be nailed properly. You didn't say what should be the depth. I am going to make that as about 100 mm. Many thanks.
What happened to his singles? When he added them, they were correct. When he added the bamboo and hung it, they were backwards. They will pull the rain into the bug house.
This video is very well-meant, but propagates a few of the practices DISCOURAGED by entomologists. The small construct shown being built in the video is actually fairly ideal (though a bit shallow), but please ignore the suggestions and examples shown of BIG bug hotels for multiple specie. Don't try to make large multi-material bug hotels for several reasons -- first, much too often, this puts predators right next to their prey. It also encourages too large a population of one naturally solitary specie, which is encouraging the spread of disease. So instead, make several smaller, single-material bug hotels such as the one actually being built in the video, each placed in different locations, and each using a specific material most favored by a particular insect. Note, too, that the hollow stems should really be 7-8 inches long rather than 4-6 inches, since in some species the female/male ratio of larvae is negatively affected by NOT being able to place some of them deeper into the stems.
+techson +Rob Beiber. Yes - well spotted, the shingles were originally put on backwards, which I can only put down to absentmindedness on my part! The section showing fitting of the roof was re-filmed to show the shingles going on the correct way. Of course, please make sure your shingles overlap in such a way that they allow water to fully drain off. Get it right first time and you'll save a lot of extra effort!
Afternoon lovie, good to watch this new vid o' yours. Picked up a lovely tip on how to store pumpkins from your mate yesterday. Can you do a short clip on how you deal with your courgettes and marrows? Cheers!
enjoyed your video those are neet bug hotels I have a friend that has one she sad that there really good pollinating bugs that are good for your plants that make there home in the of those
It's a really good way to attract pollinating bugs into the garden, so they are ready to pollinate your plants right at the start of the growing season.
my sturdy wooden hi-fi speakers are going to be reincarnated into a quieter, peaceful afterlife as a luxury residence for bees! ....and so is my rickety bedside cabinet !
So do I - hundreds of them. I do nothing except open the windows when they start to fly about a bit in late winter/early spring. Many do die, but most will head back out again when warmer weather arrives.
I had old bamboo so I sawed them into about 8" pieces but so many have a split going lengthwise. I was thinking of using a little wood putty to close the gap. Also, I didn't realize that the knots formed a wall so I'm planning to sell through them to form a larger tube. I don't mind the extra work but should I start over with newer bamboo; better for the bees? Thank you.
It doesn't matter too much if the bamboo splits, as when you pack them in they should hold each other together anyhow. I suspect newer bamboo might be easier to saw.
Once insects are attracted their populations in the bug hotel will naturally fluctuate. There's nothing you can do to retain them, other than to keep the bug hotel in a favourable location. Insects such as solitary, or mason, bees will naturally be residence depending on the time of year and stage of their lifecycle.
Most of the bamboo sections should be hollow already. I'd just leave the bits that aren't to the elements to eventually hollow out - or I guess you could use a skewer or similar to eek out the insides.
How can I know whether a bug moved in or not? I can see that some of the holes have been filled with soil and other substances. The other day a bee was flying in and out from one of the holes. And later on the day I noticed that hole was filled. Soo… did the bee move in?
Most pests tend to hang out on the plant itself, or in the leaf litter/ground immediately below the plant. The bugs that actively seek out hidey holes in bug hotels are almost all beneficial.
+Pat Pezzi These types of insect hotels generally do attract beneficials. The secret in any garden is achieving a balance. By encouraging beneficial insects you can keep pests in check. But if you annihilated all pests you'd have fewer beneficials to control any pests that did occur in the future. So it's better to encourage a natural ecosystem in the garden, and bug hotels, insect-attracting flowers and other measures will help with this.
You've got excellent eyes! They are on backwards in the introduction. I (stupidly) put them on the wrong way before realising and rearranging the tiles for the main part of the video. So yes, they are on backwards but correctly put on in the demonstration. Make sure you get yours on the right way!
These bug hotels overwhelmingly attract beneficial insects because they aren't providing plant material to eat, but rather places for pollinators and pest predators to hide or set up home, to then go out and do their thing. Yellowjackets, or wasps, build wasps nests rather than make use of individual holes such as these here. You may get solitary/mason bees however, which will be a real boost to pollination in your garden.
We wouldn't recommend those as they aren't as thick as hollow stems/bamboo etc., so would probably not offer the same insulating effects as natural materials. There's also something to be said for introducing lots of small pieces of plastic into the environment and running the risk of it all blowing out. Hang your bug hotel well away from your house and a good way above ground if you are concerned about termites.
Yes, well spotted. That was corrected later on. You obviously want to lay them in such a way that the water runs off from one shingle onto the next and then away.
Great idea, but the roofing shingles are backwards and water will travel underneath. Unless it was done on purpose. Maybe to see who pays attention?😜😜😂
I see you have eagle eyes too! Yes, the shingles were (mistakenly) put on the wrong way. I corrected the part of the video showing the shingles being hammered into position (see 2:52) but forgot to re-film the introduction and summary showing it completed. Obviously the shingles need to be placed in such a way that the moisture flows off and away from the bug hotel.
+Joe Kehoe They tend to attract insects such as solitary (mason) bees, ladybirds/ladybugs and lacewings, which are all beneficial in some way. The 'bad' insects are the ones that directly eat/attack our plants and are less likely to take shelter in these bug hotels.
All bugs have their place. But beneficial bugs/insects are generally those considered to have some use to the gardener - because they eat pests or help to pollinate our plants.
Yes, if termites are an issue where you live, locate bug hotels away from buildings. Hanging the hotel up above ground level should also help deter termites.
They are indeed ladybirds in England, but we say 'ladybugs' as most of the English-speaking audience is based in America. It's tricky balancing English English vs American English!
