thanks for the information... it helped a lot. i probably should just buy tubes and build homes for the bees . 2 summers ago i saw a mason wasp building some nests so she came back the next year and did it again in the same spot. so i took some scrap wood around the house (6x6 and 2x4s) and drilled some holes in them. probably around 120 holes. and mason bees started to appear. i counted 102 completely filled holes.. for 2-3 weeks they worked their ass off all day. every day. not sure if it works this way but if theres 5 cells per hole then thats a lot of bees hopefully! i plan on building them a nice big home this month and see how it goes. i hated the days it rained cause then they just chilled in their hole and didnt work and thats a day lost to their short life. im glad i found this hobby. thanks again for the info. ill be back for more of it!
Hi Andrea! Yes, right now we only have our mason bee supplies in-person at our store. I'll mention to our store manager that there is interest in online sales for this.
Great info & advice , however do you leave the tubes outside in the winter ( I live in Colorado) or do use harvest the tubes & cacoons & bring them inside until the spring ? ? Thx again , new to this . 👍⚾️
Thanks for great information. I'm interested in providing housing for mason bees but nothing else. I could clean and wash their tubes after season and/or provide new ones. Since I am not interested in propagation of these bees, shoud I not even start with the hotel? Thanks.
Thank you for your informative video. I just purchased a ready-made Mason house and also purchased clear plastic tubes for it in addition to the cocoons. Since it's late April, is it too late to start them? I'm in the Pacific Northwest and "spring" has barely begun here. Thank you for any help you can provide - this is my very first time venturing into it.
Hi Connie! I'm not super familiar with seasonality in the PNW, but mason bees are usually active mid-March through the end of May. If you already have cocoons, I would put them out now. Next year you could start a few weeks earlier (as soon as you start seeing things bloom).
I have a question and not quite sure where to get the information so if anyone reading this got any tips! I live in an apartment building on a third floor. I have a west facing wall and I noticed today a bunch of holes in my walls with bees coming out. I won't try to move them I don't think that's possible but being that it's late june and they are already established, if I gave them a nesting box option would they go for it? Or should I just hope they survive the winter and have that box as an option for them when they start anew in the spring? I will have to inform my landlord that they are inside his walls at some point so I'm thinking if I wait til next spring...They might not return to the wall but have a chance at surviving this year's cycle? I would hate for him to just kill them. They are super gentle and small and even though they are next to my door they don't bother us...But I can't let them ruin the building either, it's quite a lot of holes...Oh and I am also worried for them being that it is a west facing wall they get intense heat from the end of the day, that wall is super hot. That cannot be good.
Hello Cincy, thanks for this. My boss would like to know if there is a study from a serious source that shows how effective this bees are? He would like to be sure before investing in them Thank you
Hi Rigoberto - I'm assuming this would be for agricultural use? We don't have any studies to provide, but Crown Bees (crownbees.com/) could be a helpful resource for you.
Hi Mark! I'm assuming you have the kind of house with stackable wood trays? Using paper inserts is going to make your end of season harvest and cleaning easier, but isn't totally necessary. If you don't use inserts, you'll need to give the trays a good clean between seasons so that pollen mites and pathogens don't stick around. A quick internet search should give you cleaning instructions.
Hi Kara! Good question. It depends on your location and whether you already have spring plants and pollinators in your outdoor space. We generally suggest trying the "if you build it they will come" approach, but if that doesn't work for you, cocoons are commercially available. If you know anyone local that already raises Mason bees, they might be willing to share some cocoons to get you started :).
