Mason Bees

On March 14 Catriona invited fruit tree expert Roger Philips to talk to Green School Kids about Mason Bees.

Mason bees are tiny bluish-green non-stinging, solitary bees.  They are an essential pollinator in fruit orchards and backyard gardens - a single Mason Bee can visit over 2000 flowers a day.

Mason Bees lay their eggs in natural tunnels or tube shaped plant stems – we can replicate these with Mason Bee houses.  Roger showed us several examples, of both commercial and homemade houses, as well has giving us a hands on lesson on making our own tubes. 

At QE we have several bee houses near to the orchard garden to help with fruit production.

How to keep Mason Bees:

At this time of year the cocoons are available at garden centres.  They should be released when conditions are right (12-degrees, not too wet, and when blossoms are abundant).  They should be released close to the nest, in a protected area – Roger suggesting putting the cocoons on top of the mason bee house.

 

The bees will hatch and the females will collect pollen to build a food store inside the tunnels or tubes.  When the pollen pile is big enough she backs into the tube and lays an egg on top of the pollen. She then builds a wall around the egg cell.  She keeps going until the tubes or tunnels are full.  Each tube holds around 6 eggs.   The eggs hatch to larva which eat the pollen, then become cocoons in late summer.  These cocoons overwinter until the first blossoms come out in spring, usually the plums and pears, when it is around 12-degrees C.

If you keep Mason Bees at home, you can help them thrive.   In November, the nests should be opened up, the cocoons gently removed, brushed clean, and stored in the fridge in paper bags, until release time in the spring - this way they have a higher chance of surviving than if you leave them outside.

Keeping Mason Bees can be fun, fascinating, and make a huge difference to your garden’s yield.

Bee houses are available from most garden centres, as well as from our friends at West Coast Seeds.