How to attract native mason bees is very easy. Just provide a few simple things in your yard or garden. Mason bees or known as Genus Osmia is a type of native bee that is popular around the U.S. Mason Bees are best known for their habit of nest-building that they do to seal off the cells, a place where they lay their eggs with a mortar-like mud. They do not need expensive hives but only a simple house.
In the U.S alone, specifically in North America, there are 140 hundred species of Mason Bees you can find. Amazing fact, there are over 4,000 bee species! All of the species of Mason Bees are solitary.
The males of these species do not have a stringer, while the females do not sting as long as they are not trapped or being squeezed. That is why this type of bee is ideal for your home garden since they pose little threat. But what do Mason bees can do? Are they aggressive? And another thing you want to know about Mason bees? Don’t worry! We have recapped all of the information about Mason bees below for you.
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What do Mason bees do?
Mason bees are solitary and because it’s solitary, it’s a perfect neighbor for your garden. Most female Mason bees do lay their eggs in their free time. They lay their eggs in natural places such as insect holes, woodpecker holes, or even in nesting cavities of a wooden block, cardboard tubes, and paper straws. They lay their eggs mostly everywhere you can find because they cannot excavate their own nesting cavities, which make every possible place with natural cavities is okay for them.
The female mason bees emerge in the spring and begin their forage for nectar and pollen which they find from flower, berries, veggies, and trees. After these female bees pack all of this food they have found and decided that it’s enough, they will lay an egg and seal it up in the cell. This process will continue until the bees filled the chamber with enough foods and egg cells. Most of the time, the eggs that are destined to be females are usually placed at the back of the nesting chamber while the male bees will emerge first and placed at the front.
Are Mason bees aggressive?
Because of its solitary nature, Mason bees are quite known as the gentlest pollinator bees in the world. Mason bees do not live in a hive and female mason bees are also known for being independent and busy with their work to build their nest, gather their foods and lay their eggs. They are way too busy to be aggressive and even they do, their sting and venom are quite mild and not that dangerous. Mason bees are a perfect choice for you who have allergies to honey bees or afraid of being stung. They are friendly and easy to handle. The male mason bees to do not even have a stinger. The female mason bee is not aggresive and will only sting if squeezed or threatened.
How do you attract Mason bees?
Attracting Mason bees are quite easy. You just need to provide them a nesting tunnel, some foods for them, and a mud source. You can easily make their nesting tunnel by using wood, hollow reeds, and thick paper straws. If you want to make the nesting tunnel by using wood, you can start it by drilling the non-treated block of wood with twenty holes in the size of 5/16” in diameter. Make sure all the holes are free from splinters and do not drill all the way through the end to its depth. Be sure to only drill the holes 4 inches to 6 inches deep.
If you don’t like to make your own nesting tunnels, you can also buy this online through the company’s online shop sites such as crown bees. They sell many varieties of nesting tunnels and other products that are related to bees and gardening.
Mason bees VS Honey bees
If we compare Mason bees and honey bees when it comes to their pollination ability, Mason bees win this because unlike honey bees, Mason bees are hive-less. They do not have honey or hive to protect. They are gentle and non-aggressive, making them less dangerous than honey bees. Their solitary nature is making them easy to raise since they won’t attack anyone unless you attack them first.
The cost of raising them is quite cheap compared to honey bees that need you to buy some expensive protective suit. Their strong pollination ability is also way stronger than honey bees. One mason bee has the pollination ability of 100 honey bees, which make them produce more food and harvest for you than honey bees.
How many bees are needed to raise Mason bees?
The number of bees you needed to raise mason bees is in the balance of 6 males and 4 females in one nesting tunnel. If the number you have is not exactly this, you don’t need to worry. Just be sure that all of your mason bee cocoons will be released by the beginning of May and everything will be good.
Mason Bee House
Unlike honey bees, mason bees do not live in the hive. They live in nature. Sometimes in the drilled holes of woodpeckers or beetles, or even in other spaces of narrow openings they can find in your garden. The mason bees house itself is a nesting tunnel made from wood, bamboo, or anything that has the shape of tunnels to reproduce and place their gathered foods of pollen and nectar for their young children. Usually, after the female mason bees lay their egg, they die, leaving the newly placed egg to hatch, eat their foods and once again repeat the process of gathering food, laying eggs, and leaving the world to their younger generations.
Mason bees’ pests
Mason bees’ nest might be a good place for those bees to live as well for you to harvest their cocoon. But unfortunately, their nest can attract some annoying pests such as the wasps, pollen mites, ants, beetles, and many troublesome pests that could basically harm the nest with disease and viruses. That is why putting the mason bees’ nest in the right place is important. The hygiene of their nest needs to be checked every season as well to avoid the pest trouble. Be sure to clean it at the end of each season and remove any tubes that have the signs of pests.
Where to place a mason bee house
It is best to place your mason bee house that will get the morning sun. We have ours on our back porch under an eave. The is plenty of dirt directly under the deck where we have our worm farm. There is plenty of water near it for the bees to make the mud they need to seal the holes. During the early summer, the bees will cap the holes and you can decide if you want to move them to an area where pests can’t get to them.
To buy or build a mason bee house?
We opted to purchase our mason bee house from a manufacturer. We may someday, make our own, they are fairly simple to construct.
That is all you need to know about mason bees. Do you find this article informative? If you do, do share this article and see you in the next post!
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