Early July- Time to protect Nests from parasitic wasps?

 Hello,
 It July 8/12. Is it too early to put a cloth bag over  mason bee boxes to keep out predators?
We are in Comox, Vancouver Island. - Margaret 

Hi Margaret,

Yes it is time, BUT some bees may still be flying! 

I just visited 2 sites today and in both yurt field structures, bees were still flying in and out of their nests. 

Tomorrow, I will go back to these two sites, and remove all the release shelters- to avoid additional parasitic wasps that might still need to emerge.

I will also bring a battery powered bug killer- like a small tennis racket with an electric battery driven electric zapper.  This should get rid of most of the active parasitic wasps.  In another 2 weeks, I will check again, and all, if not most mason bees will have quit by then.  At this time I will place a net bag around each nest to prevent parasitization by the little wasps.

It is quite amazing to see these critters still flying into mid July.-Margriet

 This is my yurt field structure in Bellingham WA.  It is fully laden with highrises and a lot of the tunnel are filled by mason bees.  Today we removed all the release shelters.  Quite a few bees were flying in and out of the nests...more in a subsequent blog.