Beediverse.com

from Holland- Osmia rufa

2012-02-19T16:12:00.001-08:00

Roeland Segers from Holland contacted me the other day about nesting alternatives. We continued our conversation about Osmia rufa, an European Mason bee. I asked if he would like to share some of his photos with the blog and its readers. I was most delighted to receive the following photos. If you'd like to contact him direct, go to his web site. The website is in Dutch with some gorgeous photos. He writes

" My company has recently been rebranded to: De Bijen, Bestuivingstechniek (translating to: The Bees, Pollination techniques) from Nijmegen in the Netherlands. My websites: for masonbees http://www.metselbijen.nl/ (for honeybees http://www.rendementdoorbijen.nl/ )"

Roeland's mason bee web site

Mason bee se-up while pollinating cherries.
Mason bee nests are made of routered channels cut out of compost board.
Boards are held together with a tie-strap.

Osmia rufa doing the finishing touches to her nest.

Old dead Osmia rufa male

Females resting over night inside their nesting tunnels.

Embrace (Osmia rufa)

Fierce competition

John's anti -wind structure

2012-02-18T18:50:00.002-08:00

I also chatted with John from Delta. He has been doing mason bees for quite a few years now and he is a true experimenter. Every year he comes up with ideas that he tries out. On my visit this time, he told me that for the first time last year he was able to beat the wind. He has a very cold wind coming off the sea in the early spring. He had seen the various yurt design and found them too complex. I saw his design, and I think it is a good one. It is simple and anyone can set it up. Last year it worked well. It works similarly like a yurt, but you do not have a hole in the hexagonal roof. More on this subject when John sends me his pictures and a story.

If any one has story to share, send me pictures and a story about bees and pollination- Thanks. I think a lot of people will enjoy reading it. On average, 70 pages are read on this blog every day. Quite amazing.

Candling cocoons

2012-02-18T18:47:00.003-08:00

A comment on this blog asked for more pictures on candling cocoons.

Just today I candled 4000 cocoons. It seems like an awful lot, but when they are in petri dishes it is easy to do candle them- about 30 mins or so. I did see some duds that are of some interest. I call anything that is not a fully developed bee a 'dud'. The percent 'duds' in this batch was 2.5%. Anything under 5% is excellent. But even with 107 duds there are some interesting ones. Few had fully developed parasitic wasps- ready to emerge in spring. Others were bee larvae that had not completed development into an adult. In the next day or so I will take some photos and put them on this blog.

I was teaching a group of people about candling the other day. It is a straight forward procedure but the conditions have to be right. The room that you do the candling in has to be completely dark- a bathroom without a window for example. Any extra light besides the flashlight is too much light and you cannot candle the cocoons.

Mason Bees for Sale- Seattle Garden Show this week!

2012-02-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

Mason bee cocoons are also available at the Beez Neez booth. Cocoons are neatly packaged into a small cardboard box. It is easy to set out the cocoons. Open one end of the box, set inside the housing and let nature do its thing. All our cocoons are washed to remove mites and candled to remove any parasitic wasps. Hope you having a grand time at the show!

Seattle Flower and Garden Show -Feb 8-12 2012

2012-02-10T09:48:00.001-08:00

Beediverse Products are at the show! We are at Booth 2352. Jim Tunnell owner of Beez Neez has all our products! Come and say hello. You will recognize them with our new T-shirts! I love mason bees! All products shown below are available at this years show- including cardboard nesting tubes, and Quicklock nesting trays. Have a great time at the show.

You will recognize Jim's staff
with this great T-shirt.

The beautiful Royal Bee home

Viewing box for seeing bees at work!

Our largest mason bee home 'Highrise'

Chalet with predator guard

Natural Nesting Reeds-

Methods of Cleaning cocoons- sand or water

2012-02-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

Frank M. wrote

"This year I switched to the "dry sand" method of cleaning as developed by Gord Hutchings, to test it. The group seemed to like it, mainly because there was no waiting time for the cocoons to dry. I added a step that Gordon does not do -- after thorough scouring with sand, we put the cocoons into a large flat-bottomed stainless steel screen and gently agitated it over a vacuum cleaner hose nozzle. This helped to remove additional mites, frass and bits of mud still adhering to the cocoons. The one thing I don't like about the dry method is that although it seems to do a pretty good job of removing mites, it does little to remove the frass, so the cocoons don't look "clean". But I reason that the frass doesn't matter to the emerging bees, whereas the mites matter a great deal. Do you agree?"

I think it is wonderful that people are experimenting with ideas developed to manage mason bees better. Here are my thoughts.

Cleaning cocoons and the method you use is a personal choice and it depends on what outcome you want. I still use the cold water method with an optional bleach wash. Although there is a 1-2 hour drying time needed to completely dry cocoons I still prefer the water washing method for two reasons.

Washing with water, removes all frass and most mites. The removal of frass is an important part of the cleaning process because it allows cocoons to be candled. Successful candling can only be done with clean cocoons. I want to make sure that cocoons parasitized with little wasps don't end up in the cocoons that I sell or place out for production.

The other reason why frass should be removed, and the water method of washing does it well, is that the presence of frass makes it more difficult to remove any adhering mites. After washing cocoons and then drying them, most of the remaining mites are removed by gently rolling cocoons over a metal screen. Frass would impede this process.

Inside the nest- healthy cocoons and mites

2012-02-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Here is Frank's third photo.

"015 shows channels with healthy cocoons, but I've never seen so much bee frass!! The only part of the cocoons visible in the image is where the cocoon surfaces were tight against the base of the overlying tray. Othewise all the free space around the cocoons is packed with frass. Have you ever seen the likes of it?"

The Dutch would describe the frass to look like a sandwich spread called Chocolate Hail! Not as yummy though.

I have on occasion seen frass in these quantities. I think it means that these bee larvae were well fed and then produced lots of frass or bee feces. These healthy bees will have the energy to eat their way out of their cocoon and start a successful nest.

Another interesting item in this photos is those tiny pale blond spots all over the wood and over the cocoons. These are the pollen feeding mites. If these mites are not removed, mites wait for the bee to open the cocoon, the mite sneaks in and attaches itself to the bee- to set up house in the next nest.

Inside the nest-pupae and wiry frass

2012-01-31T17:00:00.000-08:00

Here is Frank's photo number 017

"It shows a wooden tray infested with foreign larvae, plus at least four different-looking types of wiry frass. Are they all from the same insect and reflect differences in diet, or might they actually represent different organisms?"

The upper channel possibly contains the pupae of the houdini fly. The lower channel has 3 chambers with wiry frass that probably belongs to the spider beetle.

Lovely photos Frank. Sorry we could not be more clear on the ID of these insects. Let me know if you have placed them in a petri dish to develop into full adult.

Inside the nest- many white pupae

2012-01-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here is photo 011 by Frank M.

Frank writes "011 shows just how abundant these foreign larvae were in some cases. In this image, they are actually spilling out of the channels because the upper part of the channel was filled too. Notice also that at the right-hand side of the image there is a chamber filled with wiry frass that is different from the stuff in image 004."

These grubs, may well be the 'fruit fly' Joe S. took and I wrote about on Jan 7th 2011 in this blog. Joe mentioned these fruit flies had red eyes. A friend of Joe's searched the web and came up with "houdini fly" Cacoxenup-inbagator flies.

If you still have these grubs, set them up in a moist warm environment such as a petri dish and see what comes out. What an interesting project for a child who is interested in science. The search continues.

Inside the nest- wiry frass

2012-01-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Frank M. contacted me recently about his findings at his yearly mason bee workshop. A most interesting series of photos- with permission.

"This photo shows some extraordinary wiry frass, even more wiry than the material that I showed you last year from the 2010 harvest. Any ideas? There is also some fluffy stuff in the same chamber and the one next to it, similar to the material in one of the images on one of your blogs."

This beautifully constructed chamber inside a routered piece of wood, has concave mud walls. It normally contains one masn bee cocoon, but something has entered it. The chamber contains frass- or insect fecal material. According to Bosch and Kemp (2009) wiry frass is likely produced by one of two insects found in masn bee nesting tunnels. One is the cuckoo bee. If there is a cocoon amongst the mass of frass- then it would be the cuckoo bee. If there is no cocoon- it is most likely the spider beetle. It is about 2-3mm long with 4 white patches on its back and long attennae. Both insects eat and destroy the mason bee larvae and its food. They both invade the chamber when it is pretty close to being sealed by the bee.

Ground nesting Bees in a school yard

2012-01-29T19:31:00.000-08:00

Ground nesting bees usually emerge in June when soil temperatures increase from the cooler spring temperatures. These bees are often more than a foot down in the ground. Usually one bee uses one entrance, but in some species a few bees use the same entrance, but different nesting tunnels.

This aggregation is in a school yard ( Burnaby, BC). When Alie told me about it, she showed me the area adjacent to a small fence. the kids came out for a show and tell, and they were fascinated. Anyone know the type of bee?

The soil is quite hard in this area and when the sun shines, the ground is always in the sun. if you look closely, you can see little mounds of earth deposited by the emerging bees. The scale becomes a little clearer when you see the children's feet in the area. When all the children were back in their class, I checked out to see the scope of the area. It was quite large (10 x 10 m or 30 x 30 feet).

Snowy Owls- Coastal BC

2012-01-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

We have had some awesome visitors on the West coast of BC and in WA. My friend Gary sent along these pictures and the photographer gave me his permission to place them on this blog. Thank you Bob Nolan for sharing your awesome pictures. Gary said that

"Those owls were there, apparently, because the lemming population in the north is unusually low, so they are foraging for whatever fish, rats or mice they can snag before continuing their winter flight to their southern habitat. Let's hope they get enough to sustain themselves for the journey."

Late January

2012-01-26T20:38:00.001-08:00

Ahhg... time flies when you are having fun! I thought about the blog a lot over the past couple of weeks, but have had no chance to get it. First a new flu bug got hold of me and that was no fun. Soon after year-end was a must. But now things are moving along nicely and I have a bit more time for blogging. I picked up some interesting stories and photos from friends over the last couple of weeks. In the next bit, I will share them with you. I hope you like them. Margriet

Mason Bee home Kit- no nails- no glue!

2012-01-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays, we have been busy assembling our new Mason Bee Home Kit. It is a nifty product and will be a very popular item for children in schools and in the home. Besides the pieces that make up the home, there is enough paper in the kit for making 20 nesting tubes. This will get the child started. If they decide to make more nesting tubes, newspaper or Kraft paper can be used to make more nesting tubes. It will be fun to see how children will decorate their mason bee homes. Please send in your photos of completed homes that are decorated and ready for the garden. I am looking forward to seeing the art.

Click on the link below to see the Kit. Scroll to the last item in the Category

view the kit

Oliebollen for the old and New Year.

2011-12-31T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here are the Oliebollen. Very good indeed!

Wishing you all the best for the coming year!

Bringing in the New Year with Oliebollen

2011-12-31T09:50:00.003-08:00

My Dutch neighbour Alie told me that she is going to make oliebollen. This is a Dutch tradition that I remember from my childhood. It is a memorable way to say goodbye to the old and bring in the New Year. Every year Alie invites me for a tasty treat of oliebollen, but I have never made them. I am off to give her a hand and maybe taste a few morsels....

Web site news- Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T00:09:00.000-08:00

Bonnie, my web guru and I figured out that we should and that we can have two categories of homes under mason bee homes. This would be easier for folks.

The two categories under Bee homes would be -Spring mason bee homes and Summer Mason bee homes. Right now the different homes with their various nesting materials are grouped together. This is a little overwhelming, I think.

Spring nesting materials available on my web site are CORN Quicklock nesting trays, Ezy-harvest cardboard nesting tubes and Natural Phragmites Reeds. We have two types of nesting material for the smaller summer mason bees. Summer nesting materials available on Beediverse.com are the wooden routered trays and corrugated cardboard.

I will be doing this over the next few days. I hope you will like the changes.

Happy New Year!

Beediverse web site

2011-12-29T20:19:00.000-08:00

I have been working on my Beediverse website and have some thoughts on organizing Beediverse products in a couple of additional categories. Of course, there are always better ways of organizing items and of course writing about them.

In the early days of Mason beekeeping as a gardener's hobby, it was important to have a product category for "Starting out " and "Learning about".

Now Mason Bee keeping is at a different stage. Gardeners who have the experience with spring mason bees, are keen to attract summer mason bees for exmple.

These categories could be expanded for example to explain the different nesting materials required for spring mason bees and summer mason bees. A clear distinction between spring and summer mason bees is needed to make it easier for people to make a decision on what nesting material and or housing they need. An explanation is needed that that Spring bees are larger and need larger nesting cavities and that summer mason bees are smaller and need smaller nesting tunnels. This explanation plus placing spring and summer houses and spring and summer nesting material in different categories would be a good start.

Ground nesting bees in a local school ground

2011-12-25T18:31:00.005-08:00

A neighbour of mine reminded me of the local ground nesting bees at her school. Some pictures were taken and we should be able to get them identified.

New Item-Mason Bee Home Kit

2011-12-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

I am continuously on the lookout for items that might be of interest to mason bee enthusiasts.

We have just added a Mason Bee Home kit to our line of Beediverse products.
The neat thing is that it assembles without nails or glue! It includes instructions on how to roll your own paper nesting tubes. This is an awesome product. Another big advantage to this home is that it ships flat. Savings in shipping is significant.

Kit- Mason Bee Home

This is the perfect item for people who like to put things together. A great school project!

Once assembled, the Bee home can be set out on an east facing wall, in a sunny location and under an overhang. It houses 40 mason bees and is ready to pollinate your fruit trees.

The kit includes pre-cut wooden bee box, mounting nails, sand paper, pre-cut Kraft paper for 40 bee tubes, dowel for rolling bee tubes, and tape for taping bee tubes.

This home is big enough to fit a Quicklock nesting tray with 30 holes and with room to spare for additional nesting tubes or a release shelter.
Instructions include how to assemble the bee home and how to roll your own bee nesting tubes.

Whistler- Christmas

2011-12-22T21:44:00.000-08:00

We headed up to Whistler the other day. An annual Christmas gathering of friends. It was a lot of fun. The drive along Howe sound, through Squamish and to Whistler is spectacular with the mountains in their winter coat. Merry Christmas everyone!

On our way to Whistler, just out of Horshoe Bay

The road to Whistler goes along Howe Sound.
The Tantalus Range is in the background

The spectacular scenery is accentuated with the curves in the road.

Mt Garibaldi above Squamish

A close up of the Tantalus Range in the setting sun

The last rays of sunlight on the Chief rock wall above Squamish.

A Christmas scene in Whistler

Whistler

Six Inch Petri dishes and How to use them.

2011-12-16T22:58:00.000-08:00

Six inch diameter petri dishes are very handy to have when keeping mason bees, especially when storing cocoons. Winter storage of cocoons containing live bees can be problematic since you need humidity and air. Petri dishes allow both air and humidity to pass under the lid and over the lip and into and out of the pretri dish. Tiny strips keep the lid off the base and thus allowing air to pass. All this means that living things can be stored in petri dishes. Another good feature of a petri dish is that organisms can crawl around inside the petri dish, be safe and not escape.

About 100-200 mason bee cocoons can be stored in each petridish. Petri dish are stackable and can occupy very little space.

Here are a few ways to use 6" petridishes:

1. Store cleaned cocoons inside a refrigerator that is a manual de-frost fridge)

2. Each petri dish can be labelled according to location and other information.

3. Store suspect cocoons-I call these DUDS!

When candling, cocoons that do not contain a bee can be set aside and left refrigerated until spring. In spring, the petri dish is left on the counter. If any bees emerge they can be released.

4. Store unknown organisms until emergence
5. Petri dishes are stackable and occupy very little space.

Stack of petri dishes with cocoons inside a manual defrost fridge.

A thermometer is an important tool to make sure the temperature
is right for keeping cocoons under hibernating conditions.
In late Jan temperature is lowered to between 2-4C or 35-39F

Always keep a container of water inside the fridge.
This is an easy way to make sure that humidity is above 60%.

Label each petri dish.

In a manual defrost fridge, there is a freezer compartment
that will require defrosting each year.

In spring, the occasional male will emerge even
though temperatures are low.

For spring emergence, cocoons can be placed into Starter
cottages or Emergence Cottages. These can be temporarily
stored in the fridge, until weather conditions are reasonable.

Store cocoons inside Petri dishes that may contain parasitic wasps.
Place on kitchen counter in spring. If any bees emerge
they can be released. Parasitic wasps can be destroyed by freezing .

Discovery of new Sweat Bee Species

2011-12-15T15:55:00.001-08:00

Researcher discovers 11 new sweat bee species, four in New York City area

Alfonso emailed me today and let me know about this interesting research. He adds-

"I bet if we really surveyed what we had, we could come up with some incredible results of what's really out there. Alfonso"

Click here for the full story

Andrena colony update

2011-12-14T10:20:00.002-08:00

Here is an update from researcher Mike

"We would very much appreciate if you could place a request on your blog. Coastal B.C. would be convenient, but we are willing to consider anything. We do have a colleague collecting stylopized Polistes in Eastern U.S.A.; that is where we found the large Colletes aggregation I referred to in my last email. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you think of anything."

Researcher is looking for Andrena bee ground nesting colonies

2011-12-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

This researcher would like assistance with locating a ground nesting colony of Andrena bees. (Stylopized bees are parasitized bees). If you have seen any ground nesting bees, please respond to this web. Your help is greatly appreciated. I think he would like the locations to be in the Vancouver region of BC.

Check out the two links below for beautiful photos of various bee species and stylopized bees.

Hello Dr. Margriet Dogterom,
This year I embarked on an project involving the signalling in Strepsipteran parasites of Polistes wasps. Next spring we would like to expand our research to Andrena bees. Ideally, we need to locate large aggregations to provide a ready supply of stylopized bees. We found one large aggregation that turned out to be Colletes, and another that is not very accessible (It's on a city boulevard).

Ideally we need to locate colonies before emergence next spring, as the stylopized bees emerge first. Would you happen to know the whereabouts of any Andrena bee aggregations?
Thank you,
Mike

Photos of stylopized bees

Photos of mason bees and other bees

Inside the nest: cocoons inside 'cotton fluff"

2011-11-27T19:21:00.001-08:00

There have been half a dozen reports of cotton fluff inside the nesting tunnels. Here is one I found myself. Most of the fluff is just that, but two cocoon type structures were found in the center row. If someone knows what this is please let us know.

A nesting tray with 6 routered channels containing mason bee cocoons,
and cotton type fluff in two of the channels.

Here I have lifted some of the fluff out to show how it neatly fits into the channel.

Two cocoons were found inside this fluffy material.
You can see the end cap directly above where the cocoon is held in the photo.
The end cap is made of several layers of mud and is thicker than the usual mason bee end cap.

For comparison, this appears like a spider web,
which either contains young spiders or an adult spider.

Inside the nest- Resin bees

2011-11-27T12:42:00.001-08:00

When I find resin bees inside nesting tunnels, I remove any mason bee cocoons , remove mason bee debris out of tunnels with a tooth brush, close up the nest and set out side ready for next year.

Two delicately placed resin walls. No bees were in these cells.

Resin bee pupae within compartments made of resin.

Last year's resin bees emerged during summer months
when resin softened up with the heat.

Horshoe Bay, BC: An early winter

2011-11-27T12:29:00.001-08:00

19th Nov 2011. I took this photo at the Horshoe Bay ferry terminal en route to
Gibsons, BC. The snow level is about 800 feet above sea level.

Inside the nest:Beneficial wasps

2011-11-27T12:22:00.001-08:00

Here the beneficial wasp is inside a routered tray nesting tunnel,
securely within its mud vestibule.
TODO: Remove any mason bee cocoons with a Scoop and remove
debris with an old toothbrush. Then replace lid over beneficial wasps and set
outside ready for next year.

New Limited edition -Scoop with natural wood handle

2011-11-20T19:37:00.001-08:00

Randy from Olympia has created a unique and premium product for Beediverse.

The new product is a handcrafted scoop with the handle crafted from native wood.

The wood stock is carefully dried until it stabilized without cracking. Then the handle is hand-crafted into a scoop handle. Wood type available is flowering plum, native hazel nut and cherry while quantities last.

The plum is dense and heavier then the hazel. The hazel is a lighter wood and tough. Cherry has a reddish brown color.Go to the link below and see our new product. This is a great product for the mason bee keeper who has everything!

click here for link to Beediverse Limited edition Bee Scoop

Variation in hand-crafted Limited Edition Scoops

For a bit of fun, Randy took a photo while he was grinding a scoop at the grinding wheel. What is interesting about all this is that hard metal creates lots of sparks, like in this photo, and softer metals create very few sparks. Great photo Randy!

Sparks come-a-flying off high quality metal while Randy is grinding the metal down to form a scoop.

Inside nests: Mix of cocoon types and wasp pupae

2011-11-13T14:23:00.001-08:00

Last week a mason bee keeper asked me to look at these two photos and give them feedback on the insects inside the nesting tunnels. Every nesting tunnel tells a story!

These are beneficial wasp pupae encased in a very delicate cover.
These beneficial wasps provision their nests with either spiders,
aphids or moth larvae. Sometimes if an egg does not
develop the larvae food remains in the cell.

This is a picture of cocoons harvested from nesting tunnels.
The dark brown, still with mud attached, is from the early
spring mason bee Osmia lignaria. The reddish cocoon with its bright
orange fecal material and masticated leaf plugs are probably
Osmia californica. Osmia californica is active towards the end of the
early spring mason bee activity.

What do mason bee cocoons look like inside the nest?

2011-11-05T15:47:00.001-07:00

These cocoons were harvested early October just when weather was getting colder
and water was condensing on the Quicklock nesting trays.
Early enough to avoid fungal growth over cocoons.

These cocoons were harvested in early Nov, after cold weather had settled in.
A few cocoons were covered in mold. This mold is easily washed off in cold water and a little bleach.

Quicklock nesting trays with 4 healthy looking cocoons.
Cocoons are covered in feces which is easily washed off in cold water.

Quicklock trays with healthy cocoons. The brown and black speckles
are bee feces or frass.
Frass is easily washed off in cold water.

These are different coloured mason bee mud plugs in Quicklock nesting trays.
The black paint is used to help bees orient to their nesting tunnel.

Small cocoons towards the front of the tunnel are usually males.
The females are in the back of the nesting tunnel and are larger than the male cocoon.

Sometimes a nesting tunnel consists of a few mud debris.
The female either died before she could finish the nest or she became
disoriented and found another nesting tunnel for nesting.

Tunnels can be completely full or partly filled.

Pink grub inside nests

2011-11-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

Harvesting cocoons from Corn Quicklock trays is fun. You open two pieces of interlocking trays and you see what is inside. Every row tells its own story and often it is a very different from the adjacent nesting tunnel. It is great to see bees at work, but it is very exciting to see what they have produced and to see what other insects are using these nesting tunnels as their home.

This pink larvae has a brown head capsule. It feeds on any detritus and pollen in the tunnel. If left inside over the winter, it can chew through cocoons and destroy your bees. After it has spun its cocoon, it emerges again during the early summer as a moth. I remove these grubs from the nest as I harvest mason bee cocoons.

The warmth of the room where we harvested the mason bee cocoons warmed up the larvae and made it active. It was travelling around the tray as I photographed it. In the foreground are two mud walls dividing two cells each containing a male bee cocoon. The female cocoon usually fills the space between the walls of the nesting tunnel. Each cocoon is covered in frass and some mites.

Here is the larvae spinning its web for its overwintering period.

Nesting materials- 4mm corrugated plastic

2011-11-04T21:44:00.003-07:00

I use a wedge of corrugated plastic to secure nesting trays into a Highrise home. Corrugated plastic sheeting is made from 100% recyclable plastic and it is easy to cut and fold to fit any cavity. I jam it into the space above the nesting trays and trays are secured into the Highrise.

For the second year in a row, I have had mason bees nesting in these tiny nesting cavities. These tiny cocoons are similar in colour as Osmia lignaria cocoons, but much smaller in size. I have not seen this small bee fly, so I do not know what they look like nor do I know what time of the year they appear. If you have a piece of corrugated plastic, set a piece in amongst your other nest materials and see what happens.

Here is the Highrise with nesting trays (without the cedar roof). The gap above the nesting trays is where I insert the folded plastic corrugated material and use it as a wedge to securely hold trays in place.

A folded piece of corrugated plastic acts like a wedge above Highrise nesting trays. Most holes in corrugated plastic are used as nesting tunnels by a species of summer mason bee, as can be seen by the presence of mud plugs.The nesting material below the blue corrugated plastic are the Beediverse Quicklock Corn trays. Here the different coloured mud plugs indicates that mason bees use different sites to collect their mud.

The spring mason bee cocoon is on the left (with its nesting trays on the far left). The tiny summer mason bee cocoon is on the right.

After slicing the nesting tunnel open you can see how the tiny cocoon fits into the tiny nesting tunnel.

Closeup of plastic corrugated sheets filled with mud plugs.

Osmia californica by M. D Levin 1966

2011-11-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

I had to go to my old stomping ground to get this article. In 10 years Simon Fraser University did not seem to have changed much- although I did only go to the library. It is a short ride from my home and so tonight I thought to chase up the 1966 article by Levin. I wondered into the library, walked up to the 5th floor and found The Journal of Kansas Entomological Society. Just like that! I spent a lot of my time in amongst these rows and rows of journals. So it was not surprising that I found the green volumes so quickly. Unfortunately there was no volume number 39. I went to information and a kind gentleman looked to see if the library had it hidden from my view. No, but library did have it in digital format. Perfect! It was fairly simple to search for it on the computer and get it printed out. Parking for 55mins was $3.25! But enough about my adventure.

Here is what Levin had to say about Osmia californica. Levin compares Osmia lignaria with Osmia californica. I will focus on the details of Osmia californica.

Osmia californica
-Restricts pollen collection from a few composites
-Does not always overwinter as an adult (lignaria overwinters as an adult)
-About half of 33 overwintering cocoons were prepupae and the remaining half were adult
-Uses a mixture of mud and small amount of leaf tissue (lignaria uses mud only)
-Leaves no vestibule at entrance to nest (lignaria leaves a vestibule)
-Seals last cell with a thicker partition and does not build an end plug
-Buries its egg within the pollen mass (lignaria lays the egg on top of the pollen mass).

I think the most interesting part of this information is that Osmia californica does not always complete their transformation into an adult bee by winter. This means that some bees overwinter as prepupae and complete their development the following spring.

Osmia californica cocoons

2011-10-27T20:25:00.006-07:00

Osmia californica cocoons are yellowish with bright orange frass (fecal pellets)

Osmia californica cocoons

Osmia californica - Richard W. Rust

2011-10-23T16:00:00.001-07:00

The Wasmann Journal of Biology (Vol 32 no 1 1974) has an excellent article on a variety of bee species including Osmia californica. It includes range maps of Osmia species. The known distribution of Osmia californica is in western North America and eastwards to Montana and Colorado (including British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho,Wyoming, Utah, Nevada) but not in Arizona or New Mexico.
Female color is metallic blue black, legs black to reddish black. The mandibles have 4 teeth.
Male is black to metallic blue black.
The male and female varies from entirely black to black with white tufts and areas of intermixed black and white.
It appears as early as May in the southern and warmer location and as late as August in higher altitudes.

Biology: The egg is located in the center of the pollen store, with the store usually filling the cell. The cell and plug partitions are constructed of small pieces of masticated leaf and mud. The amount of leaf varied from 1% to 50% of the partition. The partitions were tough, with the outer surface shallowly concave and smooth. The inner surface was rough and the spiral ring construction was easily seen.

Pests of mason bees- in colour

2011-10-23T15:09:00.004-07:00

This is a great link to view coloured photos of mason bees pests.

Link to coloured photos of mason bee pests

Osmia californica bee photos

2011-10-23T15:02:00.003-07:00

Finding anything written about Osmia californica is not easy. Although I found an article written on californica by M. D. Levin, his scientific article was published in the Journal of Kansas Entomological Society, 1966. Unless you are affiliated with a university, only the abstract is available. I will write a summary of the article when I get the full article. But I did find a great web site with good and very detailed photos of Osmia californica. Link to photos of Osmia californica

Amsterdam Nursery Mason Bee Harvesting Workshop-with Dr. Margriet Dogterom

2011-10-20T11:53:00.002-07:00

This free workshop is a great way to harvest your mason bee cocoons and learn about this fascinating hobby.

More than 50 people have already signed up and it should be a lot of fun learning about the different ways that people keep and manage mason bees.

I will be there to lend a hand with identifying the various insects that can be found in mason bee nests.
Come and join the fun at this yearly event.
See you there!

Amsterdam Nursery, 19100 Dewdney Trunk Rd Maple Ridge V3Y 2R8 BC Canada 604 465 6614

Seattle Tree Fruit Society and a key to Identify Apple Varieties

2011-10-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Tree Fruit Society are putting together a great Key to identify apple varieties.

This link will take you directly to the place where you can key out your apple variety.
Apple Identification key

If you want to cruise through the world of apples, go to this website and click onto PHOTOS or APPLE LIST
Here you see apples in their wonderful colour. They look good enough to eat!

This wonderful Key takes the mystery out of apple varieties.
Whenever I go to and apple festival, I remember the colourful show, but traits of individual varieties are lost to me. With this key, that old apple tree in the backyard can be identified.

Harvesting mason bee cocoons from Cardboard tubes with Liners-

2011-10-14T10:53:00.001-07:00

This morning I received an email from Norm
Subject: cocoon removal
" I have the cardboard tubes with liners.
Is it possible to remove the cocoons from this type nest?"
Answer:
Yes it is possible. First try pulling out the liners. If the liner is dry, you can remove the liner and replace the tube with a clean liner. Unfortunately if there is any moisture, the liner absorbs moisture and breaks when you try and remove the liner. If this happens, the cardboard tube has to be unraveled to get the cocoons out.

Launch of Beediverse.com web site with new look and feel

2011-10-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

My web site was launched today with two methods of secure payment options- Moneris and Paypal. Choose either one. It will be fun to add all those photos and videos as we go from one season to another. If you have any questions or edits please let me know.
I did send out emails today to let my customers know that the web site had been launched. I apologize for any duplicate emails you may have received. Thank your in advance for your comments. Margriet

Apple varieties- Bessamyanka Michurina and Atrachan Red

2011-10-08T11:03:00.002-07:00

Pastoral scene on Saltspring Island

The apple Festival was held at the old Fulford Hall- a lovely old hall. Perfect for such a event. Here are some photos of a few apple varieties and twin apples that I had never seen before.

Palouse

Two apples joined together

Sheepnose

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Astrachan Red

Fullford Hall- location of apple festival on Saltspring Island

Innovative pest control using sheep

2011-10-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

I am not a sheep or grain farmer, but this is welcome news. Grazing as an alternative to pesticide applications! Link to web site

Setting-up at the Saltspring Apple Festival.

2011-10-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

We started with an empty hall. There were cardboard boxes filled with apples of 302 apple varieties. Tables were set out and apples were placed alphabetically onto the tables. Then each variety of apples were labelled.

Tables set out to receive apples

Waiting for directions

A bag of apples ready for placement onto tables.

Tolman Sweet apples ready to set out on display tables.

The end result. A beautiful array of 302 varieties of apples.

A wonderful show (Photo by David Caddell)

WA Apple tasting event this coming weekend

2011-10-06T19:25:00.001-07:00

Here is another great event if you live in the Washington area, on the west coast of North America. The "Sample the Apple and Pear Harvest" is on this Saturday! ( 8 October 2011)
It starts at 11am in the fruit garden.
Come taste the different varieties we grow and hear Dave Maczuga speak
about cider.

For more details and directions click on the web link below.
NorthWest WA apple and pear fruit tasting event

Apple pies at the Saltspring Apple Festival.

2011-10-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

The ladies of Saltspring Island made the most delicious apple pies for the apple Festival. By noon, pies were sold out.

Rolling out the dough

Trimming the dough

Peeling apples

Each pie had a letter for the apple
variety inside the pie.

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Ready for the oven

The slice of apple pie I sampled was delicious and tasted like more!

Ready to eat!

Ferry ride to Saltspring Island -2

2011-10-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

It was a ferry trip to Saltspring island under grey skies, but the views are always lovely no matter what the weather.

Ferry ride to Saltspring Island Apple Festival

2011-10-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

I am on the ferry to Salt Spring Island. It is a nice trip. And relaxing. First a coffee, maybe a late..

I am really looking forward to tasting pieces of apple pie with different variety of apples. Where else can you do that! Last time I was at the festival, there were 6 varieties of apple pie to choose from . This time there are likely going to be more varieties to choose from for tasting. But before apple pie tasting, the community hall has to be set up with the more than 300 apple varieties. I will have a table for setting up Quicklock trays and mason bee houses, and another table for "show and tell". I will be doing a washing demo and show people how easy it is.

Harvesting cocoons now

2011-10-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

I have not harvested my cocoons yet, but when I opened one for a photo op, I noticed the beginning of moisture condensing onto trays. My trays are stored outside and under cover to keep them dry. But under fall conditions, when moisture content in the air is high and temperatures go down, any water vapour in the air that is inside nesting tunnels condenses onto trays. This happens each fall, when there is lots of moisture in the air and temperatures start to drop. |Under these conditions, molds start growing onto the surfaces of cocoons. |These molds do not harm the bees that are inside each cocoon, but moldy cocoons are a little more messy to clean.

For easier harvesting and cleaning, harvest cocoons before we get too far into the wet fall, this mold growth can be prevented. If you find mold present wash cocoons in a 0.5% bleach bath.

In other words, harvest your cocoons as soon as you can.

Utube videos by Beediverse

2011-09-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

I have added two new video clips onto U-tube. These describe what size mason bee homes you can start off with when you have a small garden or a small orchard. The u-tube icons are on the top right hand corner of this blog.

Osmia californica- New Bee Product

2011-09-19T15:24:00.003-07:00

This little mason bee Osmia californica, emerges soon after the early spring mason bee Osmia lignaria. We have supplies of Osmia californica available for our customers Click here for ordering your mason bees.
This little bee uses smaller nesting holes and has chewed leaf material as its nest plug. It will double the pollination season for your garden. Each bee nests and pollinates for about a month.Click here for more details about Osmia Californica

Blogging and ideas from Rick Spence

2011-09-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

I saw a very interesting article in the National Post today. Rick Spence writes about blogs and what makes a good blog. He writes that blogging was in its heyday 5 years ago and wanders if blogging has lost its 'mojo'. He does not think so. He writes that it is a great way of communicating with people who are interested in a company's products and expertise. Rick includes a lot of ideas such as: writing on favourate topics, insider stories about products, stories about the industry, product development, product reviews, customer success stories, '...current issues rocking the industry...'. A lot of bloggers have given up because it is hard work. I agree that it is hard work, but feedback and ideas from people is always great. Keep the comments coming and let us here about your success stories and ideas.
Link to National post article "-Yes-a-blog

Viewing Box for Mason Bees

2011-09-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Because of customer demand we will have Viewing boxes/Observation boxes available this upcoming season. This is a great teaching tool.

Viewing box closed and open showing the nesting tray.

Viewing box with open lid showing
nesting tray and cotton cover.

Open viewing box showing
cotton cover and entrance hole to box.

Open viewing box showing
wooden nesting tray.

Web link Viewing box on our Beediverse web site

Saltspring Island Apple Festival-a day trip

2011-09-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

It could be a day trip or even a weekend away.

I thought a few more details about the Apple Festival would be in order. It is such a fun day. And what an experience.
When you come to Saltspring Island, come either the day before or the early ferry from Victoria. The first stop is Fulford Hall. It is a grand old hall. Perfect for such an occasion. Hundreds of apple varieties will be on display. If you have an apple variety and you wish to know what it is- check out all the varieties on display. It is a bit dizzying, but stay focused. Then there is a section where you can buy a piece of apple pie. There is nothing new about apple pies, but these are very special. Nowhere else can you buy a piece of apple pie made with a known apple variety! Of course you will have to try 2 or 3 pieces! Then there are various booths with things to eat or things for your home. We will be at our Beediverse table and I will have a number of mason bee houses and other items such as Scoops available for sale. Come to our table and say Hello. Bring your questions.

After you have done the circuit of the Hall it is time to experience Saltspring Island. You are given a map and locations where you can sample Saltspring Island apples and other goodies. See you there.

Beediverse at the Saltspring Island Annual Apple Festival October 2, 2011

2011-08-31T14:52:00.002-07:00

Beediverse will be at the Saltspring Apple Festival with Beediverse products and show and tell items.

If you live or are visiting British Columbia,Canada in October 2011 come and visit Saltspring Island. This is a great opportunity to meet the growers of apples and other local foods, taste many different apple varieties, try the tasty apple pies and meet some of the vendors at the Hall. Dr. Margriet Dogterom

Here is the information from Harry Burton, the organizer.

"We'd like to let you know about a very special little Apple Festival that happens every fall on Salt Spring Island. It will give you an "apple experience" like you have never imagined. It is purposely kept non-commercial and farm related. Where else can you

-find over 350 varieties of apples, all grown organically,
-connect with all the farms that grow those apples,
-taste about 100 varieties of apples at just one of the farms,
-see a labeled display of over 300 apple varieties.
-taste labeled apple pies baked with 15 apple varieties. The Pie Ladies baked about 150 apple pies in 2010.
-experience an apple history going back to 1860
-get to enjoy a tremendous varieties of lunches right at the farms - a culinary adventure.
-taste fresh apple juice made from specific apple varieties.
-experience over 20 varieties of red flesh apples. That is why we call Salt Spring "APPLE HEAVEN." Sunday, OCT 2, 2011

Harry Burton, 250 653 2007 Salt Spring Island, BC V8K-1W5 http://www.appleluscious.com/ http://www.saltspringmarket.com/apples/

See past highlights at http://www.appleluscious.com/

Vladimir from Calgary discusses the Belle de Boskoop.

Fallen fruit tree uprighted

2011-08-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Even though we have had an extended cold spring, apple trees are loaded and there have been several reports of trees falling over. Here is a video clip of uprighting a fallen tree.

Up-righting a fallen apple tree

Colourful flowers feed an array of bumble bees.

2011-08-29T20:25:00.022-07:00

Today I stopped by a Oliver Woods Recreation centre in Nanaimo (BC Canada). It is a beautiful facility.

What really took my fancy were the beautiful raised flowerbeds at the entrance to the building. Very welcoming. The colours were stunning. On closer inspection, bumble bees liked this array of flowers too.

At the end of summer bumble bee colonies stop growing and the colony begins to produce queens and males. Queens mate with the males or drones and then hibernate over the winter until the following spring. It is important to have well fed drones so they can fly and mate with the queens. Flowers that provide nectar for bumble bees are a must. The flowers in these photos are great nectar producers as the presence of these bumble bees indicate.

Most of these bumble bees are males. Males usually have yellow heads.

This bumble bee is Bombus vosnechenskii

Grow flowers and they will come.

Blackberries- great eating or a pest?

2011-08-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

In July/August blackberries bloom and flowers provide great food for bees. Blackberry flowers are great providers for bees. They provide both nectar and pollen to bees. For us, Blackberries are great eating and make tasty jams and jellies.

Blackberries- ready to eat

But watch out! Blackberries will easily take over and are tough to get rid of because of their extensive root system.

If the hot weather holds, I will be picking more blackberries soon.

A farming experience!

2011-08-28T17:34:00.002-07:00

We baby sat a home with some farm animals last week. An easy task, I'd say.

I was warned a bout the ram.

I don't know this fellow's name....

A nice looking fellow.

I was warned not to go into the pen, because I would very quickly be on my butt. He looked pretty calm to me.
This morning, I gave him fresh water, through the fence, but the bowl for his oats were a little distance from the fence- but close to the gate. Protected by a fence board from any onslaughts, I held the board at his head level and against my legs. I meekly entered the gate. I had not stepped into the pen before he head butted the board, cracked the board and off course I made my escape. Phew, that was close!

I have re-named him "Stew"

You may be wondering what this story has to do with mason bees. Since all the mason bees are in their cocoons and are awaiting fall cleaning, I am enjoyed a few days away on a farm on Vancouver Island.

Wild fruit and pollination

2011-08-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

On Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada) there are all kinds of wild and native fruit that are edible.

When I see fruit on native trees and shrubs, I straight away think that when these plants were in bloom, there were lots of bees in the area. It is always fun for me to have a closer look.

These photos were taken under a Douglas fir/Pine canopy. Filtered sunlight and sunlight available along trails and roads allows these plants to grow profusely.

Salal berries. Ready to eat!

Some of these Salal berries are shriveling up from the drying sun.

Red Huckelberries- few, but great tangy morsels for eating

Thimble berry. A real treat!

A profuse number of Salal berries. Ready for eating.

Thimble berry flowers are about as big as a bumble bee. If a smaller bee visits
a Thimbleberry flower and if this smaller bee does not move around the flower, only part of the flower will be pollinated- as in this flower. 95 percent of the flower in this photo is pollinated, but a small strip was not pollinated (seen as a band of unpollinated ovaries).

Travelling beautiful British Columbia

2011-08-27T21:39:00.003-07:00

Northern Arrow Lake,BC,Canada

Ferry crossing of northern Arrow Lakes

We often forget how beautiful a place is, and often it is the region where we live. While travelling this summer we travelled north from Castlegar to Revelstoke (British Columbia, Canada) We crossed the northern Arrow Lakes with a ferry and the views were awesome. We camped at a Provincial campsite adjacent to the lake that night, had a nice campfire with other campers and had a very pleasant evening.

Have a great summer!

Natural patterns-trembling Aspen

2011-08-27T21:29:00.001-07:00

We visited our family during the kid's summer holidays and on our return from Prince George the aspen trees caught my attention.

Between Prince George (northern British Columbia) and Quesnel, the majority of aspen trees looked grey. During the summer and early autumn, the foliage of aspen trees is a deep green, not quite as dark as the evergreen trees in the area. The trees looked oddly ghostly, not normal at all. I first thought it might be a mildew infestation. Then I thought, it might be possible that an early frost had hit the trees. But this did not seem right because a frost would hit the top branches and not necessary the inner branches.

I finally stopped to have a closer look. I soon realized it was an insect infestation. Insect larvae had eaten through the very thin layers of a leaf and exited at the far end of the leaf. The reason why leaves appeared grey was because the green chlorophyll layer had been eaten by the insect larvae. The patterns created by these insects were beautiful.
A further look at the Aspen leaf miner, see link at the end of this article.

Beautiful patterns in a aspen leaf.

A pathway of an insect

Ghostly looking trembling aspen

Along the Prince George Highway BC grey aspen were the norm.

A grey forest!

Grey aspen in the foreground. Green fir in the background.

During the summer months, aspen are similar in colour
to other green plants below the aspen.
The grey was startling against a backdrop of green fir and close to pale
green herbaceous plants.

The whole aspen tree canopy was consumed by these insects.

In nature, you never know what there is to see.

Aspen infestation in the news.

Protect your mason bees from the tiny parasitic wasps

2011-08-17T16:56:00.001-07:00

This is the time when parasitic wasps can produce another generation every week. During the summer months, when temperatures are higher than in spring and fall, these pesky little critters come out of the nest and search for new mason bee cocoons to parasitize. I don't know how, but these tiny adult wasps can make a tiny pin hole in the tube and crawl out and parasitize more bees.

Every July, when most bee eggs have turned into adult bees inside their cocoons, I gather all nests, set them under a veranda- where the ambient temperature is still warm. I place two Highrises per net-bag (see wasp proof bags on my web site beediverse.com). They sit stacked against the wall of my home until the end of September when harvesting takes place.

I find that net bags are successful and keep out wasp parasites. Percent parasitism is usually not more than 5%. If you have had trouble with these parasites, you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Wild Honey bee colonies In Australia's Centre

2011-08-06T12:02:00.001-07:00

Walking trails in the Center

The Australian outback is an amazing world of contrast: red and black cliffs, dry desert landscape with water-filled gorges, prickly spiky plants with soft colourful flowers, beautiful birds and their loud calls. I was lucky enough to call Australia my home when I was a child and always look forward to going back, seeing my family and having another look at the land. This year, I spent quite a bit of my holidays in Australia's Center. I wanted to check out more of the land and walking is a great way of doing it. We bought our food and water from the town of Alice Spring and went walking along a number of different trails.

Depending on the light, cliffs are either red, burnt orange
purple or varying co.lours in between.

Honey bee colony on a cliff in the Center.

We saw quite a bit of wild life including kangaroos and lots of birds. There were very few insects around because night time temperatures were around freezing a lot of the nights. I was pleasantly surprised though when Matt showed me a honey bee colony. Matt told me he had seen them at this location before. It was about 30 feet up on a cliff. Honey bee comb attached to an open cliff would be a rare sight in Canada, but in Desert country it is the perfect place. There is very little rain to speak of so a colony does not need protection from the rain. Since it had rained recently, trees and shrubs were showing off their bloom. This of course means food for honey bees.

Gum tree flowers with a foraging honey bee.

Hakia flowers provide lots of nectar for birds called Honey-eaters

River beds and cliffs provide great habitat for all kinds

of wildlife including lizards, cliff dwelling birds and hawks.

In the next little while, I will be adding a few more blogs of my trip. You can imagine the number of photos I took! Have a great summer!

Youtube

2011-08-04T19:13:00.002-07:00

I have added my YouTube videos under "VIDEO BAR" as a clickable icon above "ABOUT ME". Simply click on the video picture and watch bees at work.

In the video of bees at the nest, watch how bees mould mud to plug up their nest holes.

In the video with bees visiting flowers, look closely at bees taking up nectar from flowers.

Providing continuous bloom for bees -Joe S.

2011-07-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

In the spring, Joe S. and I chatted about providing continuous bloom for bees in his garden. When one type of flower has finished blooming there should be other flowers just beginning to open and bloom. Continuous bloom is an important part of managing a continuous food supply for wild bees.

When I photographed his spring blooming flowers, he mentioned that the following bloom would provide food for his summer bees including summer mason bees.

Sedum
Budlea
Italian herbs
Catony aster

More bee attractive flowers, Quadra Island, BC Canada

2011-07-04T21:42:00.004-07:00

Aquilegia/columbine

I will ask the gardener the name of this plant.

Strawberries

Lupine

Crane's bill- perrenial geranium

Campanula

Batchelor button

Crane's bill

Fenced vegetable garden. Deer, will eat anything,
so plants have to be fenced in securely.

Pyracantha

Campanula

An amazing old fashioned rose, Quadra Island,BC

2011-07-01T22:01:00.001-07:00

This beautiful and wonderfully scented rose is a mega-attractant to bees.

A old variety that has a great capacity for nectar production. It was quite amazing to see so many bumble bees in one flower. It was like they were standing in line for some nectar. Bumble bees were so busy getting into the flower they took no notice of the photographer.

This rose bush stands about 4 feet tall.

This rose is so attractive to bumble bees that at one
point there were 6 bees inside this one flower.

More bees in this rose.

More bee attractive plants - Quadra Island

2011-06-28T22:45:00.001-07:00

This orange flower's name escapes me. I will add it in later.
the bumble bees loved this plant

The changing vista of an island

The view.

This bumble bee is a male- indicated by the yellow face.
Once you see males foraging in the garden,
the bumble bee colony is near its end. The queens mate,
and hibernate
by themselves in the ground.

Bee attractive flowers in Joe's garden

2011-06-24T21:46:00.002-07:00

Drumstick Onions with a bumble bee
embedded within the florets

Joe has a great garden for bees. He tries to have continuous bloom so that bees always have food available to them.

Another onion drumstick with a bumble bee.

Beautiful red columbine with drumstick onions in the background.

Joe S. and three of his gorgeous rhododendrons in bloom. He tries to attain continuous bloom so that
bees always have food available.

Paris gardens,France

2011-06-20T22:56:00.001-07:00

Paris, Parc de Bercy.
A quiet space, away from the hustle and bustle

Paris: The hustle and bustle of a thorougfare

Just around the corner from the hustle and bustle!

We have arrived in Paris!

River Seine

Bluebell

A vegetable garden within the park

Bee attractive flowers in a Dutch Garden

2011-06-17T23:12:00.001-07:00

During my visit to Holland, I was lucky to see a number of gardens that belonged to friends and relatives Here are some of the bee attractive plants I saw in these gardens.

A close up of the tiny pink flower.

Unfortunately I do not know the name of this 5 foot
high bush. The tiny pink flowers were very
attractive to bees.

Pink Delphinium

Foxglove

Holland: bicycle stall at a railway station.

Bluebell

Old city of Dordrecht, Holland

Bee attractive sage ground-cover- Quadra island

2011-06-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

Right in front of the medical clinic on Quadra Island, a raised bed had some surprises in store for me. I was certainly not expecting numerous bumble bees foraging on 4 patches of sage ground cover. We were meandering along the store fronts, and there they were- too busy to take any notice of the photographer.

Very little of the ground covers' green leaves were visible amongst the dense layers of flowers.

There were numerous bumble bees present on these patches of sage.

The bees' tongue is visible probing the flowers

Joe's bumble bee nest

2011-06-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Two bumble bees ready for flight.

This is a large new queen that will be
hibernating over the winter.

Joe S. from Burnaby showed me his 'bumble bee house'. He told me he always has swallows and chickadee nests up and often they are used by the birds. And ever so often the chickadee nests are used as a bumble bee nest. So this year, he asked around if anyone had an old chickadee nest, to please pass it on to him. He received one placed it in an old chickadee nest, and bingo, the bees arrived. Chickadee nests have quite a lot of hair in them, and he believes this might be the attractant, like a mouse nest. I am going to try this, but first I need a chickadee nest.

One guard, checks out the photographer. The splatter pattern
on the outside of the box is the feces of the bumble bee.

To make the box more to their liking, the bees even
plugged up the large crack at the front of the box.

Olive tree flowers in Italy

2011-06-12T10:36:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful visit to Rome. Always on the look-out for Bee pollinated flowers, I managed to see an olive tree in full bloom. Olive trees have a grey foliage with tiny cream coloured flowers.

Olive tree flowers in full bloom- end of May.

The huge and awesome Colosseum of Rome.

The local roads of the ancient Roman town of Pompei with Mt Vesuvius in the background.

One of the beautiful mosaics of Pompei.

A delicate 5 coloured mosaic in the ancient coastal port of Rome, Ostia Antica.
Most mosaics that we saw were black and white.

Flower market in Utrecht, Holland

2011-06-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

Flower Market in Utrecht, Holland

Campanula- a bee attractive plant.

These two varieties of bee attractive Sage

Salvia, a bee attractive plant

Buying flowers at the market

Here a few pictures of bee attractive flowers at a flower market in Utrecht, Holland. I only took pictures of flowers that had bumble bees foraging amongst the flowers. This is a great way to buy flowers that are bee attractive and flowers that will feed bees in your garden.

Joe predator proofs his full mason bee nests

2011-06-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

The screen dangles from a screw at this nest.

Joe S. from Burnaby, has come up with a very simple way of protecting his nests AFTER bees have stopped flying or when the nest is full ( Note: Mason Bees tend to avoid nests with screens).

The screen is not fixed into place but dangles and moves with the wind, making it very awkward for woodpeckers to land at the nest.

Paperclips are used here to give the screen
the proper positioning over the nesting holes.

Flowers for Bees

2011-06-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Over the past several weeks, during my travels, I kept my eyes open for 'Bee attractive' plant's. I watched out for bees on flowers knowing that these plants provide the bee with pollen or nectar or both. Keep in mind that a 'bee attractive plant may not always appear attractive to bees. For instance, when more attractive (provide more food) flowers are present, bees go to the rich source of food, and not the poor source of food. Visitation strongly depends on if other attractive flowers are present in the area. If you don't see any bees on a variety of flowers, it might mean temperatures are too cold, or that there are no bees in the vicinity.

Early summer management-removing cocoon cases

2011-06-09T19:06:00.001-07:00

It is time to remove mason bee cocoon hulls at the end of spring.

Earlier in the spring, Mason Bees chewed their
way out of their cocoons, leaving the cocoon hulls.

The timing of this somewhat depends on the weather off course. I can't believe it is 9 June and a few mason bees are still flying!

Remove Release house and examine
cocoon hulls inside.

When only a few mason bees remain active at the nest it is time to remove cocoon hulls. Nest tunnels have been filled over the past month or so, and pretty well all activity is at or near its end. Cocoon hulls may contain developing parasitic wasps and wasps can destroy a lot of newly developing cocoons.

Empty cocoon remains from the emergence
box to a transparent container, like a petridish.

Take cocoon release houses down, and remove all cocoons in a transparent container, such as a large petri dish. Make sure that cocoons are one layer thick. Leave at room temperature. If any additional bees emerge, release them. If no bees emerge over the next 3 to 4 days, it is unlikely that there are any unemerged- live bees inside the cocoon.

Check for total emergence. See what percentage of cocoons emerged successfully. If success is greater than 95% you have done well. If it is less, then carefully open closed cocoons to see what is inside.

Cocoon contents might be parasitic wasps or pollen lumps where the bee larvae has died during development. Other finds might be parasitc fungi- black pupal cases. Do the examining over a piece of newspaper, so it can be discarded.

Link to Youtube Beediversemasonbees

2011-06-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

I have added two clips. One of mason bees flying around and pollinating Kale flowers. The second is one on mason bees using the Corn Quicklock nesting trays.
Go to link http://www.youtube.com/user/Beediversemasonbees

Flowers for Bees

2011-05-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Flowers provide food for bees in the form of nectar and pollen. Thus flowers are critical to their survival. However, not all flowers produce pollen and nectar. The best way to find flowers that are attractive to bees is to go to a garden center on a sunny day. Bees will point the way to attractive flowers, the ones that will provide them pollen or nectar or both. The ultimate for bees is the have a garden that has continuous bloom from spring through the summer.

Effect of overwintering temperatures-RESEARCH ARTICLE

2011-05-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

A very interesting article by Bosch and Kemp from Utah State University in Logan, on the effect of overwintering temperatures. This is a summary of their research results.

http://www.apidologie.org/10.1051/apido:2004035

Setting out cocoons- SMALL scale verses LARGE scale

2011-05-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Mass release of alfalfa
leaf cutter bee cocoons.

I started this article some time ago, before I had all the pictures in place. Even though most mason bees have been set out, I think it is good to compare mason bee release systems to the commercial Alfalfa Leaf cutter bee industry mas release system. I think we can learn a lot from the 50 year old alfalfa leaf cutter bee industry.

How to set out bees, still in their cocoons, depends on quantity of cocoons, type of nests and whether predators exist in the area.

Leaf cutter bee nests

Alfalfa leaf cutter bee producers in the Canadian Prairies, usually mass release leaf cutter bee cocoons on trays. Thousands of cocoons are placed on trays. Trays are set up inside yurts or similar structures that house leafcutter bee nests. Three weeks prior to setting cocoons out, leafcutter bees are put through a warming period so that bee emergence is relatively fast. Trays are out for less than a week. A mere 7 days or so is little time for winds and predators to upset the trays full of cocoons.

Prairie yurt with a tray of cocoons
set on top of nests.

It is a different story with mason bees. Emergence is often longer than a week, especially under cool spring temperatures. The number of cocoons set out are often less than a hundred or several hundred and less often in the thousands.

Setting out a few cocoons (less than 100) small vials with a bee size hole in the lid works well. Plastic vials are usually rodent proof. The space underneath the roof of the Beediverse Highrise is a great place to place the vial full of cocoons. This space is protected from the sun, but receives the heat through the roof.

the Highrise roof protects vials
of cocoons from
predation and sun.

Beediverse Emergence box
protects cocoons from predation
and the elements.

When setting out 100 or more cocoons, small vials are too cumbersome and too time consuming. It would be very easy to set out cocoons in open trays. I have tried setting cocoons out in trays, even in covered trays, but it has been less successful. Their extended emergence becomes problematic. Winds sometimes tip trays onto the ground Trays also make cocoons more vulnerable to predation from animals such as spiders, squirrels, mice, and wasps. To decrease the chance of predation a wooden box with an exit hole such as the Beediverse Emergence Shelters gives the best result. Two are sold for $19.95.

Small and large release boxes.
Dave M. Port Alberni BC

I find these extremely handy. I fit about 200 cocoons into each one. I make notes on the outside to tell me where cocoons were produced. This is handy because after spring emergence, I can check what the emergence was the previous spring. Emergence should be 95% or more.

David M. from Port Alberni uses a square box with a hinged lid. Each box, with two layers of cocoons, holds about 2000 cocoons.

If you have a system you would like to share with our readers, email me a description and pictures.

Link to '10 Easy Fruit Bearing Trees'

2011-05-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

Keith writes:

"We would love to share with you an article that we just posted on our own blog! “10 Easy Fruit-Bearing Trees” ( http://www.lawncareservice.net/blog/2011/10-easy-fruit-bearing-trees/ ) would be an interesting story for your readers to check out and discuss on your blog.
Either way, I hope you continue putting out great content through your blog. It has been a sincere pleasure to read."

Using markers to help bees find their nesting tunnels

2011-05-18T13:55:00.001-07:00

There are two simple ways of marking a nest to help bees find their nesting tunnel- with colour and design.

Honey bees can see hues of blues and yellows. As far as we know mason bees do likewise since these are the colour of flowers attractive to bees. Other colours like green and red are probably seen as shades of grey. Use a water based paint with a brush or finger paint designs onto nest.

Design need to be kept simple and not complex. Complex designs will likely not help bees find their homes.
Use one letter across the face of a nest. If it looks a little bare- add a coloured dot above the V and below to O for example. Simple designs consist of letters/numbers such as:

V O T L 7
No design is ok too, but increased searching time for their nest, decreases foraging time for provisions and egg laying time.

Simple designs will assist bees in finding their nesting tunnels.
The rough edges of the lines are a helpful addition to the
coloured letter.

Sticky dots for monitoring nests- from Cal.

2011-05-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

" I noticed something was trying to dig into the finished mud cap on one of the tunnels and I got to thinking. Once sealed there is no need for it to be exposed. Avery dots.....you can write the date on them, covers the tunnel for better safety from pests.

You can also monitor the hive easier and see when new tunnels are sealed and tell when the fun has stopped for the summer."

Great idea Cal!

Margriet

Questions from Barry on longevity,survival in cold temperatures

2011-05-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your questions Barry. My comments are in blue.

Hi, Barry here.

I have a couple of questions about Mason Bees. Any help would be great.

I have been raising Mason Bees for 3 years now in Minnesota.

I had purchased them on line.

I started with about 120 to 180 bees and have doubled or tripled my
count. I have made multiple types of Houses and Traps.

If my Bees fill every hole, reed, tube and cavity I have put out for them
I figure I might have as many as 1000 Bees to store this Fall.

My first question is how long can Mason Bees be kept dormant? It depends on the amount of fat reserves the bee has- ie the amount of food it was fed during development during the previous spring.

I would like to start putting some out next year in April and continue
putting out more Bees for a couple of months.

Could dormant Bees be kept in a Small fridge for over 6 months? Yes, but it would depend on their food reserves in the form of fat reserves.

I pull the Bees houses down in November and store them.
By April it has been 6 months that they have been in my fridge.

I have an old Dorm Fridge that works really well for keeping them at a nice 35 to 38 degrees.
This lets them have the "cold snap" they need without stressing them from the great outdoor temps.

Second, I would like to know what is the coldest temp that Mason Bees could survive?
I've seen Minus 26 degree temps just in my backyard here in Minnesota.
I have heard that 10 degrees and colder can do them harm, any thoughts on this? I would generally agree with your statement. My recommendation are to keep mason bees away from minus temperatures. A good way of doing this is by keeping them in the fridge.

When I open my house to clean and collect my Bees, should I separate any different bees like Masons and Leafcutters? I separate them out because mason bee cocoons can be cleaned and leafcutter bee cocoons cannot be cleaned.

Should I put them out at different times during the year? Since setting cocoons out at the nest makes them vulnerable to predators, I would set them out close to their natural emergence time.

Bonus Question, how far will Mason Bees travel away from the bee house to find Pollen? I have read they can fly about 300 meters to 1500 feet. Is this about right? It depends on the density of bloom and availability of food. In a commercial blueberry field most mason bees travel within 500 feet. In a suburban lot, bees were observed to fly a distance of 3 lots, which is no more than about 300-400 feet.

Thanks for your time.

Help Mason Bees more easily find their home.

2011-05-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is a question I have been asked several times- How to help mason bees find their nest.

In nature, mason bees do not have this problem since one nest is on a post next to the wood pile and another nest might be in a wall of a shed. But when many nests are right next to many other nesting holes bees often have a problem of returning and finding their 'home'.

You may wonder what a 'lost bee' looks like. The bee acts 'lost'. It flies into one nesting hole, immediately flies out and goes into another nesting hole. This continues for several minutes. This searching behaviour is a waste of time. When a simple design has been added to the nest, it takes only about 30 minutes before the bee goes directly to her nest with no searching whatsoever.

All you need is some acrylic paints.

The trick is to provide a simple design, and not a complex design that it does not help the bee at all.

I will now go to work and create some simple designs on nests that will help mason bees find their home.

More later.

6" Petri dishes for Cocoon storage

2011-05-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

In a previous blog I wrote about 6" diameter petri dishes that are so handy for storing large numbers of cocoons. When you have a large number of cocoons, it is wise to keep them refrigerated. Refrigeration keeps them away from predators and keep them relatively safe. BUT I must reiterate that humidity has to be at least 60%. In order for cocoons to survive, there has to be at least 60% humidity. Any thing less than that will kill the bee over time. Use a fridge that you manually have to defrost . These fridges keep humidity over 50%. As a precaution keep a container of water inside the fridge.

Petri dish for storing 100-200 cocoons

A stack of petri dishes filled with cocoons are placed inside this fridge for storage. Cocoons are then placed into release houses ready for release.

This is the freezer compartment in a manual-defrost type fridge. The stack of petri dishes are just below this compartment.
Use a thermometer to let you know when temperatures are too warm or too cold.

A container filled with water ensures a greater than 60% humidity.

Release houses filled with 100 cocoons are held in the fridge, prior to releasing into the D27 yurt. The cardboard straw temporarily plugs up the front entrance of the Starter Cottage.

Mason Bee 'Catcher'

2011-05-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

Under certain circumstances, it is handy to have a container into which you can place escapee mason bees.

These escapees are mason bees that have emerged inside the house and are buzzing around in the basement or in kitchen. Not that they are going to do any harm, but it is nice to be able to set them outside so they can go about their business. This handy little gadget can easily be made by anyone. It requires a pop bottle and a pair of scissors.

Find a pop bottle.

Cut pop bottle into half with a utility knife of a pair of scissors.

Invert the top into the bottom. Make sure that the 'top' of the bottle
is about 1" above the base of the bottle.

Mason Bee catcher ready for use.

Add any escapees into the Catcher, and release them outside.

If the bee is very active, slow it down by setting it into a fridge for
about 30 mins and then release.

A happy bee that has just been released.

D27 YURT for mason bees- ready for spring

2011-05-08T17:15:00.000-07:00

The opening in the roof of the D27 yurt
is used by mason bees that are
exiting the yurt and is for venting any excess
heat during the summer months.

D27 yurt is ready for spring.
The silver colour of the tarp is on the outside.
The blue colour of the tarp faces the inside. Two posts
protect it from severe winds.

A row of Highrises are attached at the roof line. This is the warmest position inside the D27 yurt. Release houses with cocoons sit on top of Highrise homes.

Temperature at roof line is 85+F

Outside (N) temperature of 64F

Temperature one foot down from roof line is 76F

Temperature 2 feet down from roof line is 71F.

The increase in warmth of the D27 YURT can only be a boon to mason bee production

Male mason bee peaks out of a release cottage

2011-05-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

"Anybody there?"

"Mmmm. It looks cold out there."

"What is that thing out there? A human being?"

"I am going to wait for some sunny weather before I get going."

Petri Dish storage system for mason bee cocoons

2011-04-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Cleaned cocoons stored in a petri dsih.

The best storage system that I have found for mason bee cocoons are petri dishes. They are 6"" in diameter and are transparent. In the fall, after cleaning cocoons, it is not always possible to set cocoons outside adjacent to the nest. Many cocoons can easily be stored in petri dishes.

CANDLING-After washing and drying cocoons in the fall, about 150 cocoons are placed into each petri dish. Cocoons are now ready for candling. The lid is removed and candling is completed by rotating and tilting dish over light. This movement allows the light to scatter in various ways and parasitic wasps are more likely to be seen and removed.

A petri dish lid protects bees,
and at the same time allows air movement
between inside and outside of the petri dish.

Apple bloom in Langley April 25th

2011-04-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is an early blooming apple variety. Most other apple varieties are still in the tight-bud stage. Note dandelion bloom in background. When orchard bloom is behind, and food resources are scarce for bees, dandelion bloom provides bees with ample pollen and nectar.

Crab apple pollinizer in full bloom

Apple blossom at the pop-corn stage.

These apple blossoms will be out soon!

Keremeo's First Apricot blossoms

2011-04-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hi!
Today (April 13th) I decided to send you a photo titled "First Blossom". It is a photo of our apricot blossoms in the popcorn stage with one blossom opening. This year has been a cooler spring so our apricot blossoms are 2 to 3 weeks later than previous years, which hopefully is a good thing. For the past 2 years our blossoms opened early & froze from the spring frosts so we have had a smaller crop of apricots. This year we wish for a mild spring, good pollination & a bountiful harvest.

We have scheduled to attend 10 Ambleside Farmer's markets starting on May 22 & 5 Kitsilano Farmer's markets starting on June 26. ( Ambercott Acres sells a host of organic products: apples, garlic, a variety of dried products (sun dried apricots, mixed dried fruit, dried apples, sun dried plums, vegetable medley, sun dried tomatoes, mixed fruit rolls, cinnamon apple carrot crumble, herbal tea blend, autumn spice, bay leaves), & a variety of jams (apricot, ginger pear, crab apple jelly, mulberry) spiced crab apples, walnuts and apricot kernels.

Here's wishing you well.
Smiles
Kaaaly

Story- Mason Bees make useful garden pets

2011-04-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Mason+bees+make+useful+garden+pets/4662774/story.html

Viewing nest- observation nest

2011-04-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is the 3-hole Beediverse Observation Nest.
Leafcutter bees are present in the left hand nesting tunnel. The
remaining two nesting tunnels are occupied by mason bees.
A thin film of acetate sits on top of the tunnel and below the lid.

"Spring is herei was walking around checking the honey beez and checked the masonic beez to see how they were doing. i was wondering what i did with my small observation hive......couldn't remember at first, then there it was, about eye level right in front of me. Duuuuuu. i had done nothing with it last year. forgot about it entirely......" Cal M.