Yurt by Beediverse-new product

You can now make your own Beediverse Yurt with the hexagon roof and top.  It is a great design. We have 5 roof units available.  Other items like uprights, screws, hooks and ties are available at any hardware store. 
click here for yurt-roof product on Beediverse web site

We offer the roof unit as a product with full instructions and material needed to complete the yurt.

Fully assembled yurt roof is available as a  product.



Partially assembled Yurt.  With the fully assembled roof
and base hexagon assembly starts with attaching
 the first 3 uprights  to roof and base.



Fully assembled Yurt

Ants- watch out!

Check out your mason bee homes every now and then, and make sure you do not have a line of ants crawling towards the bees' nests.  A good way of getting rid of them is to first remove most of the ants bysquashing them, and then have a water spary and then drip at the location where ants are crawling up the structure.  When the ground is wet, ants are discouraged from going in the direction of moist soil.

Pieris japonica- early spring bloom

You can't beat this plant for being ready with nectar for early spring bees.  Here on the west coast of NA, the early blooming pieris is in bloom.  It is a hardy plant, great to have around the house.  This morning I saw a fly and a bumble bee feeding on the nectar of this plant.

Sheltered spot for mason bee homes

A great place for mason bee homes.  It is East facing and out of the wind.  When you start with mason bees in a location such as this though, it will take a few years before the bees begin using the mason bee homes.  Mason Bees will usually use the shingles first.

Rex's Field Shelter

Here is a good design of a Field Shelter.  It is constructed with one post and two supporting posts at the front.  Plywood is attached to the post and mason bee homes are attached to the back wall.  It creates a warm environment and it is out of the wind.

Mason bees for sale

Yes, Beediverse has both Osmia lignaria (early spring mason bees) and Osmia californica (late spring mason bees) available until late April.

Join the Beediverse-blog community

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When you subscribe to this blog- see upper right hand side of this blog- you will receive notification of new posts by email.  Keep connected and let your friends know you like this blog.

Close to 28,000 items have been viewed since Dec of 2010.  I am certainly enjoying the increased interest in my blog.  It is a lot of fun to write.  I love getting stories from other countries.  This makes it all the more interesting.

Keep the stories and photos coming.  Other mason bee enthusiasts are very interested in how it is done in other parts of the country.

Thank you for joining.  It provides me with feedback on how I am doing with this blog.
Margriet

A 4-sided field shelter on a metal pole.

Margriet,

I phoned you a few weeks ago to ask about where to place our new bee house.  You suggested a location that faces east and gets morning sun, and then added that putting a shelter around the house to keep off rain and wind would be a good idea.  Finally, you asked that if I built such a shelter, I should send you some photos. 

The photos are attached.  The shelter faces east in a place where it should get morning sun, and it's stained a dark brown to absorb heat.  It's about 60 meters away from the apple tree we are hoping the bees will pollinate.  I hope that's not too far.  The bees may find flowers and other plants closer by and never make it to the apple tree.  But we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Don N.   Germantown Hills, IL
  Hi Don,

Thank you for sharing your photos and story.  I think the shelter will work very nicely.  No, I dont think 60 yards is too far away from the orchard.  But, if you do find that pollination did not improve, set up your shelter closer to your orchard.  Margriet



This is where the shlelter is located.  East facing,

with trees as added wind protection.





Don's shelter holds one Royal mason bee home with
Quicklock corn nesting trays.  Above the Royal, there
are two sturdy Emergence Shelters

with cocoons- waiting for warmer weather.



This is the same shelter as above, showing more of the structure.





Joe's observations

Joe phone me today to let me know he has some interesting 'stuff' in his nesting trays.  More later.....

Washing cocoons - yes or no

I read in a blog the other day that washing cocoons is not necessary.

There are two good reasons for washing mason bee cocoons.
The first reason is to remove the majority if not most of the adhering mites.  The washing process includes a soak in cold water to remove mud and feces.  Then, cocoons are gently sprayed with cold water (while in a colander) to remove any excess mites.  If excessive mites are present (even after washing) mites are removed by rolling the dry cocoons  gently over a metal window screen (not plastic- it is not abrasive enough to remove mites).

The second is to remove debris and mud and feces from the cocoons so that cocoons can be candled for parasitic wasps.  Candling Mason bees was first introduced and developed by Joe Sadowski from Burnaby British Columbia Canada.  In a dark room, and over a bright light, parasitized cocoons can be identified, removed and destroyed.  By removing these wasp parasitized cocoons, there is less of a chance for the wasp population to increase and potentially wipe out your bee population.

It is pretty neat to see what bees and other insects have been up to during the previous spring by candling cocoons and having a 'closer look.

I recommend caring for your mason bees by harvesting and cleaning your mason bee cocoons in the fall.





A little parasitic wasp with its ovipositor ready to insert into a
mason bee cocoon.  The oblong object is a bit of bee feces
that is always on the outside of the cocoon. (photo by Hartley).

 

Beneficial wasps-with photo from Larry

It is right in the middle of the mason bee season now.  Stores have stocked up with product and individual customers buy from us direct.   When it is so busy, I do collect stories with pictures on a daily basis for this blog.  I have some catching up to do!  Here is one of these stories from Larry.

We are cleaning our bee condo, and it appears as if we had a few of the
cocoons that had opened and there is larvae in them.  Are they dead?  Also, they seem to be larger that the the cocoons that are still intact (and which we have cleaned to remove mites, etc.)
My first response was to ask for a photo.
"Yes- please send a picture.  It sounds like you have some beneficial wasps."

Then I received this picture, it confirmed that this is a beneficial wasps.  What is neat about these insects is that different species collect different live food items for their young.  They either collect and feed their young with spiders, moth grubs or aphids.  If one of the wasp eggs did not develop, there might be evidence of the kind of wasp is growing in the nesting tunnel.

This grub or pupae still has a lot of developing to go through before it is an adult.  Further development starts when spring temperatures are on the rise.

These grubs are very fragile.  I usually leave them in their nesting tunnel, remove mason bee cocoons in the remaining nesting tunnels, close the nest up and set it outside again.





Beneficial wasp pupae.  The brown part is the head capsule.



Variety of nests. Advantages & Disadvantages

My friend from Duncan sent me photos of all her different nest types.  No matter what kind of nests you design or use, most nests are used by bees.  They will prefer some over others, but if there are lots of bees, and nesting space is limited, mason bees will use any type of nesting cavity.  But the type of nest takes on a different meaning when considering that keeping mason bees and keeping them pest free is of a very high priority. The ease of getting into the nest, harvesting and cleaning cocoons become a very high priority because it determines in part the success of mason bees.



Cleaning station in the kitchen.



These are hexagon shaped nestign tunnels made of clear plastic. 
There is no doubt that mason bees use it, but cleaning nests and
harvesting cocoons is not possible with this nest type.  In most locations
if nests are not kept clean, parasites and mites build up in
 such numbers that the bee population collapses in 3-4 years.

This structure holds the clear plastic hexagons, paper
tubes and reeds.  Paper tubes can be opened and cocoons can be harvested.
Reeds can also be opened with relative ease.  Take care
when choosing reed type because some types of bamboo are near to impossible to open.

This is the Beediverse Highrise with tubes on the side. 
The Highrise Quicklock nesting trays can be opened and
cleaned.  After cleaning these nesting trays can be re-assembled
 for the following spring.

A great spot for mason bee  homes-a warm
south facing wall under an overhang.

Success!  Cleaned and harvested cocoons

from Holland- Osmia rufa and Roeland's new nest design

Roeland also sent me some photos of his new nest design (with permission).

John's Mason Bee Field Shelter and materials required

Here are John's photos of his very economical set up for mason bees.  It protects bees from chilling spring winds, and provides extra warmth to mason bee nests.  The full length tarp that goes to the ground keeps the wind out.  To keep all the wind out from entering the base of the structure, cover bottom of  tarp with mulch or some soil.

Advantages over the Beediverse Yurt is that with John's field shelter you don't have to deal with fitting a tarp over a hexagon roof with a hole it it.  It is not easy.  The field shelter's roof is simply a piece of plywood.  John's mason bee field shelter is very economical. 
Both the yurt and John's field shelter release excess heat.  The yurt has an 8" diameter hole in the center of the roof which lets out excess heat, but keeps it nice an cozy for the bees.  The gap between the tarp and roof releases excess heat from John's shelter.  Shortly, I will be placing the yurt onto our web site for gardeners who would like to try the Beediverse yurt.

Here is John's list of Materials  and instructions:

   1-9x12 tarp - blue

   6 - lath strips or equivalent

   1-42x72x1/2 or better plywood for back side

   1-42x48x3/8 plywood, primed one side for roof

   4-2x2 or 2x3 x96 posts- for vertical support

   4 or 6 ell brackets for shelf support

  

   Drive posts into earth at 42 inch intervals, attach back plate on north side, then roof with overhang. Provide bracing with lath at 45 degree angle for wind. Keep front posts 6 inches higher than back to run rain.

   Wrap with tarp leaving 6 inch opening at the front[south]. Use 1 1/2 in. screws at grommet holes for ease of attachment and removal. Attach ell brackets for shelf support as required.

   Now your bees will much warmer and so much busier.

  

John starts off with setting 4 sturdy posts into the ground. 
Then secures a 1/4 " sheet of slightly slanting plywood onto the 4 posts. 
Between 2 posts, he attaches - with screws a 1/2 sheet of plywood. 
He attaches shelving to the plywood and the two posts. 
Nests are set onto shelves.

Here is a closer look at the shelving. 
On the right hand side are routered wooden nests. 
On the left are boxes with angled 1" wide slats with
Quicklock trays inside the box.

Blue shelter complete. 
Once nests are in place with bees are set out in emerging boxes,
tarp is wrapped around all 4 sides- leaving a gap of at least 8"
between roof (1/4 sheet of plywood) and the top of the tarp. 
Note wood slats are stapled over tarp  and onto posts to keep them place.

  

This is the second version with a  cross piece
that helps stabilize the structure.


 



"I love mason bee" T-shirts

This great T-shirts is made from 100% cotton and is now availabe on the Beediverse web site.

Let others know how you feel!! 

These T-shirts are on as a special.  From $19.99 to $15.99.  Save 20%

See this product on the Beediverse web site

from Holland- Osmia rufa

  

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.



Osmia rufa male.  Note the long antennae.



Females resting over night inside their nesting tunnels.

Embrace (Osmia rufa)

Fierce competition

John's Mason Bee Field Shelter

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.
Aan update- we could not figure out what to call this structure at first.  A Mason Bee Field Shelter describes it nicely.

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

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!

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

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-