Langley orchard in peak bloom

Every year, I enjoy the awakening of these beautiful apple and cherry flowers.  To see 5 acres of these blossoms is an awesome sight.  These pictures barely do the sight justice.

Cherry flowers in full bloom

Vista of apple blossoms



From pinks to full bloom



Orchard with mason bee yurt in background

Leafcutter bee Kit now available.

We now have available, both the Chalet and Highrise with specifically designed nests for the leafcutter bee.  In addition, the Chalet and one of the Highrises, also has the cardboard wrap for the other small summer mason bees. With or without bees, this refuge and nesting site is a boon for increasing your summer pollinators.  At this time leafcutter bees are availabe in Canada only.

Click here to go to beediverse website

Spiders eat bees

Hello Margriet.
This is my second year with a mason bee nest. When I cracked
open my corn plastic stack to clean my nest last year I was surprised to find two
of the tunnels occupied by spiders.
I had at least 25 cocoons hatch this spring. I went out o check on the house
on Tuesday and noticed webs around the house. On closer inspection, at least
three tunnels had fine webs over the openings.
I assume the spiders prey on the bees. Am I correct? And if so, how do I get
rid of them without disturbing the entire corn plastic bee stack?

Thanks,

Kevin K
That is a good question.  The only way I know is to catch and remove them from the site.  This would be quite difficult I think. 
 I have seen a jumping spider catch a mason bee!  So bees beware!

Vancouver Courier story on mason bees

click here for a great story.

Mason Bee emerging from cocoon- video

Check out this link to a short video of a mason bee emerging from a cocoon. Thank you Kevin and Patty.  The emerging process happens fast. Click on the  link and go the the bottom of the page. http://beediverse.com/gallery/

What is this insect?

 

Margriet,

I'm sending you to pics of this giant that was in our campsite in Terrace BC two years ago.  You can see how big it is in comparison to the loonie.  The other pic shows more detail.

 

Chester

 

I initially though it was a bald faced hornet, but searching through the Internet, the white markings are fewer on the abdominal segments than on this specimen.  It could still be a hornet, but a different species than the bald faced hornet.  Does anyone know what it is?

 

Margriet 

 

Sun is out and bees are feeding

After warm temperatures in early spring, quickly followed by a cold spell lasting a good two weeks,  the sun is finally out again. 
Bees are busy foraging. Here are a few pictures of what I saw on Kale flowers. 

In the past, people have asked me whether male mason bees forage and pollinate.  I presumed they do some feeding on nectar because they would need to be energized over the two  week period that they are around.  Males probably don't do very much pollinating or moving pollen around from one flower to another because when they arrive at a flower- they do it without much movement over the flower.  Today I took picture of a male mason bee drinking nectar out of a flower.  



Male mason bee getting energized by drinking some nectar.
Note long antennae and white hairs on front of face.



Native leafcutter bee feeding on pollen and nectar.  Note stripes on abdomen (Family Megachildae).





Another tiny bee (6 mm/1/4" long) busy feeding on nectar and collecting pollen.



Home apple blossoms-early May

Spring here in Vancouver, BC, Canada was relatively warm in mid April. A lot of lot of flowers budded and bloomed.  Now, after about 2 weeks of chilling temperatures- with patches of sunshine, we are now in a warming trend.  My apple blossoms are finally coming out.  This particular apple tree is right next to the house.  Blossoms are fully open near the house.  Flowers away from the house are still in bud.  I will be checking on temperatures, inside and outside the yurt. 

Apple blossoms -pink stage



Apple blossoms- fully open and waiting for bees.

New Product-Leafcutter Bee Kit-available soon

Leafcutter bee cocoons.  Different colored cocoons are made from  leaves and petals..

.

Leafcutter bee Highrise

 Leafcutter Highrise-availabe soon



Extra space in the attic for storing and emerging cocoons.



Emerging cocoons in cardboard box.

A predator  guard in front of the nest
 protects nests and bees

Nests and bee cocoons behind predator guard.

In the fall-Step one- lift nest block out of Highrise.

In the fall-Step 2- push cocoons out with wooden dowel (supplied) and store in attic under roof of Highrise.

Looking for a particular topic in this blog?

Bumble bee on red clover. 
Photo by Ian Lane with perm.

The search bar on this page is a useful tool for reading different blogs on a particular topic.  Simply type in the topic and Search.  All blogs on this topic will be listed and can be read at your leasure.

Langley orchard Late April

Beautifull apple blossoms

Dwarf apples in full bloom

Cherry blossom- full bloom



Just think of all the cherries!



More nests and mason bee cocoons were placed into the yurt. 
Crabapple in foreground is no longer in bloom like it was in mid April.



Packaging mason bee cocoons

Labelling cardboard boxes.

Labelled boxes ready for cocoons.

After washing cocoons they are air dried for about an hour.  Then, cocoons are candled to remove any parasitized cocoons.  Cocoons are stored in fridges until packaged, and then returned to fridges until sold.  Packages are first labelled.  Cocoons are then selected and carefully pushed into each box.  In a package of 10 there are 4 females and 6 males.

Filling boxes with cocoons. 

Boxed cocoons ready for sale.

Setting out new nests next to the old ones?

A question from Michael in Oregon.

Hi Margriet,

If I need to set out more nesting sites for the Mason bees should I put them next to existing sites, or, put them a bit away from the one’s I originally set out?

The reason I ask is that I am get many more bees to nest so far this spring compared to last year but I do not want to mess up the bees visual cues to the old sites.  I also know they like to be near each other.  Your thoughts?

-thanks

I don't have the exact answer, but I think you are on the right track.  Perhaps in visual range and clustered nearby would be a good solution. -Margriet

 

Langley orchard with yurt in mid April

In mid- April, a few trees were in bloom.  Mostly the crabapples and other pollinizers.  The yurt is in the background.  We set out 1200 cocoons with 650 nesting tunnels- about 1 nesting hole per female in 9 Highrises.



Blooming crabapple with Yurt in background.





I installed ten highrises inside this yurt for a start.
 The emergence shelters containing the cocoons sit on top of each highrise.
 Between 100-200 cocoons are in each emergence shelter.
 In two weeks time I will add more highrises and cocoons.



I use hooks to hang Highrises on the uprights of the Yurt.

Home Yurt- males and females emerging

Here is a picture of my friend Ella looking at male and female mason bees milling around the entrance of their emergence shelter( upper left).  She had never seen them so close.  She watched them emerge from their little box or emergence shelter, several matings and extensive grooming by the males after mating.  Even though it was 14C outside the yurt, temperatures inside the yurt reached 18C.  This is a good temperature for emergence, mating and the females to fly off to find a food source nearby.

The home yurt is filled with nests and mason bee cocoons as the season progresses.  When there is lots of food and bees, the whole yurt is filled.  In this home yurt, few bees and nests have been set out at the onset

 of the season.



Ella watching mason bees emerge and mate.



Close-up of male mason bees outside their emergence shelter.

full view of Home-yurt with Ella inside watching the bees emerge.

Mason Bee release shelter-for large number of cocoons

When I have large numbers of cocoons, I often use trays.  There are about 2000 cocoons on this tray. One tray is turned over to act as a lid.  Trays are offset by 1/4" so that emerged bees can exit.  Duct tape or strong rubber bands are used to keep trays in position.

Using 1x1 sticks and set between a couple of highrises, a structure is created to hold trays at the upper level of the yurt, but not under the center hole of the roof.



Base tray holds about 2000 cocoons



Two trays are held in place with duct tape.



Two trays offset to create a 1/4" gap.



In the sun or out?

I chatted with a new mason beekeeper today who was confused about directions on a flyer, the web and various other sources.  He had bought some mason bee cocoons from a store and the flyer instructed him not to set the package of cocoons out in the sun.  Then further down, directions were to set the house with the nesting tunnels in the sun.  How confusing!

When bees are still in their cocoons and cannot move about, do not set box of cocoons in direct sun.  The heat of the sun could cook them while they are still in their cocoons.  The best place for cocoons are within the shelter of a mason bee home under the roof- away from direct sun- but nice an warm.

The house for mason bees should go into a sunny spot.  Bees like to be warm when working and young offspring need the heat to move, eat and develop into adults.

Mason Bee Field Shelter- Yurt in Mt Vernon

An organic apple orchard is a great place for mason bees.  No worry about pesticide applications.

When we arrived, we noticed that dandelions were out, but apple blossoms were still closed.  The perfect time to set up the bees so they can emerge and gt ready for pollinating the fruit trees.  It was a very cold rainy day when we set this up a couple of weeks ago.  Brrrrr!!

We arrived at the orchard with the top of the yurt and the base-hexagon pieced together.  Both hexagons were marked out to indicate where  the vertical uprights had to placed and screwed to make the frame.  

This is important, since the spacing of the uprights maximizes the number of Highrises that can be placed at one level.  Nine Highrises can be set at each level.  There is enough height in the yurt for 4 levels.  We started with 3 uprights balancing the base and the roof, and added the remaining uprights soon after.

We then dug some dirt to cover the base of the tarp.  This prevents wind from getting into the yurt and creating a draft.

We finished the yurt by stapling the tarp around the yurt.

Tim has just finished using 4 screws to hold each upright in place,
2 at the top and two at the base.   I attached the tarp with staples
to the upper and lower hexagon and then covered the tarp at the base with dirt.

Completed Yurt.  You can see that the wind is pushing
 the tarp against the uprights.

We left the hole we created so that bees could easily get mud for making
their nest partitions.

Dandelion flowers-food for bees!

Here on the west coast of British Columbia, my favourite flower came out in abundance.  It is a wonderful plant that provides both pollen and nectar to bees when there is little else for them to forage on early spring.  One day, this beautiful plant will be encouraged in lawn and gardens!

Dandelion flowers

In this field, many dandelions provide an abundance of food for bees
in early spring before apple blossoms appear (apple orchard in background).

Early April

We have been busy shipping mason bee cocoons and mason bee homes to our customers.  There is always lots to do.  Over Easter we visited our family on the Sunshine Coast.  I was alerted to a store sign about Mason bees.  I drove to the Sunshine Coast Nursery and took a photo of their great sign.  The photos is slightly out of focus, but here is what it says

MASON BEES ARE

SUPER GOOD

BRING THEM TO

YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

What a great sign to let people know that mason bees are being sold at this store.

 I hope everyone is enjoying our wonderful spring weather.  Margriet