I moved my bees into the refrigerator when I saw the abrupt warm up in the forecast. I do not trust that winter is truly over. Does anyone know the proper time to set them out in north Texas?
Mason bee timing
DH has his bees in the fridge, too. He thinks after Easter. But that seems awfully late to me. Maybe not. Both DH and I would be interested in what others think about mason bees, too!
fwiw, Easter is just about as late as it can be this year.
I found this interesting link
http://www.wingsinflight.com/gardbees.html
I put some bees out today. I am going to put some bees out each week for the next few weeks, to see if I can get an extended pollination period.
By the way, here is my new, larger bee house. Based on last year's success, I decided to expand the operation from one can to three cans. :)
So I have a Mason Bees for Dummies question. I got a house for them, but I can't find any info about when I should put it out/up. Any suggestions? (I just don't want to put it up too early and have something I don't want in there moving in).
Thanks,
Kate
Oops, just noticed that my picture is sideways!
I couldn't find any definitive answer, either. Basically, it seems like you need to make sure that the temperatures are above 50 degrees (or they can't fly) and that there are good sources of pollen. I'm hedging my bets and spreading my releases over a few weeks.
By the way, I bought a few tubes of them at North Haven Gardens last year. After I put them out, a BUNCH more showed up from the neighborhood. I'm not sure if the couple I put out helped them find the house, or if they would have found it by themselves. But every single tube was full by the end of the year, which is why I upgraded to a bigger house this year.
My mason bees have been out for a few weeks.
Here is one working on the Rosemary.
Where do those Mason Bees come from?
Are they Americans ? or shall I say native?
I have just read an article about to NOT buying insects from other countries.
The majority lady bugs that you buy on-line and on the store come from Asia and they are becoming a really big problem for our native ones. Also the Praying Mantis eggs are from China and they are fighting with our native one too.
That is how we cause the big problem with Honey Bees: importing insects from other countries.
So ... I am just curios.
I'd love to help the bees.
Dennis -- I don't get up to NHG very often. If you happen to get up there in the next little bit would you let me know if they have any mason bees in? I'd like to get a couple of tubes to get me started (I just have the house -- no bees).
Thanks :)
Kate
Our Mason bees are American (HooYah) =). DH made sure--I think he got Mason Orchard Bees--does that make sence? They are a native bee to the North American Continent according to Wikipedia. I'm doing fruit trees and berries this year and he decided to do Mason bees in a cooperative effort. He wants to try honey bees later when he has more time as business will be taking up more of his time this year.
Anyway, my question is this: Are the mason bees active all spring and summer long?
I thought they were native too.
They are definitely not invasive since they are only active for a few months a year and then go dormant.
They come out of dormancy when it starts to warm up, pollinate like mad men, make babies and then go dormant or die. I would say they are only around for 2-3 months max.
You buy a bunch of little tiny cardboard tubes and they make little mud nests inside them. You can also just drill a bunch of holes in a block of wood.
They are not like regular bees at all and require almost no upkeep.
Great news. I will buy them at NHG next week.
I already have the cutest bee house.
You are supposed to but the block of wood with the holes or tubes under the eave of the house where it gets no summer sun so they do not fry.
DH's bees came in little plastic cups with cotton around them. Does one put the cocoons into the tubes in the house or just put the cocoons out next to the house? Once we get started I'm sure we will be fine =~/.
you would have to put them into the house head first, but since they are natives, when they warm up they will look for a home, just keep them from being harmed when you put them out on their own to warm, and close to their new hidey holes, they should be fine
Interesting...but I sure don't need something else to take in over winter LOL!
They're back! I just came in from shining the flashlight at the beetubes, and I saw about a dozen bee bottoms sticking out.
should be hummers up there too, ours are waiting on me to mix the sugarwater, chuckl
I have quite a few MBs out too. How exciting! Our first adventure with them!
Thanks for the heads up on the hummers. I haven't seen any in our area yet, but we always have a number who spend the summer with us. They like the roses. So I'll have DH mix up a batch of hummer juice. Must have something for the little dears when they do get here! Oh joy! Spring!
http://www.knoxcellars.com/
These folks can tell you everything you would like to know about these wonderful litte native bees.
This message was edited Mar 27, 2011 2:10 PM
I have an amazing number of bees around right now. I can see dozens of them hanging out at night. There are already about a dozen tubes all mudded up. I may have to give some tubes away next year, since I put out triple the number as this year and this year I have had more than enough!