HAVE YOU HEARD THE BUZZ? LET'S HELP THE BEES!
In part, a solution for pollination may lie with our own native species the orchard bee, or Mason bee. The Mason bee is only one of the many species of solitary bees, and is especially effective in pollinating fruit trees. A docile, friendly little fellow (or lady), the Mason bee rarely stings, but works tirelessly helping Mother Nature.
By making bees welcome in your garden with appropriate plantings, habitat, even housing, you will increase the production and ripening of your fruit and veggies, and aid in the setting of seed for your flowers as well.
As some solitary bees including the male Mason bees emerge early, spring flowers are a crucial source of sustenance for them. Come and see our display of plants that will attract this important member of your gardening team.
UPDATE ON MASON BEES / BLUE ORCHARD BEES and CONDOS
PLANTS TO NOURISH AND ENCOURAGE NATIVE BEES
DIARY OF A NOVICE BEE NURTURER
UPDATE ON MASON BEES / BLUE ORCHARD BEES and CONDOS
Advice from Cathy Featherby
November is a good time to remove the bees from the condo and clean both the bees and the condos. Cleaning the bees removes mites and mold which can be harmful to the cocoons. This job can be done right up to the beginning of February but when done earlier ensures more viable cocoons. We take the condos apart and carefully scrape the bees out of their rows (we use a small screw driver). Cells full of pinky/yellow bits but no cocoons contain pollen mites (Chaetodactylus krombeini) so leave them in the row and destroy them when you clean the wood.
To clean the bees use several tubs of cool, but not cold, water. Recycled plastic lettuce containers are perfect for this job. The bees are placed in the first tub of water and swished around gently to get the worst of the dirt off. Transfer them to the next tub of clean water and then to a third. After the third rinse, drain the bees in a colander and place them on cookie sheets covered with white paper towel. If many pollen mites (pinky coloured dots) are visible on the paper towel more washing is necessary. Return the cocoons to the paper towels.
Bee cocoons are then left to dry in a protected, cool, airy location. Dry cocoons should be protected from mice and other predators before nightfall. For storage place the cocoons in cardboard boxes like shoe boxes and place them in wood or plastic containers. Do not place the cocoons directly into plastic as it is colder and the humidity is different. Keep the containers in a cool, frost free location for the winter.
In March, set the bees back into the cleaned condo release area, ready for hatching. Place smaller male cocoons in front of the rows and larger females in back. A release box attached to the condo can be used if there are too many cocoons for the condo.
To clean the condos scrape out large bits with the screw driver. Use a stiff brush to clean the balance of debris and wash them well. Leave the condos in a very warm, dry location to destroy any mites that may have survived. Alternately, the wood can be placed in a warm oven – about 150 degrees F, for 45 minutes. This is the technique we use but it can vary. It is an ongoing learning process.
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PLANTS TO NOURISH AND ENCOURAGE NATIVE BEES
To keep your local bee population well fed and happy, think ahead to have early blooming flowers in your garden. Bumble bees emerge from their winter nests while the weather is still cold, and need sustenance right away. The Masons are a little later, when the temperature is reliably above 14 degrees C. If there are no nectar flowers to welcome them, they will not survive.
BUMBLE BEES
Prefer pink and purple.
They hatch in mid February, so what is available?
- early Rhodos
- winter flowering Heathers
- Sarcococca
- Forsythia
- Winter Jasmine
Males hatch about 2 weeks before females, and wait around until females emerge. If there is no food, they either die or fly away and seek food elsewhere. Mid March is usually when the males emerge.
Best plants to have for these early bees are:
- Pieris (main food source for Masons)
- Ribes sanguineum
- Erythronium, Camas, Trillium, other native bulbs
- all flowering natives
- Oemleria cerasiformis (Indian plum)
- Pulmonaria
the bees BEFORE the fruit trees are ready for pollination. Once the
fruit trees are in bloom, probably April, we hope the bees will head
to the trees instead of other earlier plants.
NATIVE BEES IN GENERAL
There are thousands of species of native bees, probably many hundreds in Victoria alone. Some are specialists (eg only attracted to squash, Aconitum, etc etc), and some are generalists, happy with any flower that passes by.
Generally the younger bees prefer the flat and easily accessible flowers, eg daisies, while some wiser and older ones know how to access even the most convoluted petal arrangement. The bees that like Aconitum for example, tend to be older bees and since only they can figure out the access to this flower, they will go from one Aconitum to the next, achieving cross pollination among all the flowers in the patch. Preferably, plant blocks of the same species of plant, not just an isolated specimen.
It’s extremely important to have a variety of flowering plants, especially natives if possible, throughout the growing season (early flowering to late flowering) to appeal to the widest variety of native bees. While some hybrids have been so carefully selected for colour, size, fragrance etc, many are practically sterile in the pollen-producing department. Native bees find native plants 4 times more attractive than the exotics.
Some good sources of pollen and/or nectar for native bees throughout the seasons: (Pollen supplies the protein and fats, while nectar provides sugars for energy. Those bees work hard!)
- Queen Anne’s Lace
- Ceanothus
- Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
- Rubus Spectabilis (Salmon berry)
- Smilacina Stellata (Star Flowered Solomon’s Seal)
- Pussy Willow
- Sambucus
- Solidago
- Vaccinium
- Mahonia
- Penstemon
- Amalanchier
- Salix
- Symphoricarpos
- Achillea
- Rudbeckia
- Coreopsis
- Origanum
- Echinops
- Rosemary
- Digitalis – this one is very interesting – male flowers are higher up, less mature (!) than the females which are lower down. Bees always start at the bottom of the flower, work their way up. So they get they get the male pollen on their bodies at the top of one plant, then go to the next one and deposit it on the female flowers of the next plant, thereby fertilizing to set seed. Another good reason to plant flowers in blocks, the bees prefer it.
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DIARY OF A NOVICE BEE NURTURER
Spring 2009 After attending Cathy Featherby’s class on Mason Bees at the nursery this past spring, I installed one of her bee condos, and nestled 20 cocoons into their beds. There they rested until warmer weather, when the bees chewed their way out of the cocoons and flew out to do what bees do best -- pollinating fruit and flowers while collecting pollen and nectar for their reproductive cycle. The females were seen buzzing in and out in a frenzy to lay their eggs in their original home.
November 22, 2009 The email newsletter from Russell Nursery arrived, including information that it was time to wash the cocoons in readiness for spring release. I did not have time then, but luckily this task can be done any time up until early February.
January 3, 2010 Removing the cocoons from the condo, I was astonished at how much of the icky yellow mite debris clung, along with assorted molds and general uninvited fauna. Following the directions on our website I washed and dried the cocoons, each containing a fully formed bee. From the 20 cocoons I started with, I now have 265!
When I see the luscious berries, fruits and flowers in my summer garden, I will smile and know that I was an involved partner with my bees; being part of nature’s life cycle is a true joy.