Temperate Fruit & Orchards > Temperate Fruit Discussion

Anyone use mason bees for pollinators?

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amadioranch:
We have issues with some trees at bloom hogging up the pollinators. Apricot and cherry like to bloom together but the honey bees prefer the apricot, so we get little fruit with the cherries. This year we are working with Crown Bees to see if thier mason bees might be a better solution. We have 4 bee houses spread around the property around our problem trees. The bees come dormant in cocoons and we are just now warming them up and getting ready to release them as our apricot and cherry bloom come on. ANyone out there working with mason bees?

Doglips:
Didn't know you could buy Mason Bees.  Where are you getting them from?
I've researched making nests(?) for them, looks pretty simple.

Vernmented:
I have some cut bamboo that I am going to tie together for housing. What I thought were mason bees in my yard were actually leaf cutter bees. They would nest in the ends of the bamboo I was building with in the yard. I would see them flying around holding a large piece of leaf. They really seemed to love the Moringa flowers they most. They are very large and look like bumble bees. I may have mason bees around too but I noticed the tell tale circular leaf cuts here and there.

Tropheus76:
Wasn't aware you could buy them either. I picked up a few African Basil bushes and I never knew there was such an assortment of local bees and wasps around my property. Now I hope they don't stick to the basil trees once my apples and everything else starts to bloom. Basil blooms all year here in FL which keeps the bees happy when nothing else is feeding them.

Doglips:
Mason Bees look like they are good to have, no stingers, and they are only around for a few months in the spring then they go dormant again.
Do they have a different palate than other bees?, not a clue.

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