From gardenbetty@earthlink.net Wed Mar 31 23:10:16 1999 Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 17:52:24 -0500 From: gardenbetty@earthlink.net Reply-To: permaculture To: permaculture Subject: [permaculture] Re: OT: Does anyone know of a source of orchard mason bees? [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Howdy, The orchard mason bee or hornfaced bee (same family--osmia) are easy to steward. They are solitary bees that nest in predrilled holes. They usually take abandoned beetle tunnels in trees, but will take quite well to any 5/16" ish hole. For best female production--the pollinating sex--you should /cleanly/ drill a non pressure treated block full of 5/16" holes 6" deep. If you can sand smooth the bottom of the hole, even better. Hang the block in the orchard and either stock it with bees or wait for them to come. The bees have a range of about 10o yards. They emerge as the fruit trees come into bloom, pollinate like crazy, taking the pollen back to their holes for storage. As the fruit flower period ends, the female lays eggs in the stored pollen in the holes, then "masons" the hole shut with mud. For this reason, they like to have a water source nearby within their range. Once the nest is sealed they die. Over and done in no time. Great for fruit, no so great for veggies. Warm weather honeybees and cool weather osmia bees are perfect compliments. Because of this habit, they are not affected by varroa mite or other honeybee plagues. However, their nests can become fodder for parasitic wasps and certain fungi. To solve this, there are different commercial products available to osmia bee stewards: paper straws replaced yearly to line the nesting holes provide a clean, dry fungus-free environment; and guard tubes to block entry by parasitic wasps. These products are available very cheaply and once you see how they are made, you can improvise your own if you want to take the time and effort. Some people put ultra fine mesh screening over the blocks to prevent wasps. Some just take their blocks down once the nest is sealed and store them in the fridge till the next year. However osmia bees are very prolific reproducers: by year 5 you could easily have to buy a fridge just to house your bees! You could also try drilling other size holes and see what kind of creatures show up. At different widths, you can encouraged leaf-cutter bees (warm weather solitary bees), beneficial parasitic wasps, and various mystery beelike insects I've yet to identify but seem to cause no harm. I strongly recommend this website by the US authority on these bees. http://www.accessone.com/~knoxclr/omb.htm good luck! dawn aka gardenbetty We will be known by the tracks we leave behind... ^×Dakota proverb FranksFarm@aol.com wrote: > > Hi Guy, > > Thanks for the very interesting post on Orchard Bees. > > I'd like to include bees in my plans ...but am a rank amateur . > > Perhaps somewhere down the road. Can you tell me what you need toraise these > kind of bees...are they resistant to varroa mite that has ravaged so many > hives? > > Happy Easter to all. Namaste:) Frank > > --- > You are currently subscribed to permaculture as: gardenbetty@earthlink.net > To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-permaculture-75878E@franklin.oit.unc.edu -- --- You are currently subscribed to permaculture as: london@metalab.unc.edu To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-permaculture-75156P@franklin.oit.unc.edu