Orchard Mason Bees
Because of their gentle nature, mason bees are easy to introduce in the garden and fun to watch as they go about their business. They’re a great activity for kids too!
Mason Bees
The orchard mason bee emerges early in the spring when daytime temperatures are consistently at or above 50°F. This usually coincides with fruit tree bloom. The males emerge first and stay close to the nest site waiting for females.
When the females do emerge, the first thing they do is mate. Soon after, the males die and the females start work on their nests for the year. They begin by finding a suitable hole, and then start to gather pollen and nectar from nearby flowers as food for their young.
The pollen is deposited into the back of the nest hole, one load at a time, until a suitable store is gathered. Soon after, the bee lays an egg on top of the mass.
Females can actually decide the sex of each egg being laid, and they almost always lay female eggs in the deepest, safest part of the hole. Next, the female gathers mud to make a partition in the hole for protection and to mark the start of the next nesting chamber. She continues this process for a few weeks until her natural death.
By summer, the eggs have hatched within their respective cells and the young larva survives on the food stores set out by its mother. The larva then begins to spin itself a web in which to hibernate throughout the fall and winter and make the transformation into a bee.
The following spring, when the bees wake up, they fight their way out of the mud cells and start over!
Orchard mason bees are amazing pollinators. Unlike honey bees that have leg pockets for pollen storage, a mason bee must stuff pollen into stiff hairs on her abdomen. This method leads to much better pollination because pollen will inevitably fall out and transfer as she moves from flower to flower.
While a honey bee typically pollinates about five percent of the flowers it visits in a day, it is estimated that a mason bee pollinates ninety five percent. And on top of that, the mason bee visits more than twice as many flowers every day!
Mason bee season begins in late January and early February. We carry live hibernating starter bees in tubes, as well as necessary supplies.
