Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! It’s…

Instead of wetting pollen and putting it in pollen sacs like honeybees, mason bees are covered in hair that collects pollen as they move around, searching for nectar.

Mason Bees. Mason bees are the unsung heroes of the pollinators and a great way to promote localize conservation efforts. Mason bees have been gaining traction in the homesteading and backyard gardening communities due to their ability to effectively pollinate. “The Pollinators”, it sounds like the next Marvel movie and they should be treated like super heroes. A single Mason Bee visits 20,000+ blossoms per day and pollinates 12 lbs. of cherries, a job for 60 honey bees, that is incredible to think. By the time I drag my butt out of bed these bees are probably 2000+ flowers deep on their daily quota.

My family and I were at the Shirley Farmers Market this summer and there was a honey guy there. He owned and operated a small honey farm in MA. The boys wanted to buy some honey and the gentleman was generous enough to give them a couple honey sticks, we purchased a couple small jars to use in the kitchen and pretty soon we started chit chatting about bees. After our talk, I decided jumping into bee keeping wasn’t really something I could commit to but I wanted to do something to help a declining population of pollinators, involved my kids and wasn’t a huge time or financial commitment. We landed on Mason Bees.

Osmia Lignaria- Blue Orchard Bee, BOB, or Mason Bee belong to the family Megachilidae and are members of the Osmia Genus. Mason  Bees are non- aggressive and non-colonizing solitary bees that pollinate orchards and gardens. They are metallic blue, black or green in color and about the same size as a house fly.

WHAT DO MASON BEES POLLINATE?

Mason Bees are generalists; they don’t stick to certain blossoms they pollinate whatever they find and like. They pollinate the following best: apricots, almonds, apples, blueberries, cherries, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums, prunes, raspberries, strawberries, and flowers in the rose family.

Emergence

Mason Bees are early spring time pollinators. They emerge when the weather is consistently 50-55* F, find a nest, and begin pollinating. Once a nest is chosen they don’t travel more than 300 yards, usually staying within 100 yards of their nest to pollinate. Their average nesting season is 6-12 weeks, after which they die. Their offspring will develop inside the tubes and will emerge for pollination next spring.

MASON BEE HABITAT

There are 3 essential items for prime Mason Bee habitat, 1. Nesting place, 2. Pollen, and 3. Mud source. They will only remain in an area if they have a proper habitat.

1. Best nesting place for Mason Bees are in reed tubes;  To read more on nesting materials  click here.
2. Early blooming pollen: willow, cherry, chokecherry, currants, raspberries, waterleaf, blackberries, hawthorn, and penstemon species work excellent.
3. No clay = no bees. Mason Bees use clay mud to section off the cells of each tube and seal the end of each tube after laying their eggs. It is a special sticky clay, regular dirt, sand or bloomy soil won’t work. To get clay for your bees click here.

Climates with really high humidity along the coasts tend to have problems with Mason Bees flying away. If you live in this area leaf cutter bees tend to be a better option.

This will be our first season having Mason Bees because we missed the shipping window last spring. Mason bees can be shipped from numerous places in the US, but we chose http://www.masonbeesforsale.com The bees arrived safely and in the fridge they went until the temperatures are right.

Read more about the native bee decline here: https://www.wired.com/2015/04/youre-worrying-wrong-bees/