March 9 mason bee UPDATE 1st bee of season

I'm naming this boy Fred,

he was on the wall (south) about two feet below the mason bee dwelling.(sure hope he is a mason bee)

March 9   Mason Bee update

Why did I name the first mason bee of the year Fred?  Firstly, he is small and secondly, he is definitely one of the very first bees of the year. Both of those hints tell us he is a male and the males emerge first
 But why Fred?  No reason.... but he has to have a name.😁😁

Please notice the plastic covers on my Mason bee houses. This keeps the rain
off and ensures the tubes remain dry. I use (Costco)plastic apple packaging.

I will go to see the bee tubes in a few minutes.  I saw no new breaks in tube
ends.  However, I think the small critters may be male mason bees. The males
always emerge first and they are supposed to be quite small.

The temperature at 1:30 pm  48 F

Not likely to see much activity until March 10, but you never know.
IF ANYONE CAN IDENTIFY THE LITTLE CRITTER AS BEING A MASON BEE OR NOT, PLEASE COMMENT.

The only tubes with bees are at the top of the house. Notice of the 4 tubes, 2 have breakouts

March 8 Mason bee update

March 8

=========
Mason bee update
The temperature at 3:15 pm  39 F
No new emerged bees.  Of course, that is totally predictable
since the temperature is so low.  Still waiting for March 10 when
the temperature rises.

March 7 Mason bee update

March 7

Time to update progress on the mason bees.  No new emergences today.
I checked all eight tubes and only the first two showed broken mud.

The temperature was in the high 30s.  The snowfall from last evening is almost completely melted.

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March, 6 observations of my mason bees

March 6

Wet snow and large flakes.   Sticking to grass but no sticking to streets, (yet?)
Today being March 6 and the temperature is 36 F.
Two tubes have holes, so I pity the poor little guys who sprung early.  This weather
should slow them down.
I am waiting for the forecasted 50 F on March 10.
We will have to wait and see.
Go to archives and see:

• Lists of Home and Garden show.  I think such shows are great places for learning about bonsai  trees 
• Also, see the book "The Mason Bees" by J Fabre (the famous biologist, died in 1915)

March 5 ======== Temperature is 42 F today at 10am

March 5
========
Temperature is 42 F today at 10am, the high hit about 45 F.
So, I checked on the mason bee tubes
No new breaks. Of course, bees could be emerging from existing
broken tubes.
I checked the tubes shortly before dusk.  No breaks in any of the remaining
6 tubes.
I know the daytime temperatures reach 50F on March 10. Looking forward to the
emergence on or soon after that date.
See videos of bees in my garden
www.youtube.com/channel/UCuQUKPKQ6Mc3V4AO38Br99w?

List: mason bee topics March 4

March 4 List of mason bee topics

1. mason bee house    First on I bought in Wichita, Ks. It was not too well designed because I had to rip out the bamboo to have a place for cocoon tubes.  The second house I bought at Costco.  It is better because it has a set of removable holes.
2. mason bee cocoons  So far I have 8 tubes.
3. mason bee favorite flowers I have read that blueberries are a favorite of mason bees.  I have some early flowering fruit trees. I hope the timing coordinates with the bees.
4. mason bee first emergence So far, it looks like March 2 or 3. Certainly the 4th
5. mason bee hibernation so the females probably emerge (est) March 20.. then they are active for 6 weeks...so their activity will end May 1.  They will be in hibernation until March 20.  And the cycle starts all over again
6. mason bee population
7. mason bee sources
8. mason bee types
9. mason bee species
10. mason bee ranges
11. mason bee habits
12. mason bee temperature sensitivity

Bonsai tree tests
San Jose Juniper
pyracantha
boxwood (2 species)
cedar
winter daphne

March 2, reviewing temperatures, bees & tree cuttings

March 2, 2019
======
We will see what happens as we move along the calendar to March 10.
I took a variety of cuttings today.  In most cases, I dipped them in hormone
power.  According to some blogs, this is a good time of year to take cuttings.
This being March 2, 2019, we will see if the cuttings root by the end of May.

I was reviewing temperature highs for this area.  March 1st did reach 50º F for the
first time in 2019.  Of course, one day achieving 50º F will probably not cause
our heroic mason bees to emerge.  So when will the day time achieve 50º F consistently?

The weather people say it will start on March 10.  So the question is, how many days after 50F is achieved will our bees emerge? Good question.
 On March 31, 60 is achieved.

I am checking my bees every day.    March 1 was 51ºº F.  March 2 was 48º F.
We will see what the actual high turns out to be.

March 4, 2019 Inspecting the mason bee tubes

March 4, 2019
========

Inspecting the mason bee tubes resulted in two tubes having holes.  This is out of a total of 8 tubes.  I put four tubes in each of the two mason bee houses.
The temperature today reached about 45.  By 5pm the temperature dropped to 42º F.
No rain,
According to the forecast, the daily high temperature is supposed to hit 50º  F on March 10.
I expect to see the bees get very excited by then.

I was visiting Walmart today. The nursery area had about 5 bonsai plants. They were not very artistic but they were using glazed clay pots.  Not very fancy but the price was $29.95.

I am going too get a bag of kitty litter and mix up some mud so when the females emerge they will have mud for their larvae.  Since tomorrow is the first Tuesday of the month, I should be able to get it on discount at Fred Meyer.