No cocoons in 2018

December 6, 2018

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No cocoons in 2018

I wonder how successful it would actually be to add mason bee cocoons to my garden.

In 2018 I noticed a few mason bees in my garden. But by the end of 2018 growing season, not one mason bee put any cocoons into the tube houses provided.

I did provide a small area of mud and tried to keep it constantly wet.  There were a few times when I was not careful and the mud dried out.  I wonder if that was enough of a problem to chase away the bees.

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mason bees  frustration

I put mounted two mason-bee houses this past spring (2018).  I mounted one on the South side of the house on March 15,  2018.
One house is a wooden structure which is filled with tubes made out of grocery bag brown paper and lined with white printer paper.

I inspected the wooden house on November 30.  I was quite disappointed to see that NOT ONE of the tubes resulted in any bee cocoons. They are all empty.
I tried to ensure that there was a mud pot always available. I tried to see that the mud had a high content of clay.

I plan to leave it in place all winter.   On top of the roof is a large plastic cover so that neither rain or any other precipitation can dampen the tubes. So far, all tubes are dry, so the plastic has been doing its job.

I also put out a house of a somewhat different design.  That one is a 5-inch diameter tube container (plastic).  I filled it with cardboard tubes lined with white printer paper.  No tenets.

I wonder if parchment paper is superior to standard printer paper. The problem with parchment paper is that it is more difficult to form into a neat tube.

Received two tubes with cocoons on February 20, 2019.  I put them into the mason bee house,  We will see the result. As of February 26, nothing has emerged.

John K Bishop
johnkbishop.com