Mason Bees!

Mason Bees!

Mason Bees are gentle and amazing pollinators!

The Mason Bee is a very productive pollinator for spring flowers, fruits, and nuts. Learn more here. “While the honeybee will always play a major role in commercial pollination, solitary bees are perfect for backyard gardens and fruit trees. Raising solitary bees is growing in popularity. They are gentle and can be raised by anyone, even children, without fear of being stung. “

This year Gary Ragan came out and taught us how to harvest our mason bee cocoons from last year’s set up. We removed the filled tubes in the fall and stored them in the shop over the winter. Once harvested, we kept them in the fridge until it warmed up and then let them go. There were easily 3x the numbers we had last year and they filled their tubes within a week or two! (We put out a second set up for tubes and then even a third in a big pickle jar as an option…)