I’m going to give masons a try this year for the first time, so this isn’t a response from actual experience, but if your bucket house gets any sun I wonder if you may have a heat issue in the bucket even with the holes drilled in the back. Not so much just the heating of the house/tubes themselves, but on calm days the air temperatures in the bucket could be significantly higher and the house/tubes could stay warmer later in the day without the cooling effect of breeze/cooler air directly against it. It might effect whether the bees would choose to use it for nesting, but might also effect the development of the larva.
If you try it, I would definitely use a white bucket and maybe do one in a bucket and one without and see which they prefer using. You could see if the bees show a preference for which they use as well as if there is any difference in development/survival of the next generation. Of course so many other things can effect the bees, it may be hard to know for sure what is working best without years of testing…
That’s a good point zendog.
Also,there are usually no kinds of bees flying around,when the Plum trees flower here,because it’s too cold.Masons are active,primarily with the Blackberries and Blueberries.
With something like Anne’s bucket,that could be mobile and be placed in an area,either sunny or shady,so that their emergence coincides with the target bloom.It might be kind of tricky,just something that could be experimented with. bb
Thanks everyone! @zendog. Yes, placement is important but so is timing. I’m placing it under the eave of a shed so it should be in the shade from about noon on, and it is white, which I can also cover with a piece of aluminet. Since it is put out early - when fruit trees are blooming, warmth is an asset initially. Probably good to monitor this, though. I have a thermometer which telemeters data to the house so I can watch all this. I’m more concerned about freezing them than baking them.
The nesting blocks will be removed from the ‘bucket house’ about 6 weeks after the last release of the bees (if you are staggering releases). In my zone this should be before our days become uber hot - I’m estimating late May/early June. I’ll place them in fine netting in a smaller bucket in the garage such that the wasp predators can’t get access to them. My main concern here is our humidity and the fungal issues that that can favor, so I may bring them in the house.
Exactly!
I would like to get some of them out early enough for pollinating, and, if need be, bring the bucket in at night if we get a late arctic dip. I’m also considering some type of heater, but haven’t thought that through enough. I noticed early in the thread folks were concerned about cold getting their mason bees with weather shifts. So that is where I may need more thought and a plan.
Bringing the bees in early in June avoids most problems with predators.
The mono wasps will be in the cocoons with the bees, but they hatch later, to parasitize the larvae/pupae. Once the bees have hatched in the spring, get rid of all the unhatched cocoons and make the bees use clean new houses or tubes. They won’t want to do this, pheromones call them to their old nests, but too much disease and pests there.
Most springs in a cold snap I worry about the bees freezing or starving because they hatched when no food was available. Amazingly, they seem to survive anywayhow
I believe they are, but my understanding is that the masons come out earlier. Here, I seem to have abundant pollinators when it is warmer, but wind up taking a paintbrush to my plums, et al because cold weather pollinators are not around.
The leave cutters kinda tear up some foliage, if that matters to you.
I had both mason bees and leaf cutter bees in my mason bee tubes when I opened them this fall. The leaf cutter were from the wild.
I let my bees stay out until after freeze up. I wash my mason cocoons and them put them in a small styro container with a pad of moist towel and place them in my fridge. The leaf cutter are supposed to stay warmer.
How does one wash a mason bee cocoon?? Soap and water and very carefully? Or is there anything else to it? Reminds me of a song my parents used to always sing, called Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee. Ever heard it?
you put them in warm water and swirl them. They are very resilient you can rub them gently between your fingers to get the crud off. Here is a picture of them floating, if they sink they usually are dead,have a hole, or a wasp larvae inside.
The following directions are from Mason Bee Central web page.
Place the loose cocoons in a cool bucket of water and swirl them around for several minutes, this will separate most of the mud and many mites. Remove the cocoons, dump the water and repeat with clean water. Do this until the water stays fairly clean. Now prepare a 5% unscented bleach solution and swirl the cocoons around in itfor 5 minutes. Rinse with fresh cool water, let them dry on a paper towel at room temperature and you are finished.
I put a little bit of paper towel in a small plastic cup and just keep it slightly damp. The cocoons are in another lidded plastic cup with holes punched in the top. They don’t seem to mould or dry out.
i just took out my 40 or so reeds full of cocoons i had put in my unheated garage on a shelf. every single one had a exit hole in it and as i split the reeds the cocoons were all dust! is it possible for them to hatch early!? there aren’t any pests that i know of in there and the pail was high on a shelf. it looks as if they hatched. never had this happen before. i counted all the cells in these reeds. had they survived i would have had about 200 cocoons! guess ill have to buy some more now.
Sounds like something got them. I don’t think they ‘hatched’. I’m curious what size the ‘exit hole’ was. Could actually be an entrance hole of whatever got to them.
