Mason Bees

by Ron Bennett

I get several inquiries each year at this time about other bees, and mason bees in particular. I remember several years ago Bob Ramsey  (a legend in Northwest beekeeping) saying, “now that I’m retired I wish I had taken up leafcutter bees - then I could drive my car to a field, open the truck and collect a pollination fee and never lift a single box!” Well, it’s not quite that easy (we’ll have an article on leafcutter bees soon). There are several non-honeybees in the Valley for pollination that are good pollinators in that they will fly early in the year and day, and in bad weather. Keeping leafcutters, carpenter, mason, and bumble bees can be interesting and helpful with just a few trees to pollinate, but commercial pollination really is a numbers game. A large mason or leafcutter group of bee blocks may yield you 200. In one good flight day, a honeybee hive could put 2,000 bees in the trees. And, honeybees are crop specific, they don’t go from a cherry to a plum like the others will.

Subject I: Decline of wild honey bees -

Since 1994 wild honey bee populations have been devastated by two species of parasitic mites. Many domesticated honey bee colonies have also been lost.

This is a nationwide problem. Recent estimates are that 90% of wild honey bee colonies have been lost. In previous years wild honey bees have done most of the pollinating of our fruit trees and gardens. It has also been estimated that 30% of our food supply depends on pollination of a wide variety of plants by bees. Douglas County was considered to be an under pollinated area even before the honey bee mite problem arose.

Subject II: Mason Bees -

The Orchard Mason Bee, or Blue Orchard Bee (Osmia Lignaria), usually referred to as Mason Bees or Osmia, is native to Douglas County. It is a very good pollinator as it collects much more pollen than nectar. It is smaller than a honey bee, black in color with a dark blue iridescent sheen on its abdomen (or rear end). A closely related bee (Osmia Ribifloris) has an emerald green sheen on its abdomen. Mason bees are very gentle and will sting only if roughly handled.

They are a solitary bee (no hive or queen) and usually nest in holes abandoned by a variety of wood borers. In the deepest part of their hole they form an egg chamber, collect a loaf of pollen and nectar, lay an egg on the pollen and seal up the chamber with mud. They repeat this press until the hole is full of egg chambers. These hard-working little bees only live for up to to eight weeks in the spring, usually from the middle of March to the middle of May. This timing is perfect for fruit trees and berries. One of the limiting factors on the Mason bee population is the lack of suitable nest holes. With a minimal amount of effort, we can provide nest blocks that are a proven method of increasing bee populations and assure better pollination of our fruit trees and berries.

Subject III: Building and placing the blocks -

A Mason bee nest block can be made by drilling a series of 9/32 or 5/16 holes into almost any piece of sound, dry wood that is free of cracks, providing it is not treated wood. The holes can be as much as 10 inches deep, but must not go all the way through the wood.

A typical nest block could be made out of a 12-inch long piece of 4x4 inch wood. Since a 4x4 is actually 3 1/2 by 3 1/2, the holes should be 3 inches deep. The holes can be all on one face, spaced 3/4 inch apart on center minimum. Our layout would be 4 holes across and 12 holes vertically. This would give a total of 48 holes. An alternate hole arrangement would be to drill row 1 on the left side of the block, row 2 in the front, and row 3 on the right side. And so on down the block. This will spread the bees out a little.

Cleanly drilled holes are desirable. A brad-point bit will give somewhat better results than a steel bit. Try to remove all loose chips from the holes. The blocks will also need a small eye screw or metal strap to hang them up.

A nest block should be preferably hung on the south side of a building (with east and west sides also acceptable), high enough that eaves will protect it from the weather. A block could also be placed on a covered porch. If a dry, protected location isn't available, a small roof could be fastened to the nest block itself. The nest block needs to be fastened in place so it won't be jarred or jolted, or knocked over, as this could dislodge the larval bees from their pollen food supply, thus killing them.

Once you have put up your empty nest block, the Mason bees will find it and begin to make their nests in the holes. A nest block in a well-protected location can be left in place all winter. If it's in a less protected area, it can be moved indoors and stored in an unheated building in the fall (by then the larval bees will be in the cocoon stage and won't be harmed by movement). The nest block would need to be put out the following year about the middle of March.

Because your bee population is expanding, you will need to put out additional blocks next spring. The female bees do all the nest building. They identify their hole by marking it with their scent. When they finish finding a nest hole, unless there is another unmarked empty hole nearby, they will fly away. We can further assist them by planting early blooming plants to assure a continuous pollen and nectar supply, and by providing an artificial mud supply if needed. Another way we can benefit all species of bees is to consider bee welfare when spraying pesticides Try to follow the general guidelines of not spraying plants when they are blooming, don't spray when the wind is blowing, and mow flowering weeds before spraying them. Try to spray in the evening, when the bees have returned to their nests.

Large numbers of Mason bees are being used in commercial agriculture in Douglas County and elsewhere. The need for more efficient methods, and concerns about buildup of molds and disease organisms in wooden nest blocks after several years use have led to the development of more sophisticated materials and products for Mason bee nests. Six inch long reusable cardboard or fiberglass tubes lined with replaceable paper straws are available from commercial suppliers. For those who don't wish to wait for their Mason bee populations to build up gradually, bees can also be purchased.

Most of the material on this information sheet was condensed from Washington State University Extension Bulletin 0922 and from information from Oregon Sate University, fact sheet #10 . These fact sheets can be obtained at your local Extension Service office.