Buzzing with Success: Blue Orchard Mason Bee Love!
That means that one of every 3 bites of food you eat has been pollinated. There are many pollinators out there but today we will focus on the true workhorse of pollinators in the Pacific Northwest. The Blue Orchard Mason Bee.
Blue Orchard Mason Bees are native to the Pacific Northwest, which includes Powell River. They are similar in size to honeybees, but where the honeybee is brown and orange, the blue orchard bees are a dark metallic blue. Honeybees carry their pollen in round balls on their hind legs and blue orchard carry pollen on their bellies in a place called a “scopa”, a dense collection of pollen collecting hairs.
Getting Started with Blue Orchard Mason Bees
You will need to provide a home, food source, and nesting materials for your mason bees for them to beeee happy and healthy!
Home
A mason bee box needs to have long tubes with only the front open. The back, bottom, sides and tops must be tightly sealed to prevent parasites and predators from entering the nesting area and eliminating the cocoons.
Place the home in a sheltered area facing south to southeast, where it will not be bumped into by people or animals or sway in the wind. The new cocoons can easily be bumped off their pollen sacs, which is their only food source before hatching, and then, unable to climb back on will starve.
Nesting Materials
When the female mason bees are ready to lay eggs, she will need a little help from you, so she does not have to use all her energy flying about to find the perfect nesting materials. Keep handy to your mason bee home (less than 25m distance) some water, clay and sand. Don’t worry about mixing it! Blue orchard mason bees know exactly the right amount of everything to build perfect walls in between each egg!
When to put mason bees outside in their nesting boxes
The Mason bee season begins approximately mid-March and ends around mid-June. This depends on the weather and where exactly you live. You want to make sure that temperatures will be consistently above 10°C for at least 2 weeks before you put your mason bees outside. Also, check all your trees and plants to check what stage of budding they are in. Mason bees will take about 2 weeks to emerge from the nesting box so be sure to time their emergence with when your buds open and flowers emerge. If you are unsure as to when your flowers will emerge, we suggest you wait a year before you set up Mason bees and start a “bud” journal. This way, the following year you will know exactly the dates you can expect your plants to be ready!
Your mason bees will need a variety of blooms beginning in early March right until late June. Mason bees can visit up to 2000 blooms each day so giving them plenty of options helps them out.
Early Spring can be challenging to know what your mason bees may want, here is a list of early spring blooms to help you out. Have some or all on hand to bloom in March!
March blooms to get you started!
Early blooms for Mason Bees
Hellebores
Crocus
Yarrow
Snowdrop
Hyacinth
Cherry Tree
Apricot Tree
Salmon Berries
Oregon Grape
Pacific Bleeding Heart
Forsythia
Favorite plants of the Blue Orchard Mason Bee
Bee balm
Lavender
Coneflowers
Borage
Poppies
Sunflowers
Asters
Goldenrod
Catmint
Lilac
Favorite Edible food crops of the Blue Orchard Mason Bee
Raspberries
Blueberries
Fruit Trees
Chives
The mason bees favorite colours are purple and blue!
Cleaning your Mason Bee Homes
Your mason bees will need their homes cleaned each year to keep them free. Plan on cleaning in November or December. Remove your bee cocoons gently from their nesting place and discard any that appear to have holes in them caused by parasitic wasps, pollen mites or with signs of mold. Soak your bees in 1L of lukewarm water with 5ml of bleach for 15 seconds, gently swirling them to remove the mud and pollen. Rinse in cool water. Spread your cocoons on paper towel to dry completely. Once they are dry, place in containers with holes at the top for ventilation and store in the fridge at 3-4°C and 70-90% humidity.
Once your cocoons have been cleaned and stored, now it is time to thoroughly clean their homes. Remove any material left and clean everything with a stiff brush swirling it all in a bleach solution. (1L of water to 5mL of bleach) Allow everything to be dry and then store away until next March!
The Importance of Pollinators
Without pollinators, we would not be able to grow upwards of 80% of our food. Blue Orchard Mason bees in particular are so important here in Powell River as they are native to our region which makes them best suited for our environment here. Blue orchard mason bees will also out-pollinate every other bee! Mason bees visit up to 2000 blossoms a day, pollinating up to 95% of the flowers they visit! By comparison the honeybee only pollinates up to 5% of the flowers they visit.
With the uncertainty of climate change, and global food sources, growing your own food at home as never been more popular, and having your own pollinating work force makes good sense. Blue Orchard Mason Bees are every gardener’s friend and partner!
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