Mason bees you buy now will be shipped in spring and will arrive in the nesting tubes. They are supposed to emerge at the right time in spring.

I bought some once and not one emerged. Since then I've used bumblebees with good results. But this is for pollination in my greenhouse.

Hello, Margaretsmom.

A friend of mine raises orchard mason bees and selects larvae, which I believe he sells. (The larvae get candled, just like eggs, to reduce the possibility of any that are carrying parasites being shipped). I don't know what he charges, but it's sure to be reasonable.

If you like I could give you his email address or send yours to him. You can reach me through the Garden Web email.

The "hives" are just rows of holes drilled in blocks of 2x6 lumber. I think the holes are 3/8" diameter and about 3 inches deep. I hang a couple of blocks under the eaves of my garage near my pear tree and not too far from my apple. The little guys are industrious, indifferent to humans, and emerge in colder weather than honey bees. (But they are hostile to yellow jackets and will drive them off fiercely!) They need a few patches of damp soil to provide mud for their nest-sealing as they lay new eggs in the holes from which they hatched.

I've read that they don't do as well east of the Mississippi as they do here in the west, but can't speak to that.

Good luck,

Mark

I can't speak to their effectiveness because last season was my first with mason bees. I got a bamboo hive as a christmas gift and place it in a protected southfacing wall of my garage, with very few expectations. As soon as the weather warmed, to my amazement, the hive became a flurry of activity. The bees apparently found this 'ideal' nesting location all on their own. I did keep the dirt just below the hive wet, and the bees again found it and put it to good use. By season's end, approx half the bamboo tubes were plugged up with the clay mud. I was inspired to make my own with some thin diameter bamboo growing a few miles from my house. I'll be taking the 2nd year tube out of storage and into the light a few days before I expect my peaches to bloom. I've been told you can keep the hives cooled as long into the spring as you wish and place them in the warmth when you need their services. The bees pay humans no mind and are facinating to watch. They are the proverbial "busy bees". Buying larve is a sure bet, but by simply providing habitat, you may be surprised at just how many native bees you have in your yard already. Good luck!

In all probability, you don't need Mason Bees for your apples. There are lots of insects you don't necessarily see that may do the trick. Even so, I've been "ranching" Mason Bees for about 10 years. For me it's fun and it could only be helpful for pollinating apples and cane berries. They don't come out until about April 1st, so anything that blooms earlier will not benefit.
The bees you order will arrive to you dormant in cocoons. Probably in paper or cardboard tubes. They are fully developed bees that are just waiting for their season. You would just keep these around in an unheated outdoor protected location (like a garden shed) until about March and then set them out near your trees in a location protected from rain. Attached to the side of a house or shed is fine as long as it is protected from rain under an eve. An east or south exposure is also highly recommended. Additional nesting tubes in whatever form you choose should also be set out in the same location. If there is sufficient flower forage nearby when they hatch, they will go right ahead and use the nesting materials you supply if they are adequate.
Putting out nesting materials by themselves may well attract wild bees, which could be Mason Bees or an oriental import the Hornfaced Bee. Both offer virtually the same benefits at the same time with the same requirements.
Wood blocks with holes in them are difficult since sanitation is very difficult. You don't want bees re-using anything without you having a good chance to clean them out. They make a real mess in there. Fungus and mite buildup will be the end of them. I use bamboo tubes that I can ream out with a stiff wire and dry them out nicely. There are plenty of other ways out there. Here's a picture of a mixture of bamboo tubes and cardboard tubes being used by the bees.

The cardboard tubes I get from our local Home Orchard Society and after they're filled with bees I give them back. The bees multiply like gangbusters so I have to get rid of them somehow.
There's often Mason Bee threads over on the Gardenweb Beekeeping forum which can be useful. Google "Mason Bees" and you will find *plenty* of info.

I have been a professional beekeep for many years and always thought the best pollinators were honey bees, until recently.
I found my bees diverting to decorative cherry trees, ignoring my fruit until it was to late to get good pollination.
Now I keep both honey bees and mason bees. alongside each other.
Pound for pound the best at pollination are the mason bees.
Here is a link to read about my setup.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mason Bees

Speaking of Mason Bees, I had great success with them nesting in tubes of a bamboo like weed that grows on my property next to the creek. I had them in a plastic bag on the side of my wood shed, and some creature, a mouse or shrew, perhaps, found them and ate them right out of the tubes. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I can see that they need a bit more protection.
Thanks, Ted

I've used them very successfully here in N Illinois. They multiply more rapidly than I can keep them in tubes. I bring the tubes inside in the winter and keep them refrigerated until blooming season.

Knox Cellars sells the bees and the tubes.

Tiny wasps do prey on the bees. I tried covering the cannisters where I keep the tubes with nylon, but something ripped it open. Still, I have more bees every year.

ltilton, it's ok to move your straws into a protected environment in June. My company does that with all of our straws to avoid the parasitic wasps.

When you have a moment, ltilton, can you send me an email? tcstoehr, same request.

(dave@crownbees.com)

marknmt, I'm not sure what you mean by "candled". there should be no reason to wash/heat any of your cocoons unless you have chalkbrook. (a nasty spore that can kill of an entire colony within a few years.) pictures are found on our website: http://www.crownbees.com

fruitnut, be cautious of where you buy your mason bees from. There is an organization now in place (Orchard Bee Association) that will hopefully help protect buyers from people that sell you low quality mason bees. You'll see these standards under our product section.

Be careful of bamboo and drilled blocks. For optimal production, harvesting your mason bees in October is vital. You can't do that with drilled blocks. Bamboo is very hard to split. Reeds/straws/trays are best.

We'd like you each to succeed. Our purpose isn't to sell you anything, rather, we want the use of mason bees to increase. As the wonderful honeybee continues to have challenges, it needs to be buffered by native insects. We want to encourage as many gardeners as possible. In the near future, your successes will be instrumental with helping out local commercial orchards.

Thank you,

Dave Hunter, owner
Crown Bees

Here is a link that might be useful: Crown Bees

While I see the point of removing the cocoons from whatever materials you use, I consider it completely unnecessary.
But there are advantages:

1. Mite removal is possible
2. Bees don't have to fight their way out in spring
3. Bee re-entry of used nests is easy to avoid
4. You can see how many viable cocoons you actually have

I wouldn't use wooden blocks anymore. Very difficult to work with and I've never been able to get the hole walls splinter-free, even with high quality drill wood drill bits on a drill press, but I'm sure others have had better luck at this than I.

The bamboo tubes I use have been drilled out to 5/16 inch and are extremely tough, believe me. I don't do cocoon removal but rather I place the bamboo tubes in a box with a hole in it where the bees can get out after they hatch but not likely to get back in and try to re-use the same nests. Fresh bamboo is placed nearby which they would prefer anyway.
It is important to keep the bees from using the dirty nests without proper sanitation. Otherwise, mites and fungi will be the end of them before long. I take the used tubes after I'm sure the bees are out and ream them out with a very thick, stiff, pointy, 7-gauge wire. After that I push a 1/4 inch dowel rod thru several times. Then I blow out the dust. The used bamboo tubes go on the shelf and are not used for another year so that any mites left behind will starve.
I suppose there are easier ways but I like working with the bamboo. It's has a natural quality to it that I like. And it is extraordinarily tough stuff. After 7 years of use, the inside tube walls are still smooth and burr free.
I leave the back ends of the tubes open but I place them in a container where the backs of the tubes are shoved up against the back of the container. The bees always put an extra thick mud plug back there, which they do even if the back is sealed.

You have to lay the nesting tubes out in the spring near the nest....you have Racoons to worry about also.

I have ordered mine and they will be delivered along with the High rise unit in January. Now I need to figure out a way to protect the housing from raccoon attack and to place the bees somewhere protected. Do you need wet mud around for the mason bees too?

I have raccoons around but they have never bothered my mason bees. Lucky for me I guess. Can you put the MB nests several feet high on a flat wall, like the side of your house? Otherwise the only thing I can think if is putting them inside a very tough cage of some sort.
For access to mud, the bees seem very resourceful at locating it themselves. Once found they will continue to mine that location. What I do is dig a hole about a foot deep and fill it with water then just let it drain. It stays moist for at least a week. If it dries out then just fill it again at night when the bees are inside. It's not necessary I think to provide this for them but I figure it saves them some time flying to a more remote site.

I built 6 "houses" for them and installed them on the south side of my house
and planted flowers etc. I found however a species of very small dark red
wasps moved in all of them and I never saw a mason bee near them. Any
comments anyone?

kokos, keep your nesting house a bit above head height on a wall. Racoons shouldn't be able to get that high. and at that height, you can still enjoy watching their activity.

For a few photos on building a mud source, look at our website http://www.crownbees.com/home-gardner/getting-started
With your mud, you need to ensure that it is very clayey, not silty. Silty mud has your mason bees moving elsewhere where it's messier!

Sharna, there are over a hundred types of "mason bees" (bees that use mud/resin/leaf/pebbles to seperate their egg chambers). Depending on the time of year anyone can move in! Pictures might help! Not many wasps use the 5/8" hole that i'm aware of. The blue orchard or hornfaced bee are active just in Mar-May.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crown Bees

tsctoehr, when you say you return the cardboard tubes to your society when it's full, are you doing it immediately or do you wait till fall?

The reason I'm asking is that I like to make my own tubes using paper and put them into wood blocks. I like to remove them as soon as possible when full to minimize parasites as well maybe reuse the holes. But how safe is it to move when the eggs were just laid? I suppose if I make my paper tubes thicker and more rigid, it will help?

Also do you get your bamboo at places like HD? Drilling those long holes through them must be difficult? Any tricks needed?

Thanks.

tc88, I try to disturb the filled nesting tubes as little as possible until October. I am perhaps being overly cautious but better too careful than not careful enough. When all the tubes in a container are full I move the the container into a garden shed to protect it from predators and parasites. I do this also in early June when the bees are all finished. I move them ultra-carefully like it was ready to explode if jarred. The reason for this is that it is possible for the blind, legless larvae to get separated from their pollen balls. In which case they may be unable to get back to it and will die. By October all the larvae have spun cocoons and have in fact become fully developed bees inside their cocoons. At this point they may be handled, moved, shipped, whatever.
Personally, I wouldn't move freshly filled tubes around more than I had to. Moving the individual tubes around as they are filled seems like a bad idea since it would be very easy to upset their up/down orientation, especially since the tubes are round, and it's difficult to set them down in the same exact orientation as they were before. Making your paper tubes sturdier won't help you in this regard. But then, maybe I'm just being paranoid.
The bamboo tubes I used I found at a garden center nursery sort of place, in 6' lengths. I ended up buying them all as I found they were ideal and hard to find anywhere else. The walls were quite thick and the diameter about right. I happen to have a drill press and used that with a 5/16" 12" long brad-point drill bit. It was not a fun or easy task as often heat would build up or the bamboo piece would break from my grip and spin uncontrollably. Looking back, it think it was a fairly unsafe procedure. I wouldn't recommend bamboo in general. It's tough to find the right qualities, the drilling is tough, and without drilling they interior hole size will be arbitrary. Although I will say that my collection of bamboo tubes is quite excellent and useful.

tcstoehr, thanks for the clarification and that's very helpful. I think I will stick to wood blocks and maybe move the whole blocks very carefully in June as you say.