Cultivate pollinators in your garden with a Orchard Mason Bee home.

Mason Bees are excellent spring season pollinators and, since they have no honey to defend, will only sting if trapped or stepped on. The Mason Bee Starter set will help you encourage Mason Bees in your garden. Includes a starter Mason Bee Cottage with 20 nesting straws and a detailed book explaining everything you need to know about Mason Bees.

The STARTER COTTAGE
The Starter Cottage is ready for nesting mason bees. Fix Starter cottage perpendicular to a sunny wall of a house or shed before bees emerge.

The starter cottage contains 20 nesting straws for 20 females. Early in the spring wild mason bees search for nest sites such as the Starter Cottage. Mason bees can also be bought and placed inside the Starter Cottage by creating space and removing 1 or 2 straws.

Remove frontispiece during spring so that the bees can be observed. When bees stop flying replace frontispiece. It will deter woodpeckers and mice from feeding on the bees.

Straws (tubes) are meant for a one-time use. Once the bee uses the nest, dirt and parasites decreases the livability of the nest. If a straw is not used, it can be set out again the following spring.

In the fall (Oct-Dec) unfurl straws and gather hibernating mason bee cocoons. These can be washed and stored over the winter ready for the following spring.

Store cocoons in empty Starter Cottage and replace onto wall. Bees will emerge and search for a new nest. Set out a Mason Bee Lodge nest. These make an ideal nest because tray sets can be re-used year in and year out.

THE BOOK

POLLINATION WITH MASON BEES by Dr. Margriet Dogterom
This guidebook provides both gardeners and naturalists with information on starting and managing mason bees. It features pen and ink illustrations that go well with the text and information that is readily accessible to its readers. Soft cover, 5x7 1/2, 80pages.