02/04/2022
I've been asked to give a presentation on Mason Bees to some local groups and garden clubs. I have created somewhat of a treatise on the subject of Mason Bees and I present it to you now.
MASON BEES
In this article I will be discussing one of the unsung hero’s of pollination the Mason Bee. In particular the species Osmia Lignaria Propinqua; or the Blue Orchard Bee, which is indigenous to North America and can only be found on the west side of the Rockies, from southern BC to Oregon.
My introduction to Mason Bees was initially just to try something, anything that would get the fruit trees in our yard to bear more than just a handful or two of fruit, some seasons our trees would even have zero production. At that point in time, there were very few bees visiting our yard and more importantly, not too many early blossoming plants growing in our yard that would attract them. It was back in the early spring of 2011, that while having a wee chat with someone and expressing how disappointing our fruit harvests were, he suggested that I talk to Don B. and try pollinating with some Mason Bees. Mason Bees? What the heck are Mason Bees? I'd never heard of these before.
So, off I went and met with Don at his property, south of town and received my first tutorial on the amazing world of Mason Bees. Don gave me the grand tour of his property and out buildings, his workshops, his covered espaliered orchard, all of his gardens, berry bushes and his old cabin full of antiques. All the while that we were walking around, he was talking about the Bees. Showing me where he locates the nesting houses, how he protects them from the weather and predators. He tells me to have some wet mud, with a stick in it, near the nesting boxes, he shows me how he fabricates the nesting plates and boxes and how to clean and store the Cocoons.
I bought my first 50 Cocoons that day along with a nesting house and release box. I made my way home and got to setting things up..... Wow! What have I done? I think it cost me around $70.00 and I'm wondering; is this really going to work, or will it turn out to be a big disappointment? But hey, like my wife says, LET’S BE POSITIVE! That fall we had our first successful fruit harvest and with the help of our little friends, have continued to do so since.
My first season using Mason Bees was indeed a successful one for the fruit, but was a disappointing year for Cocoon production. I had timed the release of my Bees with the first evidence that the fruiting buds were developing and maybe about a week to ten days away from blossoming; just like Don had advised me to do, and waited. In a short while the first Bee appeared and then more and more,,,, there was an incredible flurry of activity and comings and goings around the nesting box. Hey this is working.
But alas, fruit trees, as abundant as they are for pollen and nectar have a relatively short blossoming period and back then our property had an insufficient amount of additional early blooming and pollen/nectar bearing plants necessary for the survival of Mason Bees, so their already short lives were cut even shorter by our inability to keep them fed. As a result, our Cocoon production for that year was quite low and I had to purchase an additional 50 Cocoons from Don for the next year.
The years since have been a learning curve. It was slow and tentative at first but becoming more intense and productive as the years pass. Some seasons have been met with great successes and some with disasters, specifically when my wife Cathy threw over 1100 Cocoons into our compost. Now to be fair I have to take some of the responsibility. I had only removed the Cocoons from my nesting plates and had put the Cocoons along with all the associated dirt, mold, pollen and other ugly detritus into a basin and placed it in our cold storage. My intention was to clean the Cocoons later. Well…. Later came and I couldn't find my Cocoons. I looked everywhere. What had happened to them? It turned out that Cathy had taken this basin of what looked like ugly dirt, and thrown it into the compost and then, like a good conscientious gardener, turned the compost, giving it a thorough mixing. Which caused me to start from scratch the next year, having once again to buy Cocoons from Don. Climate can also play a large role in the Bee’s ability to reproduce from year to year and El Nino and La Nina can have effects on productivity. A late arriving spring can also reduce production. Yet my processes and knowledge are ever expanding. I have experimented with alternate nesting box designs and now make my own nesting plates and nesting houses. As well our gardens have evolved, expanded and multiplied and now we consider things like, which plants are early bloomers and will they have sufficient pollen and nectar for the Bees?
What is a Mason Bee? Mason Bees, so called because the females use mud to create a wall, which seals an individual nesting chamber from either the environment or another nesting chamber. In North America there are about 140 native species of Mason Bees, separated into geographical areas, with over 4000 different Hymenoptera indigenous to our continent.
Now, for a little bit of technical stuff.
Mason Bees are an Arthropod, which means they are an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton and a segmented body with paired jointed appendages. Arthropods’ include Bees, Wasps, Spiders, Beetles, Centipedes, and some Crustaceans. Mason Bees belong to the
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Megachilidae
Genus: Osmia
Species: Osmia Lignaria Propinqua
The order Hymenoptera consists of insects having paired membranous wings, with females typically having an Ovipositor; which is a tubular organ the female uses to deposit her eggs with, but it also doubles as her stinger. The Ovipositors of most species have an associated venom gland, like Wasps, Hornets and most Bees. The female Mason Bee also has a venom gland but the venom is not very strong and as well she will rarely sting and will only do so if you purposely try to harm her. Males are entirely incapable of stinging. All Hymenoptera have a biological s*x determination system; called Haplodiploidy and can choose which s*x the eggs will be. After mating the female can include some of the stored semen from her Spermatheca; a storage receptacle, and produce a female egg having two sets of chromosomes or Diploid. Conversely she can exclude the semen to produce a male egg with only one set of chromosomes or Haploid. As well Mason Bees are Parthenogenetic, which means an unmated female can still produce eggs, but males only.
The Family of Megachilidae, are mostly solitary non-hiving Bees that have pollen-collecting hairs called Scopa on their abdomens. As opposed to Honey Bees; which are of the family Apidae, and can only collect pollen with Scopa located on their hind legs. Making Honey Bees not near as effective for pollinating. One interesting fact about the Honey Bee, is that they are not indigenous to North America but, were introduced from Europe by early settlers. In fact with over 20,000 different species of Bee globally, there are only 7 species of Bee that can produce honey.
This brings us to our local species of Mason Bee called the Osmia Lignaria Propinqua or the Blue Orchard Bee.
Let me say that in doing my on-line research on the Mason Bee I found large discrepancies involving some of the statistical facts of Mason Bees. For example one web page claimed that one Mason Bee does the pollinating work of at least 4 to 7 Honey Bees with many other sites claiming them to be anywhere from 10 to 100 times better at pollinating. So for the most part I may tend to lean toward the conservative side of numbers and facts.
Because Mason Bees are naturally occurring, chances are you already have them in your yard, you just may not have noticed them. Our local Mason Bees are a dark blue insect smaller than a Honey Bee and can often be mistaken for a fly. If one focuses on the differences you can see that fly’s are faster and dart about where as a Mason Bee is a much slower flyer and there is a very distinct difference to how they sound in flight.
A Female Mason Bee will make her nesting chamber in any available hole that fits her size requirements. Mason Bees can neither burrow, nor chew their own holes and rely strictly on existing cavities acceptable for their use, which makes nesting houses highly productive. Mason Bees are unable to hurt or damage your home or property in any way. Mason Bees are a solitary, non-hiving, non-honey producing and a non-wax producing Bee. They are extremely efficient pollinators, capable of pollinating many times more effectively than a Honey Bee. One of the reasons for this is that Mason Bees are not limited to a maximum flower depth and can get right into a flower and rub all of it's parts with her belly. This makes Mason Bees much more efficient at collecting and thus spreading around larger quantities of pollen. The collection of pollen is the primary objective in a Mason Bees life. In comparison the Honey Bee's prime objective is nectar collection with pollen collection being secondary. As well the Honey Bee's daily routines include hive maintenance and longer traveling times, giving her less time pollinating. Honey Bees are also a more delicate pollinator and only poke their noses into the flower; to a maximum of 1/4", being primarily concerned with the collection of nectar and thus accumulates and distributes less pollen with the Scopa located on their hind legs.
Mason Bees blossom visitations are also more random than a Honey Bees. They will flit from tree to tree, or shrub to flower and back again during their flights and can visit up to 17 blossoms per minute, accessing more than 1000 blossoms per day.
In general for Bees to fly, the air must be a minimum temperature to allow them to get their wing muscles flexed and working. Mason Bees are able to fly at lower temperatures than Honey Bees, typically Mason Bees can fly at 12 C. or 54 F. degrees while Honey Bees require the temperature to be about 14 C. to 15 C. or 57 F. to 59 F. degrees. This means that Mason Bees are out earlier in the morning and stay out later in the evenings, they also work ceaselessly all day long on collecting pollen and nectar, and will even fly on windy and rainy days.
Mason Bees are solitary but they are also gregarious and can cohabitate with other Mason Bees in close proximity, such as in a nesting house. Mason Bees live for about 8 weeks, they can be released from about mid March to mid April and can be active pollinators in your yard to about the end of June. Typically you might release the Cocoons 10 to 14 days before your fruit trees blossom. Mason Bees require a handy supply of accessible water and some wet mud that is close to the nesting house, this is what they drink from and use to build their walls with. It would be a good thing to help these bees as much as you can with these two considerations. Mason Bees will only fly a maximum of about 100 Meters, or 300 Feet from their nesting houses, so make sure that you have enough pollen/nectar producing flowers and blossoms close by for their success.
In the spring when the temperatures starts to get to be a consistent 12 C. to 14 C. degrees / 54 F. to 57 F. degrees and when your fruit tree blossoms are starting to develop and some early flowers have already bloomed, take your Cocoons from cold storage and put them into the release box and hang up your nesting house. Depending on the consistency of the temperature in 10 or so days the males will wake up from hibernation and emerge by chewing their way out of the Cocoons. Males are roughly 2/3 the size of a female and have a little tuft of white hair on their faces. The emerged male will get something to eat and drink, but will stay close around the area or nesting house for up to two or more weeks waiting for the females to emerge and the party to begin. About 10 to 14 days after the males have emerged, the females wake up and also emerge from their Cocoons. The females still a bit stunned from hibernation are easy targets for the waiting eager males to mate with. Males only live long enough to mate with the females and then they die.
After mating, the female Mason Bee will choose hollow cavities of the right size to create her egg chamber(s) in, and if the cavity is of sufficient length she will deposit as many eggs as she can in that given space, sealing off each nesting chamber from the previous one with a mud wall. When the female has decided that she has filled this particular nesting tube, she will leave a larger space from the last nesting chamber and seal off the entrance. Keeping your release box near the nesting house encourages most females to stay and use it, but not all females will stay in your yard or use your nesting house, some just simply fly off and look for other naturally occurring or even other man made holes. Now, after the years of having Mason Bees in my yard, my local, natural population has increased, and I can see Mason Bees nesting in any available hole that they can throughout my property. A few days after the female has been fertilized she will start her all consuming and ceaseless task of reproduction. The first thing she will do is to establish which nesting tube will be hers and will then seal off the back end of that tube with mud. This takes several trips to her mud supply, so keeping a mud and water supply close to the nesting box is essential to how productive a life she will have. After the end of the tube has been sealed to her satisfaction, she will then back down the tube and start to build a mud wall approximately 1/2 " from the sealed end, creating the start of her first nesting chamber. This wall is only partially built and is just put around the perimeter of the tube leaving only enough room for her to squeeze through. She now starts to visit flowers and blossoms collecting pollen and nectar to bring back to the nesting chamber. When she gets back to the nesting chamber she scrapes the pollen off of her Scopa using her hind legs, mixing it with nectar she vomits up and shapes it into an oval ball. She can visit up to 60 flowers in each trip that she makes, and she can take up to 25 trips to complete a pollen/nectar ball. Female Mason Bees can make one or more pollen/nectar ball every day. Once the pollen/nectar ball is of sufficient size she will lay an egg on top of it and then, she completes the previously fabricated partial mud wall and seals off that egg chamber. She then starts the process over, tirelessly all day and every day for the rest of her life. Generally the females will lay fertilized or female eggs first and then unfertilized or male eggs second. So typically in a 6" deep nesting tube she will lay approximately 4 female eggs and then 3 to 4 male eggs; though this is just a guide line, some tubes can have up to 10 Cocoons and be mostly male or mostly female. Each female can produce between 30 and 40 eggs in her lifetime.
In about 7 - 10 days after being laid the eggs hatch and a Larva is born. Over the next 20 to 30 days the Larva eats the pollen/nectar ball, grows to its full size and spins a silk Cocoon around itself. Once the Cocoon is complete the Larva starts to pupate and is a fully developed Bee by the end of August or early September. There it lays in hibernation until next spring. Some web pages say that you can take your nesting house down in the summer and put it in storage until fall for cleaning, but I recommend that you just leave your house where it is until fall. The reason for this is that during the pupation stage, which takes many weeks the morphing Bee may be susceptible to damage from movement.
Nesting Houses:
There is quite an array of options for nesting houses. From simple to complex, from very little work and time involved, to labour intensive and time consuming. It all depends on what you want to do, what you want out of it, and to what level of involvement you might be willing to commit yourself to. No matter what type of nesting house you use, there are two consistent requirements that I recommend. Firstly, every nesting house should have an extended roof over the nesting plates/tubes for protection from the weather, or it should be located under an eave. Secondly, the nesting house should be positioned in your yard where it gets the earliest morning sunlight, remember that Bees need warmth to fly. When I purchased my first nesting house from Don I wasn't aware of all the other options available, I only knew of Don's. So that is the only type I've used; with one exception; plastic nesting plates, and the type I choose to continue to work with, experiment with and expand on. With all the choices of nesting houses, no matter which you make, I highly recommend that for the sake of the Bees, all Cocoons in the nesting houses should be properly harvested and cleaned. I also recommend that the nesting plates should be cleaned and sanitized for next year.
I'll start with what’s not recommended. Everything I’ve read and personally experienced is that plastic nesting tubes are not a suitable choice for nesting plates. I have in the past put out a house with plastic nesting tubes for three seasons, with zero success. The Mason Bees have used this house, but the nestlings have never developed beyond the larval stage. What I’ve read about this: is that not being made of a natural substance, possibly too much moisture is trapped in the nesting chamber and the plastic does not allow it to be absorbed and dissipate.
The simplest, cheapest, and least labourious of nesting house is a block of wood with 5/16" holes drilled into it. Mason Bees will use these holes, filling them up with eggs all season long. You should probably try to store this block of wood somewhere that will be cool and out of the weather for the winter. In the spring when the temperatures are warm enough, the Bees will naturally wake up and chew their way out, but you might find though that not all the mud walls had been broken open by emerging Bees. That means that all the Bees behind that wall inside of that nesting tube did not make it out and died. How does this happen? Well not all eggs hatch, or one or more cells are contaminated by parasites or a fungus and those Larvae never develop. Whatever it is that happened condemns all the Bees behind it to death, in this kind of house. Also this nest is probably no longer usable for next year, there will be completely full holes and partially filled holes of dead bee cocoons and in all probability it will have fungal and or mite contamination and it should be discarded. I personally don't recommend this kind of house. An acceptable alternate to this, is to drill larger holes into the block of wood that would accommodate pre-purchased cardboard nesting tubes and pre-purchased paper nesting straws. Now this costs you money and is usually done online, but it allows you to remove the paper straws full of Cocoons, open up the straws and clean your Cocoons for storage and reuse the block again next year.
Cardboard nesting tubes and the corresponding paper straws are for many the preferred choice. The paper straws are used inside of the cardboard tubes to protect the tubes from contamination of parasites and fungus. Allowing the cardboard tubes to be reused again next season. Installing new paper straws into the cardboard tubes gets them ready for next spring.
Why use cardboard tubes? Even though there is an associated cost with cardboard tubes; $50.00 / 100 and paper straws $50.00 / 50, the fall clean up is easier, because you open up and discard the paper straws and have only the Cocoons to clean. Also you can get a little more inventive with the housing structures and you are able buy fabricated teardrop houses and other sorts that the cardboard tubes can nestle in. Or if you’re handy and able to, you can build your own structures to house and protect the tubes. These types of houses provide shelter from the elements for the nesting tubes and of course the Cocoons, after all the tubes are just cardboard and can't take too much exposure to the elements. The draw back to this method is that every year you need to buy new paper straws for the cardboard tubes, and will probably even have to replace some of the cardboard tubes periodically and because cardboard really doesn't last all that long, over time you will eventually end up replacing all of the cardboard tubes on an on going basis.
Some Beekeepers use bamboo tubes about 6" in length with one end naturally sealed as nesting tubes. If you have easy access to bamboo this can be a good choice for you, and as well; like the cardboard tubes, you can stack the bamboo tubes in any kind of structure that keeps the weather off them. Some users of bamboo tubes don’t harvest in the fall but leave the tubes until the natural spring emergence, but like I pointed out previously with the block type house, not all larvae develop and can trap healthy cocoons and condemn them to death. Also if you’re using these tubes again next year they are more than likely already contaminated with fungus and pollen mites, which can affect the next years production. For these reasons I strongly recommend fall harvesting. But more importantly, I feel that with the current global decline in Bee populations, it behooves us to make sure that we do our part and give these little guys a helping hand in ensuring maximum reproduction. So fall harvesting would consist of somehow splitting open the tubes and digging out the Cocoons. I don't personally know anybody that uses them, so I can't comment on how much work this would be, but it would mean making new bamboo tubes every year. I have also read that, because of the denseness of the material, bamboo; like plastic nesting plates, can trap moisture in the nesting chamber and effect larval development.
I will now talk about my choice of nesting plates. Wooden (fir) nesting plates, 5/8” thick, 4 1/8” wide and 6” long, with 6 - 5/16" square x 5 1/2" long grooves routed into one side of each plate, stacked 8 plates high making an apartment in a sheltering nesting house. This gives me 48 nesting tubes per house. Why is this my choice? Like I said earlier, these plates were the only choice I knew of when I started out and I've just continued with them since. But I also think that they are the preferable choice. Harvesting of the Cocoons is not too complicated and the plates can be cleaned and reused for season after season. Though I am considering experimenting with cardboard tubes sometime in the future.
Remember that Mason Bees require a handy supply of wet mud and clean water near the nesting house for optimum production and a longer, and healthier life. So near each nesting house I have two things; a shallow dish half full of wet mud with a stick laying in it for the Bees to climb up and down on, and a shallow dish of water with some flattish rocks in it for the Bees to land on and get a drink from.
Harvesting and Plate Cleaning:
No matter what type of nesting house you decide to use, late October or early November is the month for harvesting your Cocoons and cleaning your nesting plates if you use them.
If you're using cardboard tubes with paper straws, you can use tweezers to remove the paper straw from the cardboard tube. The straw should be full, or partially full of Cocoons, along with a myriad of detritus. The paper straw is easily torn away from around the Cocoons and discarded. The Cocoons are now accessible for cleaning and sorting. Insert new paper straws in the cardboard tubes for next season and you’re ready to go.
Bamboo tubes should be carefully split open with a knife or chisel to expose the Cocoons for harvesting, sorting and cleaning. Discard the broken bamboo tubes and use new ones next year.
For harvesting from the wooden nesting plates I use a 1/4" very dull chisel to gently break the mud walls and extract the Cocoons for cleaning and sorting. The nesting plates now require a good deal of cleaning and it is time consuming. Once the Cocoons are removed I scrape each groove clean of all mud, dirt, pollen, fungus etc. and as well scrape all the stuff off the back of each nesting plate. Then I further clean each nesting plate using a stiff brush. At this point all visible dirt has been removed and just stains are left, but there are still fungus spores and parasites on the nesting plates and they must be cleaned further. Originally I washed the nesting plates in a mild bleach solution, which took a lot of rinsing to get the smell off and some of the nesting plates twisted or cracked during drying process. Now I preheat an oven to 250 F. put the nesting plates in and turn the oven down to 170 F. for about an hour, this kills all the fungus spores and mite nits on the surface of the nesting plates, making them sterile and ready for use again next season. Just make sure that the nesting plates are totally dry before baking them, or they might twist or crack.
At cleaning time you will find that not all eggs hatched or that some larva didn't finish its Cocoon or the nesting section is contaminated with yellow fuzzies or a fungus. Some nesting tubes can be completely contaminated with zero production for that row. This occurs because of what the female introduces into her nesting tube during her multiple visits. If she encounters a parasite or fungus and transports it back to the nesting tube it may contaminate a partial or even an entire tube. This is why properly cleaning your nesting plates for next season is so important. One other point to consider at this time is the susceptibility of their fragile wings. By the end of their lives the Mason Bee’s wings can be quite tattered looking. When a female Mason Bee makes dozens upon dozens of trips in and out of these nesting tubes during her life, it is more than prudent to ensure that the tubes are clean of all detritus, but as well clear of all wooden splinters inside the tubes that could possibly damage her wings during transit. This helps the Bees have a healthier, longer and more productive life.
Cleaning the Cocoons:
Once the Cocoons have been harvested comes the task of cleaning all the various detritus that virtually covers every Cocoon. After removal from the nesting plates, I first remove the majority of dirt and yuck from the Cocoons by agitating them a colander. At this point there will still be some small chunks of dirt and other stuff left stuck to the Cocoons. I then, very gently roll the Cocoons between my finger tips picking off most of the remaining hard dirt: the Bees are fully developed inside the Cocoons at this time but are hibernating and can tolerate being gently handled, then the Cocoons are put back into the colander and gently tossed about again removing most of the remaining detritus.
The Cocoons are made of silk and are naturally water repellent allowing you to soak the Cocoons in tepid water for about three minutes stirring and playing with the Cocoons removing the remainder of the dirt and fuzziness.
The Cocoons are then soaked in a 3% - 5% bleach solution for another 3 Min. killing the fungus spores and mites that are commonly present. Next thoroughly rinse the Cocoons this may take a couple of repeats to get the bleach smell off. I then air-dry the Cocoons on a tea towel. After drying I will separate the male Cocoons from females; remember that the male Cocoons are 2/3 the size of the females, there will of course be large male Cocoons and small female Cocoons but this will give you an approximate male/female ratio for your spring release(s). The now cleaned and dried Cocoons are then placed in separate containers; male, female, and put in cold dry storage for the winter.
Winter Storage:
After the process of cleaning you now need to store the Cocoons somewhere cool and dry; below 5 degrees Celsius or 40 degrees Fahrenheit, until next spring. The most common place to store your Cocoons is in the fridge. Some strict advocates insist that the Cocoons should only be stored in a Non frost-free refrigerator, as frost-free fridges are too dry and will damage or kill the Bees inside the Cocoons. Others store the Cocoons in frost-free fridges with apparently no effects to the bees. For myself I store the Cocoons in a cold room that I have that doesn't freeze but stays around 4 - 7 degrees for most of the winter and I only move my Cocoons to a frost free fridge sometime in late February when the room starts to warm up.
Spring release
Releasing the Cocoons in the spring varies from year to year. It is best to time your release(s) to coincide with the availability of enough appropriate pollen producing flowers that are blossoming. But also to watch your fruit trees and time the release about 10 to 14 days before the buds will blossom.
Early and Mid Season Blooming Pollen Producers:
Mason Bees are attracted to flowers with blue and purple tones, then to the whites and yellows. Mason Bees prefer bell shaped flowers like Blueberry blossoms but will go to virtually all pollen bearing flowers, even dandelions. Some of the early blooming flowers suitable for Mason Bees are:
Fruit Trees, February Daphne, Pieris Japonica, Crocus, Cotoneaster, Pasque Flower, Oregon Grape, Berberis Bushes, Magnolia and of course Dandelions.
Some of the better mid season flowers are:
Wild Flowers, Blueberry, Raspberry, Cat Mint, Chives, Hyssop, Lavender, Yarrow, Geranium, Allium, Hollyhock, Salvia, California Poppy, Phacelia, Mountain Ash, Erigeron and Penstemon or Beard Tongues.
Naturally Occurring Infestations
The female Mason Bee can introduce many things into the nest from her forages for pollen. She could bring home pollen that contains mites and if she does those mites could spread in the Nesting Tubes eating the larva as they hatch. She will probably bring back many different funguses as well. These infestations are removed from the Cocoons by sterilization at the time of Harvesting and from the nesting plates by appropriate cleaning.
Pesticides and Colony Collapse Disorder:
Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD is a general term defining the decline in Bee population’s worldwide. Why CCD is affecting Honey Bees so severely is in part a result of how easily and rapidly a disease or poison can be spread throughout a Honey Bee hive. Where as Mason Bees are solitary and as a result diseases spread much slower and less effectively, but still Mason Bees are being adversely affected by this phenomenon and it is a significant problem for all Bees worldwide.
What is causing this decline in Bee populations around the world? Recent studies are implicating pesticides as one of the major contributors to CCD and these pesticides are affecting all Pollinators.
Glyphosate the active ingredient in Round Up has long been considered safe for animals. But a recent 2018 study by the university of Texas showed that Glyphosate is compromising the gut organisms in animals and disrupting their digestive systems, which is having disastrous affects on Bees and is considered a significant contributor to CCD. As well Glyphosate use around the world on our food crops is increasing and as it increases so do other associated problems increase. The current worldwide rise and increase of Gluten intolerance among humans, directly corresponds with the increased use of Glyphosate. CCD is also increasing as the use of Glyphosate worldwide increases. From 1970 to the present over 10 million tonnes of Glyphosate has been used globally. There are some movements around the world dedicated to outlawing Glyphosate and some countries have now completely banned its use entirely.
Another major contributor to CCD is Neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are another type of pesticide used on plants. Not only is it sprayed on developed plants, a lot of seeds are also coated in Neonicotinoids and the poison then becomes a systemic part of the plant, polluting the pollen and nectar that the Bees harvest. This is a major problem because most of the producers that supply a large portion of the "Big Box Stores" use seeds coated in Neonicotinoids for their bedding plants, both annuals and perennials. So here someone can think that they are helping the Bees by putting out lots of flowers, but in reality they may be poisoning and killing them. Asking your local nurseries about Neonicotinoid use on their products is one way of avoiding this problem, or another solution is to start your own bedding plants from organic non-neonicotinoid coated seeds. There is an evergrowing protest in North America against the use of both Glyphosate and Neonicotinoids. As of August 2018 the Canadian government has launched an investigation into Neonicotinoid usage. Hopefully Canada and the US will soon ban these products.
In closing I would to point out that as a result of our gardens evolving with early season, mid season and late season high pollen bearing plants, the Bees: both indigenous species and Honey Bees, have increased in our yard dramatically. We are now creating a wild flower habitat for the Bees. This will not just be for pollen and nectar collection but will be left to grow thick and tangled and undisturbed year after year, serving as nesting habitat for other solitary indigenous Bees. As well I'm going to make other types of insect nesting and habitat houses for our property. Hopefully we can attract more beneficial insects that will help to reduce the invasive ones that harass us, and the crops around our property. Even though Mason Bees only live until June there are many other species of Bee that are active until fall and consideration for them should include late blooming flowers and plants in your yard like:
Aster, Beggars Tricks, Borage, Cone Flower, Cosmos, Golden Rod, Sedum, Butterfly Bush, Oregano, Tansy, Clematis, Bee Balm and Dahlias.
I hope that what I've relayed in this presentation has been informative and perhaps inspired you become a Beekeeper, but I also hope that it has made you more aware and concerned of the growing global problems facing our Bee populations.
