05/12/2026
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=935612546137868&set=a.757409690624822&type=3
🐝 A single mason bee visits up to 2,000 flowers a day and pollinates 95% of them on contact. A honeybee pollinates about 5%. One small, quiet, solitary bee — no hive, no swarm, almost never stings — doing the pollination work of a hundred honeybees.
All she needs is a block of wood with holes drilled in it.
🐝 The build:
- A block of untreated hardwood — oak, maple, or a cut 4x6 post
- Drill 5/16" holes, 6 inches deep, spaced ¾" apart
- Smooth each entrance — splinters will block her from nesting
- Don't drill all the way through — she needs a sealed back wall
- Alternative: bundle 6" lengths of natural bamboo or paper tubes
🐝 The placement:
- 3-6 feet high on a south-facing wall, fence, or post
- Morning sun is everything — she won't fly until her body warms up
- Within 300 feet of flowering trees or garden beds
- Sheltered from rain with a small overhang
- Set a shallow dish of damp clay or mud nearby — she builds her egg chambers with it
🐝 What to expect:
- Hang the house by early spring before fruit trees bloom
- She emerges when temps hit 55°F and works for about six weeks straight
- You'll see her ferrying mud to cap each cell — that means she's laying
- Each tube holds 6-8 eggs that overwinter and emerge the following spring
A $15 block of wood and a drill bit — and every fruit tree, berry bush, and vegetable blossom within 300 feet gets the most efficient pollinator on the planet. 🌿
