Rent Mason Bees’ Mason bee kits ($60) include a Mason bee house, nesting block, bag of clay, pollinator flower seeds, and 50 to 60 Mason bee cocoons sent in spring.

Ideally, mason bee larvae feast on the pollen and emerge from the nesting tube as mature mason bees, said Richard Zack, professor of entomology at Washington State University in Pullman.

One mason bee can pollinate 2,000 blossoms in a single day. She brings pollen back to her nest and deposits it at the back of the tube, making a mound on which she will lay one egg.

Mason bees nest in tube-shaped areas, so building them a home can be pretty simple. All they need is some tunnels drilled through a block of wood and a roof to keep the entrance dry.

Native mason bees are “tube nesters.” They will line a tube with mud and pollen and nest in it as well as hibernate for the winter when they will close up the tube with mud. To give them a ...

Michigan State University has an extension publication, “Building and Managing Bee Hotels for Wild Bees.” Although wild bees do not need human help, they accept hollow tubes provided by orchard ...

Hunter says there is also an "only one bee mentality, and this is helping create the pollination mess we find ourselves in today." Mason bees are among the 4,000 types of bees native to the U.S.

This article is also in audio form for your enjoyment. Scroll down just a bit to find the recording. Learn how to support solitary bees and create a home for the native bee populations in your ...

You’ll find some great info here on the year-round care of mason bees, including storing the nesting tubes and blocks and harvesting the cocoons. The best place to put a mason bee house Mason ...

Raising mason bees is fun, perfect for backyard gardeners, school gardens and hobbyists. But in the larger picture, they are vital. 33 percent of our diet is dependent on bee pollination ...