And if you want to have fun, get Mason bees. They're solitary bees (no swarming), they pollinate 20x as many flowers as honey bees, they don't sting (no special bee get up), they're super cute, and you don't really have to do anything besides put them outside. They blue ones look like little jewels.

All you need are cocoons, nesting material (reeds are good), something to hold the nesting material (like a piece of PVC pipe), and some mud if you have a dry spring/summer. They prefer to pollinate fruit trees. Some people put them in greenhouses. I wonder if my ducks are going to eat mine this year...

Leaf cutter bees are summer bees that prefer roses and lilacs.

https://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/why-bees/mason-bees/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2020 05:02PM by Beth.

I recently bought a bee house just like the kind they recommend. I am not too sure about the harvesting and keeping them in the fridge though...

<3

They're not gross. You'll get cocoons to set out in your house, and you'll see that they're papery, dry, and tough. They're not squishy, slimy, or gross.

In October/November, you'll bring in your house and look for any capped reeds. Use a flashlight, because sometimes they don't fill an entire reed. Mine like the blocks for some reason.

So

You take the house over to the kitchen sink, and you open the blocks and/or gently break the reeds that have mud in them. Inside you'll see little cocoons separated by pollen and mud and you'll be like, "My babies!" The cocoons are tiny - about the size of a black-eyed pea. Inside the cocoons, the bees are already fully formed. The largest ones are the queens. You put the cocoons in a bowl of water with a little bit of bleach and swish them around. Dry them off, put em in the plastic box, shove it somewhere in your fridge and fugehhtabowtit.

Don't tell anyone, but mine have been out all winter. I'll let you know how it works out. The holes are still capped with mud, and the rhodies are budding. The way I look at it is that they'd be chilling in their holes in nature...

The fun part is looking in their holes in the spring. At night you can shine a flashlight in the box and you'll see the mommas chillin' fuzzy head out being like, "Get that damn light outta my eye!"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2020 10:53PM by Beth.

Thanks for adding so much to this thread, Beth. :-)

Thank you for starting it and so many other threads about the beautiful world we share. <3

Hope someone convinces our HOA we can do this.

There are a few unkempt lots in my neighborhood, city-owned and too small to build or even landscape. Every spring I buy bulk wildflower seed mix and scatter that, right before a rain, if possible. Once in a while I get some really great results.

Too bad we're all so preconditioned!

I've already told my family my wishes to be put into a green cemetery.

Now you're just being silly!

If ghawd had wanted wild flowers on golf courses he would not have given us Round-Up !!!

Deleted as too crude even for me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2020 11:36PM by Lot's Wife.

And if after I read it, if I guess what you're drinking, I want a prize!!

Give it a shot, hoary linkster. What did I write and what am I imbibing this fine evening?

Now I've got ear worm. :/

I'm gonna do this, ? Can I give my old MN address & claim the $ ?

Well, you could give it a try. Never know.

Many are allergic to bee stings yet they want more of them around.\

Try opening a pack of peanuts on an airline and you will get arrested.

Something isn't right in the world?

That’s right.

Hence the thread on lefties.

Is it too late for a PUN ALERT?

Bees are pollinators for a large number of our food crops.