4

Make a Solitary Bee Home

Give solitary bees somewhere to live and they’ll reward you by pollinating your flowers and vegetable garden. Not all bee homes are created equal, however. When it comes to making a living space for solitary bees, three things are critical – the bees must be protected from wet weather; the holes must be the right size; and it’s important to keep diseases and pests at bay.

The easiest type of solitary bee house to make at home uses lengths of bamboo cane, packed into a container. There are numerous ways you can do this – fill a length of drainpipe, a large plastic bottle with the ends cut off, an old wooden champagne box or drawer, or make a frame for the lengths of bamboo to fit into. If you don’t have bamboo cane, you can use other hollow dry stems, paper straws or reeds.

NO. 4 IDEAL CONDITIONS FOR SOLITARY BEE HOMES

Whichever way you choose to make your solitary bee home, the following conditions should be met for the bees to thrive:

•A bee home needs to be dry. Hang it out of the rain or give the bee home an overhang/sloping roof to deflect rain.

•Holes in the bamboo canes should be between 2mm and 10mm (0.08–0.4 inch) – any bigger and solitary bees won’t use them.

•Sharp edges or splinters need to be sanded off – bees won’t nest in canes that could injure them.

•One end of the cane needs to be blocked up. Cut the bamboo canes so that one end finishes on a node or seal the ends with wax.

•Replace empty bamboo canes every two years, at the end of summer. This helps prevent any attacks from fungus, parasites and mites.

•Don’t replace a ‘plugged’ bamboo cane unless nothing has emerged for two years (the contents will be dead) or it has a tiny hole in the plug (which is a sign that the bee larvae has been attacked by the Cacoxenus indagator fly). In both these cases, the cane should be removed and destroyed.

•Site the bee home in full sun, facing south or south-east, and at least 1 m (3 ft) from the ground. Keep the entrance to the bee home clear of vegetation.

•To give the nesting baby bees an extra chance to survive, move them into a dry shed in October. Put them outside again in March.