Mason bees

Bees, especially orchard mason bees, which are useful fruit tree pollinators, will colonize holes drilled in blocks of wood or paper drinking-straws stacked in a waterproof box, or you can buy special bee boxes. Mason bees emerge early, so the boxes need to be erected in early spring before the apple buds burst. 

Eickwort, G. C. (1975) Nest-building behavior of the mason bee Hoplitis anthocopoides (Hymenoptera Megachilidae). Z. Tierpsychol., 37, 237-54. 

Although mason bees, such as the orchard bee (Osmia lignarid), have garnered some attention as an alternative pollinator, as a honey producer and pollinator the honeybee stiU reigns supreme. The impact... 

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