SOLITARY BEES FOR YOUR BACKYARD GARDEN

(November 8th, 2022) Everyone knows what a honeybee is, but do you know what a solitary bee is? Did you know 90% of bees are SOLITARY? Solitary bees are gaining popularity with backyard gardeners because of how easy they are to care for because they don’t sting and are incredible pollinators. Solitary means each female lays all her own eggs, forages for her own food and makes a nesting chamber for each baby. They do not have a hive or make honey and they have no queen to protect, which makes them friendly and non-aggressive.

At Rent Mason Bees, gardeners release solitary bees into their yards and rent nesting blocks. When you release solitary bees into your yard, they will enrich your habitat and support a healthy ecosystem that cleans the air, stabilizes soil and supports other wildlife. Harvesting and cleaning mason bee cocoons is a critical step when hosting bees, but for those that want to support bees and not worry about any maintenance, they can rent and return nesting blocks in the fall to be cleaned.

• HEALTHY BEES ARE RETURNED TO THE ENVIRONMENT - By removing all predators, gardeners will release healthy and strong bees the following spring.
• WATCH OUR FALL HARVEST VIDEO - https://youtu.be/wzDWeADhOno
• ONE OF NATURE’S BEST POLLINATORS – Solitary bees are extraordinary pollinators due to the tiny hairs on their body called scopa. Honeybees collect pollen on their back legs, whereas solitary bees belly flop onto flowers and collect pollen all over their bodies. This enables them to pollinate 95% of the flowers they land on and they can visit over 2,000 flowers a day.
• HONEYBEE PARTNERS – The stressful workload that is placed on honeybee colonies is reduced when they work alongside solitary bees.

Gardeners can welcome two types of solitary bees into their garden, mason and leafcutter bees. Mason bees are spring pollinators and leafcutter bees are summer pollinators. You can help solitary bee populations thrive by taking proper care of your gardens and releasing healthy bees back into your habitat. 

About RMB
Rent Mason Bees works with three species of bees across the U.S.: blue orchard and hornfaced mason bees and leafcutter bees. Last season they cleaned over 3 million mason bees and 40 million leafcutter bees to help solitary bee populations thrive. www.RentMasonBees.com

Contact

Thyra McKelvie
206-954-2175
[email protected]