Hello,
It July 8/12. Is it too early to put a cloth bag over mason bee boxes to keep out predators?
We are in Comox, Vancouver Island. – Margaret
It July 8/12. Is it too early to put a cloth bag over mason bee boxes to keep out predators?
We are in Comox, Vancouver Island. – Margaret
Hi Margaret,
Yes it is time, BUT some bees may still be flying!
I just visited 2 sites today and in both yurt field structures, bees were still flying in and out of their nests.
Tomorrow, I will go back to these two sites, and remove all the release shelters- to avoid additional parasitic wasps that might still need to emerge.
I will also bring a battery powered bug killer- like a small tennis racket with an electric battery driven electric zapper. This should get rid of most of the active parasitic wasps. In another 2 weeks, I will check again, and all, if not most mason bees will have quit by then. At this time I will place a net bag around each nest to prevent parasitization by the little wasps.
It is quite amazing to see these critters still flying into mid July.-Margriet
This is my yurt field structure in Bellingham WA. It is fully laden with highrises and a lot of the tunnel are filled by mason bees. Today we removed all the release shelters. Quite a few bees were flying in and out of the nests…more in a subsequent blog.
