Pollination Questions Answered
What types of bees are in my yard?
 There are over 4,000 species of bees throughout North America. They are
solitary, social, ground nesters, cavity nesters, and hives. In each state, there
are between 100 and 1000 plus species.
 You may get asked “I have this bee in my yard that looks like this… or goes into
the ground… or something along these lines. Our suggestion is to say “There
are over 4,000 species of bees throughout North America, it truly could be any of
them.”
Will nesting bees in the ground sting?
 Social bees (those trying to defend a queen and their underground hive) will
sting. If you need to remove a social bee hive, consider placing a large tarp over
the ground hole. They may choose to move on. In general, social bees are
migratory and will move after a season.
 Solitary bees tend to be gentle so the threat of being stung is much less than
social bees. Solitary bees typically nest in the same place where they emerged.
This is a good thing for most gardeners.
 You can tell social vs. solitary in the ground by this easy test: if a lot of bees are
using the same entrance, it is a social bee. If each bee tends to have their own
hole, it is solitary.
What’s the difference between Mason Bees and Honey Bees?
There are two bee kingdoms: Social and Solitary. Social bees (i.e., honey bees,
bumblebees) have specific duties for each bee within the colony. Solitary bees (i.e.,
Mason Bees) work independently and individually perform all duties. Below summarizes
the two bee kingdoms.
SOLITARY BEES: North American
Orchard and Hornfaced Bee
Blue SOCIAL BEES: Honey Bee
No honey production; native to North America (the
hornfaced bee is from Japan and is now nationalized).
Honey producing champion, imported from Europe
Highly energetic, gathers both pollen and nectar
from reproductive flower parts in the same visit;
results in about 99.7% pollination.
Each flower visited isn’t necessarily pollinated due to two
separate roles: pollen gatherer and nectar gatherer.
Gathered pollen is carried dry on the hairy abdomen,
making it more easily transferred during flight to the
nesting hole. The result is significantly more pollinated
flowers.
Must wet the pollen making it sticky and is carried on the
back legs. Little pollen falls off to pollinate flowers.
Roughly one foraging female mason bee pollinates an
equivalent to one hundred foraging honey bees (1:100
bee ratio).
A full hive has about 150,000 bees. About half pollinate
and the other half maintains the hive.
Lands on the flower stigma in a “belly flop” for efficient
pollination of about 2,000 blossoms daily, or 20,000
within a bloom period.
Each flower is entered differently depending on gathering
role (nectar or pollen) resulting in about 10-15 flowers
pollinated per day.
Excellent cross-pollination as it tends to flit from tree
to tree. Visits many spring-blooming pollen-loaded
flowers within a 200-300 foot (60-90 m) circle around
the nesting hole.
Focuses on a branch cluster for pollination (less crosspollination), and forages farther from the hive. (1)(23).
Active pollinator in cooler (51°F to 54°F), drearier
days. 1 (23) Important in volatile spring weather to
pollinate almonds, cherries, plums, apples, pears,
apricots, nectarines.
Cooler weather causes inactivity as the honey bees stay
within the hive to keep it warm for queen and developing
larva.
Noncompetitive: Fruit yield is not affected when
pollinating side by side with honey bee.
Pollinates well along side BOBs, thus increasing overall
pollination.
Solitary: Doesn’t need a social network: each female
performs all activities: gathers pollen/nectar, gathers
mud, and lays her own eggs in her own hole.
Social: each bee is dependent on other bees to support
the Queen and hive. The hive is structured (Queens,
drones, nurses, sentries, pollen gatherers, nectar
gatherers, etc.)
Life span of 6-8 weeks. Hibernate in cocoons for 6-7
months.
Life span of 6-8 weeks; hive constantly replaces dead
workers to remain active year round.
What’s going wrong with the honey bees?
A variety of issues impact them.
 Chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, larvacides, etc.
 The varroa mite. This mite needs chemicals to subdue, and we’re placing antiinsect chemicals in an insect habitat. The mites suck the life from larva within
cells
 Numerous other issues; foul brood, tracheal mites, IAPV, hive beetles
 Poor diet. Monoculture has the bees one only one diet at a time. Over the
winter, they are fed high fructose syrup and other supplements.
 Movement of hives throughout the season
 Colony Collapse Disorder. It’s a syndrome in which the hive very suddenly
becomes completely empty of all bees. Scientists do not know what causes it,
but believe that it is combination of all of the above. The bees become stressed
and are susceptible to any number of maladies.
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Does Colony Collapse Disorder affect all bees? No, fortunately it’s only impacting
the honey bees.
Although the honey bee industry is constantly adapting to the changing and
increasingly harmed honey bees, the amount of bees lost year to year are
slowing down. Without chemical solutions, or reduced transporting the bees from
one crop to another, the problems will continue.
A good video to watch is a recent Ted Talk by Dr. Marla Spivak. Here is a link:
http://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing.html This video talks about
most of the above issues.
What are common problems among all bees?
 They continue to dwindle in numbers
 Chemicals of all nature impact them
 Lack of habitat (beauty bark for ground nesters, too much lawn without
nutritional plants, not enough holes for cavity nesting bees, etc.
 It’s a toxic wasteland for bees that fly far. Although your yard might be clean
of pesticides, social bees can travel through good and bad yards. Honey bees
travel within a 2 mile radius from the hive. The bumble bee travels within an 8
mile radius. This exposes them to residential and commercial developments,
parks and golf courses. Typically, golf courses remain one of the largest
chemical sites in your neighborhood.
 Solitary bees, with their tighter radius of pollinating within about 300 feet of
their nest, might have them avoiding some chemicals.
What chemicals are bad for bees in my yard? (Or what chemicals are safe?)
A simple response: If you spray a chemical in your yard, would you immediately allow
your child or pet to roll in the grass? Why not?
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Talk about what a balanced ecosystem looks like. There have to be pests in a
yard for beneficial insects to keep them in check. If you have killed your
beneficial insects, then when pests show up, there is nothing to keep them
balanced forcing you to use chemicals.
Broad spectrum insecticides are the worst. Sevin and a host of others kill all
things. The directions say not to spray on open blooms as anything touching that
flower will die. If spraying is a must, it is best to use a targeted and specific
chemical in the late evening when bees and other wildlife are not active.
Not all solutions can be solved organically yet. Recommend that they discuss
alternatives with a local nursery, Master Gardener Network, or Extension Service
for specific advice.
Where can I get beneficial insects for my yard?
 Encourage the use of native insects within the region.
 Explain that you may be introducing non-native insects to your yard. Lady bugs
from California are shipped all across the US. Praying Mantis are not native to
most northern states, and kill all insects, both good and bad. There are many
beneficial insect retailers on the Internet. Choose one that can advise you on
purchasing beneficial insects appropriate for your locale.
Life cycle of Honey bees
 Queens in a very healthy hive can live for a few years. In today’s environment,
they might need replacing after only a half a year.
 All workers live six week and perform a variety of duties progressing further from
the nursery and out foraging for food.
Life cycle of Bumble bees
 A bumble queen will overwinter by herself, and starts her brood early in the
spring. Through scent suppression, she is able to manage all other queens early
in the year.
 By late summer, the suppressed queens begin to lay eggs and disappear to
create new hives. All bees but the queens die off for winter and the one queen
sustains herself in the ground with stored honey reserves.
Life cycle of Mason bees
 The spring mason bee is “alive” about 11 months of the year, but spends most of
her time dormant in her cocoon through the fall/winter.
 Leafcutter bees and bees active in late summer will overwinter as larva and
develop into bees through the early summer. Again, they are active for about six
weeks. See notes on the slides.
Using nesting holes that can be harvested
 We don’t always understand or appreciate what happens when we tamper with
nature. In general, we have removed the normal holes found in trees through
removing old trees. These natural holes are far apart and it’s not easy for pests
to get at them all.
 Concentrating holes in one place allows pests to easily gain access to more of
their food source (leftover pollen, larva, bees in cocoons). If you do not harvest
cocoons, the pests typically overrun the holes within a few short years.
 Also of note, your bee habitat will attract other wild bees and beneficial solitary
wasps that are looking for holes to place their eggs.
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Honey bees HAVE to be maintained or you lose the entire colony. If you let
nature take its course and let your weeds and vegetables duke it out in the dirt,
who wins? Not the gardener nor the food supply.
Some people say we should let nature take care of itself. We have already
destroyed portions of nature with taking away the habitats and pollen sources.
The little bit of harvesting is a way of ensuring we rectify years of damage.
A mason bee colony, to ensure success for years of fruitful pollination, must be
harvested in the fall.
Mud ~ really highlight this issue
 This is the PRIMARY reason that gardeners are unsuccessful with raising spring
mason bees. The gardener assumes there is available mud as it’s spring,
raining, and you can see patches of dirt nearby. Mason bees need specific mud
or they will fly elsewhere to obtain it. The mud is used to separate their
eggs/pollen mass and to provide protection at the end of the hole.
 Mason bees need good clayey mud. No humus and no sand. Not too dry, not
too wet. It sounds like they’re picky, and potentially they are. However, these
bees thrive all across North America, so we know they do well, and adding or
exposing mud near your nesting house will help them be productive.
 Spring mason bees don’t need water sources, just mud. They get their moisture
from the nectar and mud. If your spring weather is typically rainy, then you
probably have enough easily accessible mud, and don't have to add any.
Otherwise, make a small pile near the nest. See the Crown Bees website for
more suggestions on mud.
 We believe the BEST source of mud is by “mining” the sidewall of a nearby hole
dug in the ground. A garden with dirt is NOT a solution. There is too much
humus in it. The bees don’t pick up grains of sand… they are looking for tiny
portions of mud that they can pick up and pack into their hole. If too wet, they
can’t carry it, and the same issue applies if it is too dry. The sidewalls of a hole
seem to have about the right moisture content.
 If a yard has only sand or loamy soil, a good source might be the inside bend of
rivers or ponds. Anywhere very fine particles can come to rest.
Why store cocoons in a refrigerator
 Mason bees, like bears, survive hibernation through slowly consuming their
stored fats. If it is warm outside, the mason bee metabolism speeds up and they
consume precious fats. In the late winter and early spring, we see hot days
without pollen available. The heat triggers the mason bee to emerge, but starves
it when it cannot find food.
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Bees stored at constant temperatures and good humidity last much longer in
hibernation. The gardener chooses when to place the cocoons outside based on
stabilization of the weather and availability of pollen food. By placing cocoons out
a third at a time over the month, the earlier bees will have started to nest, but
may be impacted by bad weather. Later bees may have better weather. Cocoon
returns are much more consistent using this approach.
Cocoons need to be stored where they won’t dehydrate, as modern frost-free
refrigerators will do. The HumidiBee, by Crown Bees, helps prevent dehydration.
BeeGAP an overview
 Through harnessing the power of a yard, excess cocoons from one gardener can
help pollinate a nearby orchard. This ultimately provides food for everyone to
purchase at the local grocery.
 Today, cocoons are exchanged through Crown Bees for free tubes or reeds.
(http://crownbees.com/raising-mason-bees-for-sale/) Later, excess cocoons will
be held locally and provided to qualified farmers.
 Farmers have relied on the honey bee for pollination for a very long time. Part of
the transition to a multi-bee pollination approach is teaching how to use mason
bees for commercial crop pollination. Just as mason bees differ from honey bees,
so does their approach and needs for pollination. Education and applications to
different crops will take a while for this transition.