Category Archives: Garden

Bees, Garden

The bee kingdom has both social and solitary bees

The bee kingdom has two different types of bees; social (honey bees, bumble bees), and solitary (where every female is a queen and they assume all duties.)

The bee kingdom lives in three types of environments; hives they create (honey bees, paper wasps), holes in the ground (bumble bees, miner bees) and holes in trees & reeds (mason bees, leaf cutters).  There are Thousands of species of bees, hornets, and wasps throughout the world!

In general, social bees, hornets, and wasps work in a community where each has their own job.  Where we get in trouble is with the hive defenders.  “Protect the queen & our babies” is their rallying cry!  And stinging occurs…

The solitary bee, on the other hand, has no workers and little to defend.  If she guarded her nest, she wouldn’t be able to gather pollen.  As a result, it’s EXTREMELY hard to get stung by a solitary bee!  When your hand or head gets in the way of her hole, she simply SONY DSChovers, goes around you, or flies away to find her hole later.

At Creative Woodcraft we offer a range of Pollination solutions for the home gardener and owners of small holdings that are fun, affordable and will increase your garden harvest and benefit your flower gardens!

Bees, Garden, Media

The lucerne leafcutting bee in New Zealand

The lucerne leafcutting bee Megachile rotundata was introduced to New Zealand from North America by me beginning in 1971 for management as a specialist pollinator of lucerne flowers for production of seed. A specialist pollinating bee was needed because although honey bees readily visit lucerne flowers, they collect mainly nectar and avoid `tripping’ a spring-loaded reproductive column which can deliver a debilitating punch to the soft-bodied bees. Consequently the flowers are not pollinated. The short-tongued bumble bee Bombus terrestris which has a more resistant body will readily trip the flowers, but there are rarely sufficient bumble bees to pollinate most of the flowers. Female lucerne leafcutting bees are more strongly built than honey bees, and will trip more than 10 flowers a minute as they collect pollen (and nectar) for their larvae.

Lucerne leafcutting bees were imported as overwintering prepupae (the mature larval form in cells), and adult bees were hatched in quarantine so all foreign insect enemies could be removed. Consequently our bees are free of all the pests that reduce their numbers in other parts of the world. However, and unfortunately for us, one native parasitic insect which normally attacks tube-nesting mason wasps and sometimes tube-nesting native bees will also attack leafcutting bees, but it can be controlled by storing the bee nests in a fridge right after nesting ceases by about early April, until placement back in the field by about early November.

The introduced leafcutting bees thrived through the 1980s and where we had sufficient numbers on flowering lucerne, large increases in seed yield resulted. However the disestablishment of the old Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in mid 1992 caused the collapse of our project, and without scientific and management support the leafcutting bee population collapsed. Additionally, grapes for wine began to take over former lucerne seed crops, and seed began to be imported, so the demand for pollinating bees fell.

Several years ago interest in leafcutting bees (and other species of bees) began increasing again because of the threats facing honey bees, and so efforts are being made to increase the numbers of leafcutting bees for wide distribution. Leafcutting bees can be valuable pollinators of a range of flowers, and because the females are not aggressive and the bees can be easily managed, they can be readily utilized by home gardeners and owners of small holdings for interest and fun.

Barry Donovan

Donovan Scientific Insect Research

Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre

Lincoln.

18 September 2014.

Bees, Garden

The Gentle and Garden-Pollinating Leafcutting Bees

Link

The lucerne leafcutting  bee became a hero in New Zealand after being introduced from North America in 1971 to help pollinate the lucerne flowers for the production of seed.

Its gentle nature and efficient pollination make it ideal for late summer vegetables and flowers. The leafcutter bee is solitary and gregarious. This means the females will nest very close together, one of the main characteristics for managed pollinators. This busy, small bee is a great summer garden addition.

The leafcutter bee is a productive pollinator for summer gardens and flowers.

The female carries pollen on the underside of her hairy abdomen, and then scrapes the pollen off within her nesting hole. Because the pollen is carried dry on her hair, it falls off easily as she moves among flowers. This results in significantly more pollinated flowers than her cousin, the honey bee, who wets the pollen so it sticks to the legs during transport to the hive.

To Learn more about this important pollinator…                                               The lucerne leafcutting bee in New Zealand. By Barry Donovan (Donovan Scientific Insect Research)

 

 

Bees, Garden

Increase Your Garden Harvest with Leafcutter Bees

Gentle-Natured Bee.

A friendly garden companion, this gentle bee doesn’t mind curious people. It rarely stings, except in defense of its life. Its safe around children and pets. You won’t need special clothing to have fun watching this lively pollinator.

Our solitary bee houses make great gifts for Christmas! Buy today while leafcutter bee cocoons are available!

SONY DSC

Amazing pollinator for summer food and flowers

This tiny, busy bee outperforms her honey bee cousin for pollinating summer flowering fruits, vegetables and flowers.

You’ll love the ease and joy of raising Leafcutter bees. It takes just a couple hours of care each year.

Our passion is raising Leafcutter bees and encouraging other solitary bees to increase garden yields. Our vision is to change the way we pollinate to protect our environment and sustain our food supply. Join us on our pollinator journey!

 Whether you are trying to introduce Leafcutter bees or plan to encourage native solitary bees to your backyard, our bee houses and nesting material sets are a great way to start!Leafcutter Bee Cells Flyer x50

Bee-Mail

It only takes a couple hours of your time within the year to raise and harvest leafcutter bees. But we all get busy. Rather than trying to remember, we have a free newsletter that tells you what to do when each month.

It’s easy to sign up for “Bee-Mail”



Bumble bee nesting box promotional Image
Bees, Garden

FAQ – Bumble Bees

Q/ Are you able to supply bumble bee’s with the boxes, or do you know who can supply?

Answer:

Commercially produced bumble bees can be purchased as a ready established colony from companies such as biobees, but generally only live for 4 to 8 weeks. They come in a self contained non permanent cardboard type box.

Question:
Recently we have asked New Zealand leading entomologist weather these commercially produced bumble bees can naturally produce further queens that will leave the colony and take up residence in Creative Woodcraft Bumble bee nesting box?

Answer:
“Regarding commercially-produced bumble bee colonies, yes indeed if they grow on naturally they can produce new queens, and yes these queens will seek out nesting sites in the same area. Further, there is evidence that new queens that emerge from man-made hives may indeed be attracted to other similar man-made hives within which to start their own nests”

Below are a couple of links that maybe of interest.

Is your garden lacking Buzz

helping-kiwi-gardeners-encourage-native-bees

Question: 
How do we get bumble bees to use the nesting box?
Answer:
The Bumble bee nesting box could be looked upon in the same light as a bird nest box: When we place a bird nesting box in the garden we can’t make the bird use it, we have to just let nature take its course. This is the same for the bumble bee nesting box.
 
By providing a suitable habitat you will increase the chances of  bumble bee queens seeking it out and starting its own nest, in turn increasing the population of bumble bees on your property.  To increase chances of occupancy the more boxes that are placed out the higher the occupancy rate.