By Mic McCarty, Board Member, Trip Leader and Native Plant Gardener
The Importance of Bees
A healthy mix of native plants is so important to our birds. Besides directly supporting avian diet by growing fruit and seeds, native plants support native arthropods. Arthropods (insects, spiders and such) are also food for birds. According to one UF researcher, 95% of our native bugs rely on two to three species of native plants.
Plants need pollinators, of course. When I think of pollinators, I usually think in terms of butterflies and honey bees. Honey bees are great, but as pollinators, they leave much to be desired. Honey bees pollenate only about 5% of plants visited. Native bees pollenate around 95% of the plants that they visit.[1] You can see the benefits of native bees.
Florida has more than 300 species of native bees.[2] One large family of native bees belong to the family Megachilidae. These are solitary bees that include important pollinating mason and leafcutter bees. Of these, there are 33 species of leafcutter[3] bees in Florida[4] and five to seven species of mason bees.[5] Both of these bees will lay eggs in holes drilled into logs and bamboo tubes—giving us an opportunity to increase the numbers of these beneficial garden assistants. Note: do not buy bees commercially. They are harvested from other locations that need their bees.
To learn more about bees in Florida, listen to the podcacst, The Pollinator Puzzle: Who They Are and How to Help.
How to Build a Bee House
Here is how I made my bee house: I made the housing following the kestrel box plat at Cornell’s NestWatch site, https://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/. Leave off the front. To keep the box from becoming too big, I used 1x8 lumber rather than 1x10.
To provide the actual nesting materials with holes, I used a combination of products. I am trying out raw, untreated lumber glued into a block and drilled to accommodate both mason and leaf cutter bees. I also drilled Florida native firewood the same way. You drill holes in the block, spaced 3/4” apart. For leaf cutter bees, the holes should be 1/4” wide and 2 1/2 to 4” deep.
For mason bees, drill 6” deep, 5/16” wide holes. Do not drill completely through the wood.[6] I also am trying bamboo cut to length and which I will dry for the winter. I cut the chutes at the joint providing an open tube on each side of the cut which I sized some for both groups of bees. Make sure bores are smooth inside as rough holes will discourage nesting. Cardboard tubes with paper liners can be inserted in the holes as one nesting option. The advantage to using removable tubes is that they can be removed every season and replaced to limit possible parasites that may linger in the box.
Put your box out before the spring, preferably under an overhang to provide a rain guard. Place it at least three feet above the ground facing southeast, allowing it to get morning sun. Hang your bee house under the eaves of your house or garden shed, protected from direct sun and rain.[7]
[1] Staggenborg, Bob and Bill Creasey, (2016, November 14). Nature guys. Nature Guys. https://natureguys.org/
[2] Florida Wildflowers. (2023, November 17). Making a home for native bees. Florida Wildflower Foundation. https://www.flawildflowers.org/welcome-native-bees/
[3]Staggenborg, Bob and Bill Creasey, (2016, November 14). Nature guys. Nature Guys. https://natureguys.org/
[4] Young, B. E., Schweitzer, D. F., Hammerson, G. A., Sears, N. A., Ormes, M. F., Tomaino, A. O., & NatureServe. (2016). Conservation and management of North American leafcutter bees. In NatureServe. NatureServe. https://www.natureserve.org/sites/default/files/web_-_leafcutter_bee_report_brochure.pdf
[5] Rachel Mallinger. (2020, May 27). Which blue bee is visiting my Florida landscape? - UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department. UF/IFAS Entomology and Nematology Department. https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/entnemdept/2020/05/25/which-blue-bee-is-visiting-my-florida-landscape/
[6] “Providing Pollinator Habitat One Yard at a Time,” Beyond Pesticides, (2009) https://mail.beyondpesticides.org/programs/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides/pollinator-curriculum/build-your-own-native-bee-house
[7] Ibid.
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