I feel like I say this every spring but I just haven't seen any bees at all this season until today. Saw my first honey bee working the blues. The bad thing is some of my plants are half way done blooming and fruit set looks to be pretty poor on Emerald so far with only half to a quarter of the buds setting fruit. The second wave of buds are already open on Emerald so I got my fingers crossed the bees will get the job done and save the season for me. Springhigh looks like it set a pretty good crop and is done with its bloom. Sweetcrisp seems to be holding some fruit as well but its almost done blooming too. Sunshine is just now kicking in gear. Havent seen any Bumble Bees yet which is alarming. I usually see the big queen BB before I see the honey bees. I may just have to get into the bee business!
Has any one in the south seen or had luck with mason bees? Ive ordered some cocoons 3 years in a row and only one year did I get the females to stick around lay some eggs. I got 10 cocoons that year but since then its been a bust. The ones I ordered were the horn faced mason bee and I can promise you they are not meant to be in Houston Tx. Im thinking about getting some of the blue orchard mason bees and trying them out for a couple years. I found a site that has them for long hot summer areas and shorter cool summer areas. Worth a shot and they sure are fun to watch when they get busy building there nests.
Has any one in the south seen or had luck with mason bees? Ive ordered some cocoons 3 years in a row and only one year did I get the females to stick around lay some eggs. I got 10 cocoons that year but since then its been a bust. The ones I ordered were the horn faced mason bee and I can promise you they are not meant to be in Houston Tx. Im thinking about getting some of the blue orchard mason bees and trying them out for a couple years. I found a site that has them for long hot summer areas and shorter cool summer areas. Worth a shot and they sure are fun to watch when they get busy building there nests.
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