Re: OT: Does anyone know of a source of orchard mason bees?

[gardenbetty@earthlink.net]

Osmia family bees, as opposed to Apis family bees, do not produce honey. They
are solitary bees that do not hive or form social groups or tend their young.
They emerge from their holes in early spring, the females mate, line those
holes with pollen, lay eggs in the pollen, "mason" up the hole with mud, then
die. The males do not pollinate very well, and die after they mate. Osmia
family bees are excellent orchard pollinators because they emerge at the same
time as the fruit trees come into bloom. They are also excellent pollinators
because it is their biological imperative to collect as much pollen as they
can to feed the next generation.

dawn

Kevin Topek wrote:
>
>     Bees produce honey. European varieties of the honeybee, Apis
> mellifera produce excess amounts of honey with regard to their future
> need. They are also usually not as agressive as most other bee
> species.
>
>     Orchard mason bees probably build small wax cells and store their
> honey comparmentalized, like Grecian urns. It would be hard to harvest
> and there would not be an excessive amount.
>
>     Pollination can not be underestimated in its effect on fruit
> production for a whole host of plants. I recall how the carpenter bees
> living in the old wood garage behind my house would pollinate my huge
> luffa framework. I gave away luffa sponges for almost a decade.
>
> Happy Trails, to you...
> Kevin Topek

--
dawn
aka gardenbetty

We will be known by the tracks we leave behind... —Dakota proverb