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The Orcon Mason Bee Nest (OB-RBN35) is a kit that will help captivate beneficial bees to your valuable garden. It targets Blue Orchard Mason Bees (Osmia lignaria) that are known as excellent pollinators. Each one can pollinate 120 honey bees. Product will be perfect for the target insect because they are unsociable. Mason Bees do not make hives and just always look for a place to make home. They prefer a hole or tunnel that has been bored out by beetles or other insects. When these bees have found the tubes, they will surely dwell at it right away. Once purchased, per unit includes nest with 35 tubes and a mounting bracket.
| For use in | Garden |
|---|---|
| Special Features | Nature-friendly. Offers the perfect shape and hole size for Mason Bees. |
| Parts Included | Nest, 35 tubes and a mounting bracket. |
| Shipping Weight | 1.00 lbs |
| Manufacturer | Orcon - Organic Control, Inc (Mfg. Number: OB-RBN35) |
| UPC | 045501-10035 |
Orchard Mason Bee
The Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria) appears black but is actually dark metallic green or blue in color. The female is approximately 14 mm in length, robust in appearance resembling a black fly. The male is smaller and more slender, and about 11-12 mm in length. Males are characterized by their long antennae and a tuft of light colored hair in the front of the head. At rest, the bee has its wings flush with its body. Osmia bees are effective pollinators because of their pubescence or hairiness. This enables them to carry pollen grains from flower to flower, causing pollination to take place.
Breeding Behavior
Osmia bees are solitary insects and complete their lifecycle on their own. Most species are gregarious in that they nest close together. This behavior offers several advantages such as lower predation pressures, increased mating opportunity, and optimized genetic variability through cross breeding. It is this gregarious behavior that has offered the opportunity to “domesticate” the Orchard Mason Bee.
The female Mason bee lives for about one month in the spring and she can produce one or two eggs a day. One tubular nest contain 7 to 11 cells where those laid first, in the back of the tube will develop into females while the few cells nearest to the entrance will be males.
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