Thanks to all who visited my table at the six seedy Saturdays which I attended this spring. I was pleased to see a great level of interest from many people who are enthusiastic about adding to the populations of these efficient pollinators and the control of mason bee predators. It was also good to see that many people appreciated the effectiveness of the phragmites reed grass tubes and returned to invest in more reeds.
Thanks to those who put their name on the mailing list, and now I will be reminding them throughout the year about the steps they need to take at different times of the year to best care for their bees. A big thanks also to the many volunteers in the communities who work so hard to make these popular meets so successful.
I sold Mason bee cocoons and Phragmites reed grass tubes of all sizes at the following Seedy Saturdays /Sundays in February/March 2024.
Come with your questions and your kids..(We will hatch some cocoons for them.)
Mason Bee Cocoons are sold out for this season
and I will again be able to supply Phragmites Native Reed Grass Tubes after May 14. ================================= Pre-ordering cocoons by Paypal is possible: 30 Mason Bee Cocoons for $25.00.for pick up at my farm in Metchosin. NOTE: I DO NOT SEND COCOONS BY MAIL. you can pick them up at the farm
I also have Phragmites reed grass tubes for culturing mason bees for sale. I can ship the tubes through the mail.–For customers who are not local, I package these tubes in lots of 33 for $15.00 plus shipping costs. Included are a variety of lengths and diameters. A few smaller diameters attract other mason bee species and leafcutter bees. Indicate the maximum tube length you prefer when ordering.
Also by putting out the tubes alone without releasing bees, you can in some areas attract the native pollinators to build their nests in the empty tubes anyway. That’s the way I first obtained mason bee cocoons.
See below for details on ordering if you cannot pick them up at the farm. I can have these available at any time of year, and it is best to get them set out by March.
For shipping in Canada, the price for 33 tubes=$20.00 Canadian
For shipping in Canada, the price for 66 tubes=$40.00 Canadian
For shipping in Canada, the price for 100 tubes=$60.00 Canadian
For shipping in Canada, the price for 130 tubes=$80.00 Canadian
In a separate email with your address, state your size preference as sizes 4″ (10cm) to 7 “(18 cm) or mixed are available. This will depend on the depth of the box you have in which to put them.–
Scan this QR code to download and checkout with Paypal.
use garryf followed by the@ sign then gmail.com for my Paypal address
I can also accept e-transfers to this email address
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Scroll down through other posts to see my suggestions for building inexpensive Mason bee homes out of recycled and re-purposed material
I did an experiment this year comparing the wooden blocks to phragmites tubes , and bamboo tubes to phragmites reed grass tubes .. here are the results in the third week of May 2023.
I have had a hunch lately that the cost of mason bee cocoons has followed the pattern we see in the rest of the industries and has risen considerably so I have done some comparisons with my prices with an American and Canadian companies.
I also saw Brian Guzda at Duncan Seedy Saturday and he has also done some investigating and found the following :
He said “I checked mason bee cocoon prices from 12 different sources mostly on the island and a few from the lower mainland with :
The average price per cocoon working out to $1.68 each.
The high was 2.25. per cocoon. Definitely over priced.”
Buckerfields 10 cocoons– regular $15.99. that’s $1.60 per cocoon !
================================================== BC Bee, Beekeeping Supply: (Canadian) Mason bee cocoons $22.50 per 10 cocoons = $2.25 per cocoon
Cardboard tubes: $14.00 for 20 = $0.70 per tube
(unknown if there are shipping costs)
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Crown bees in the US:
Mason Bee Cocoons: 20 for $29.95 US = $40.28 (Can)= $2.01 (Can) per cocoon
Phragmites tubes: 50 = 16.95 US , or $22.79 (Canadian)= $0.4558 per tube (Can)
(unknown if there are shipping costs)
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Metchosin Mason Bees:(in $ Canadian)
Mason bee Cocoons : 30 for 25 cocoons = $0.83 per cocoon
Phragmites native reed grass tubes 33 for $15.00 = $0.4545 per tube
and if they have to be mailed 33 for $20.00 = $0.60 per tube
Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world by commercial gardeners. However, many pesticides – including insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides – harm pollinators and other beneficial insects.
To help educate those in the farming and gardening industries about this toxic chemical, drugwatch.com has created a comprehensive guide with organic, and homemade; and a second guide with agricultural alternatives. please take a look:
drugwatch.com/roundup/glyphosate/ Glyphosate
Glyphosate is an herbicide used to kill weeds. It’s the active ingredient in Roundup and other weed killers, and can cause a variety of side effects. Recent lawsuits have claimed exposure to glyphosate in Roundup has led to certain cancers, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma.Alternatives to Roundup
Roundup products contain glyphosate, a chemical linked to cancer and other illnesses. Chemical alternatives to Roundup can also contain toxic ingredients, but safe alternatives to Roundup include soap, vinegar, salt or iron-based sprays, mulching and integrated weed management.
The cleaning out of the phragmites tubes in the fall produced some new and interesting species of mason bees and leaf-cutter bees. These small pollinators prefer the small diameter phragmites tubes
The first sample here, a very tiny wasp in a woolly cocoon has been identified by iNaturalist as a Club-horned wasp Subfamily Sapyginae.. I don’t know yet if these are pollinators but I suspect they are .
The next one was a half sized mason bee which came from the silvery meshed cocoons:
Similar in size is a very bronze coloured mason bee, from similar silvery meshed cocoons:
Very different cocoons are these mud encased cocoons.. I have isolated a few of these tubes to see what emerges when they hatch, so I will add photos later here
Also appearing in the phragmites tubes are leaf-cutter bees.. photos to come later
The past season was not a good one for mason bees on southern Vancouver island. Cool temperatures delayed hatching and there was poor fertilization in some of the locations . I had mason bee houses stocked with Phragmites tubes and mason bee cocoons in eight different farms of neighbours.
As I have been cleaning out the tubes and getting the cocoons in the refrigerator for storage, I have noticed a significant increase in a species of native mason bee that is much smaller than the native blue orchard bees.
Another interesting observation. was that at the bottom of the tube below the cocoons in several tubes there was a pocket of the dead but hatched parasitic mono wasps.. I cant explain that one (my best hopes would be that this smaller mason bee cocoon has some super power over the parasitic wasps…lol)
ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2015 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information
RESERVE YOUR MASON BEES NOW
Now sold out for the 2016 season- there’s always next year!
Many garden and on-line supply outlets sell cocoons of the most efficient pollinator, the mason bee, for a much higher price. I can provide them now locally until the end of March (2016 )for $6.00 per dozen as supplies last.
Mason Bees (also known as blue orchard bees) can be picked up at our farm if only a few dozen are needed or for significantly large orders we may be able to arrange for refrigerated delivery within the BC lower mainland/Vancouver Island area any time this spring. They can either be released in late February or March for early flowering peaches etc. or they can be held refrigerated until as late as June for release coinciding with the blooming times of other plants: blueberries, strawberries, apples, pears, cherries etc.
I will also be selling a limited number of packets of the local Phragmitesreed tubes for $10.00 for two dozenthis year. They can be inserted in a simply made house –- see other posts on this website for suggestions.
You can place orders now and arrange for pickup now or later by e-mailing.
NOTE OF CONCERN: As a former Biology teacher, I am concerned that websites advertising mason bees to send anywhere on the continent are making a big mistake in promoting population genetic contamination. As well as competing with local strains, introduced genetic lines could easily turn out to promote problems such as new parasite introduction and elimination of naturally evolved species . So be sure to ask your supplier where they have originated, in order to be sure you are getting bees have been cultured from natural varieties from your own area. That’s why I would sell only to Vancouver Island or the lower mainland of British Columbia. I have never bought mason bees. Fortunately I live in an agricultural are which avoids the use of pesticides, so native bees still thrive. My native mason bees from our farm found the first nest boxes I put up on their own, and it is from them that I continue to produce new cocoons each year.
Garry Fletcher: email to garryf use the at sign gmail.com (Jan. 2016)