A couple of years ago I posted about our Belle de Boscop apple tree not flowering. Well, after some remedial measures, we are thrilled to see it covered in blossoms this year. Our other two apple trees are in bloom as is the neighbor's pear tree. Is there anything we can do to attract pollinators? So far we haven't seen any. Can one rent a single hive in Vancouver?
Read this great article on attracting pollinators: http://www.cwf-fcf.org/en/what-we-do/habitat/gardening-for-wildlife/animals/insects/bees-and-other-pollinators.html
Thanks for the replies. We bought 20 mason bees yesterday and will be putting them out at the end of the week when the weather warms up a bit. Fingers crossed!
I assume that the mason bees are refrigerated to keep them from hatching. If that is the case, you might want to hatch them indoors in a hatching box with the exit temporarily closed. Then they will be ready to fly when you put them outside and open the exit. My mason bees hatched in early April.
Thanks for the tip and yes, they're in the fridge. To clarify, you removed them from the fridge, placed them in their 'house', and then let that sit out of the fridge for a few days to acclimatize them? And how are they doing now with this cool weather?
Acclimitization is not necessary for mason bees. I just put them out when the fruit trees are just beginning to bloom and let them do their thing. They are native to this climate; so they just find shelter during cool weather and wait for warmer temperatures to return. A lot of them are already depositing pollen in the tube houses set out for that purpose, and they use the tubes as shelter.
