Most hole-nesting bees are unable to make their own nesting holes so they nest in broken hollow branches, grub holes in dead trees and tree stumps, house sidings, and even the end of wind chimes. Crown Bees nesting materials offer nesting holes that are attractive to solitary hole-nesting bees.
Don’t worry, our spring mason bees and summer leafcutter bees are unable to create or chew their own nesting holes and are simply finding existing nesting holes or spaces that are just the right size for them. Hole-nesting bees use their sight and their sense of smell to find nesting holes and they prefer to nest where previous scents from bees were left behind.
To attract bees to your bee house, lightly apply our InvitaBee pheromone attractant to the front of your nesting materials. InvitaBee Plus will attract spring mason bees and InvitaBee Spray will attract our summer leafcutter bees.
Hole-nesting bees approach the bee house and use their memory and sight first to hone in on their nesting hole. Inside the nesting hole, they use their sense of smell to verify it’s their nesting hole. You may find a bee go in and out of several nesting holes to see which is theirs!
How many nesting holes do I need? Each female solitary bee needs a nesting hole to claim as her own. A female solitary bee will nest elsewhere if she can't find an available nesting hole. For Spring Mason Bees: We recommend 1 nesting hole (8mm size) ...
Will mason bees or leafcutter bees thrive in my yard? Our spring mason bees and summer leafcutter bees are easy to raise, all you need to do is make sure that you provide: Plenty of flowers: each female mason bee can visit 2,000 or more flowers per ...
Natural Reeds What size nesting hole do leafcutter bees like? Summer leafcutter bees are smaller than mason bees and prefer 6mm nesting holes. What size nesting hole do mason bees like? The spring mason bees that we carry* prefer 8mm nesting holes. ...
Can I raise mason or leafcutter bees in my greenhouse? You can raise solitary hole-nesting bees inside of your greenhouse or high-tunnel and here are our tips to ensure they have what they need to pollinate your crops. What bees need in your ...
Will my solitary bees disperse or fly off? When bees emerge they can either return to nest or fly away in search of a new nesting site, this is called dispersal. Summer leafcutter bees are more likely to disperse and we sell a higher quantity of ...