# Mason Bee harvest report 2010: Four different nesting systems in Seattle



## solitaryb

Hi Seattleite,
Thats a wonderful amount of useful detail, thanks.

I have done a similar analysis of my bee habitats in France this year, although comparing my different home-made systems. I started with 400 bees (_Osmia cornuta_), although I wasn't sure of the exact number of females, and ended up with over 800. However due to my experiments I probably lost as many due to parasites (mites, _Cacoxenous Indagator_, small ichneumon flies and a bizarre new cocoon eating larvae) and some avoidable some humidity issues. Now I have learnt what I have, many of the losses can be avoided next year. (In 2008 my harvest was about 110)

I had short and long drill blocks, my two bee observation box designs, paper straws of different lengths and widths, reeds, hogweed and Japanese knotweed. I will provide/blog the results when I get a chance to analyse them.

Just a quick question - my females can come in all sizes, how can you be certain of your numbers? I assume these are _Osmia lignaria_? Are the differences very clear in these species.

...and speaking of species, do you have several or are these figures just for one?

...oh yes, and 'dispersal rate' how do you measure it?

Thanks again for the info - its really useful.


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## Omie

solitaryb said:


> I had short and long drill blocks, my two bee observation box designs, paper straws of different lengths and widths, reeds, hogweed and Japanese knotweed.


Can you please give me a few hints and tips for making the Japanese knotweed tubes? We have a LOT of this invasive plant growing along the roadsides in my town.


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## Seattleite

Hi SolitaryB, this data is for only one species, _*Osmia lignaria propinqua*_. I have set out trap nests for summer species to see what else might be in the area, but so far I haven't found any--just this one species.

The numbers on the *M/F counts* are a bit blurry. The females are larger than the males and easy to spot, so I count the number of large cocoons as females. All the rest that are much smaller I count as males. With this classification, it's possible that there are some smaller females mixed in with the males. 

For *dispersal rate*, I measured two things: 1) How many females I started with and 2) How many stayed to lay eggs in the nest blocks. I hung the houses where it was easy for me to view them with a flashlight. Once a week, I went outside with a strong flashlight and examined the nesting holes to count how many females were active and how many tubes had been filled.

I counted for seven weeks from April 17th to June 1st.
Week 1: 51 Females
Week 2: 51 
Week 3: 49
Week 4: 39
Week 5: 24
Week 6: 12
Week 7: 0

Not all the bees emerged at once..there were still a few emerging well into May. So most likely these numbers include some females dying off and being replaced by recently emerged females.

If 51 of 150 females stayed to nest...then that means 67% of them dispersed -- flew away, died, or otherwise abandoned the nest.


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## Seattleite

Pictures posted here: 

http://s1126.photobucket.com/albums/l608/seattleite1/


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## solitaryb

Omie said:


> Can you please give me a few hints and tips for making the Japanese knotweed tubes? We have a LOT of this invasive plant growing along the roadsides in my town.


Take a look at the ten minute 'road trip' video I made on harvesting it at the start of this year. Mason bee habitats: Japanese Knotweed. At the time of the video I hadn't identified it, but had already used it successfully the previous year. 

People may think it's pesky, but in fact it turns out to be a great resource for people starting out because it doesn't take a lot of time to cut and set up, it is much more easily breakable (than bamboo) in Autumn for when you want to count and disinfect the tunnels and of course it is perfectly renewable / biodegradable and in plentiful supply.


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## BobOlallaWa

solitaryb said:


> Take a look at the ten minute 'road trip' video I made on harvesting it at the start of this year. Mason bee habitats: Japanese Knotweed. At the time of the video I hadn't identified it, but had already used it successfully the previous year.
> 
> People may think it's pesky, but in fact it turns out to be a great resource for people starting out because it doesn't take a lot of time to cut and set up, it is much more easily breakable (than bamboo) in Autumn for when you want to count and disinfect the tunnels and of course it is perfectly renewable / biodegradable and in plentiful supply.


Be very careful using the knotweed. Don't let any part of the plant stay on the ground. If it gets started in your landscape you may never get rid of it. I fought that stuff forever along the rights of ways while working road maintenance. Mowing, digging, chemical, covering, or anything else controlled that stuff. That is why it is listed as a noxious weed.


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## Omie

Thank you for that knotweed video.

Yes I would be very careful to not get it started in my yard.

That japanese knotweed grows by the* ton* along the roadsides not even a half mile from my house.
This summer I saw GAZILLIONS of honeybees all over it- wow they really went to town on that plant. I realize it is a 'bad' invasive species, but the bees sure love it!


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## Bill C Beekeeper

Nice information!!


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## Omie

On my walk today I passed by the huge stands of Japanese knotweed alongside the road.
Thanks SolitaryB! I checked them out and now that they are dry and leafless for the winter, I saw how perfect they will be for gathering up as nesting tubes with varying inner dimensions. Perfect, and easy to cut. Your video was very helpful!
I will return on the next sunny calm day and cut bunches of sections, enough to fill several large empty cans for use as nesting boxes next Spring.
I'm looking forward to seeing who likes which ones! 
I took some pictures of it when it was blooming this summer, since it was covered in THOUSANDS of honeybees!:









You can see four girls hard at work here:


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## Omie

I went out today and harvested about 80 tubes of the Japanese knotweed in various diameters for use next year. It was easy and fun! I was able to cut them with a heavy kitchen scissors.
Kind of pleasant actually- it was 40F degrees and breezy but sunny, and the knotweed area was right next to a rushing stream, so i listened to the pleasant sound of babbling water as i gathered reeds. Felt rather medieval somehow! 

Got a nice bagful, but they are wet so i've laid them out to dry for a few days before storing them for next Spring. All I'll need is 3 or 4 large coffee or juice cans, or a couple of simple wooden boxes to stack the reeds in and hang them up next Spring.


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## BorderBee

Just thought I would post my cocoon numbers for 2010 as well. It was a bit of a dreary spring this side of the border too. Seems like a 2.5 fold increase is about what everyone here saw and my results were the same. 

Started 2010 my second year of mason bees with 45 cocoons. Total cocoons harvested and in good shape for the 2011 spring is 110. For an increase of 2.44x, much lower than the 4.5x increase I saw in 2009. Hopefully the 2011 spring is much nicer, as I type this our crocus flowers are blooming. Which should mean only another month until the Cherry tree does and it will be time to put the bees out


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