# Mason bee tubes



## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

At first I thought it was just "houses" for these tubes:

http://www.territorialseed.com/product/31/176

But it says they're polypropylene? And they look like a solid block, not separate straws?


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## Keith Benson (Feb 17, 2003)

dcross said:


> But it says they're polypropylene? And they look like a solid block, not separate straws?


They are solid block, it seems like there's no way to get in there and clean out parasites or mites or anything.

Keith


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

I've not used his product, and I am very skeptical of the practicality
and utility of any plastic tube versus paper, paper/cardboard, 
bamboo, or other non-plastic and/or non-metallic tubes.

Let me explain. Many, many moons ago, McDonald's gave out cardboard
straws with their milkshakes. They were the "perfect" size for Osmia,
7mm inside diameter, and about 6 inches long. Better than that, they 
were available in bulk, so one could pick up a dozen or more when buying 
one milkshake, or slip the manager a few bucks for a box of 1000.

In the late 1980s, they switched to plastic. Plastic did not work as well,
moisture condensed inside the tubes, and hatch-out rates plummeted.
Dr. Suzanne Batra of the USDA ran some tests, and verified that plastic
was contra-indicated for Osmia tubes. 

Perhaps the plastic used for this product can "breathe", but the basic
problem I would see with them would be cleaning the things. The paper
tubes are expendable and dirt cheap, so one can replace them every
year (when washing cocoons) or replace them when they start to look
"drity", re-filling the cardboard tubes (pretty cheap) as required. 

But how and when does one clean these plastic tube sets? 
Given that the tubes are always either holding cocoons, or are 
"in use" by active bees, I don't see when one could do this.

Further, the claim made by this vendor that cardboard tubes can
be penetrated by parasitic wasps is false. The cardboard tubes
sold by Knox Cellars and others provide excellent protection.
(The old McDonald's straws were too thin to protect against the 
wasps, but they haven't been around for decades.)


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## Keith Benson (Feb 17, 2003)

Jim Fischer said:


> I've not used his product, and I am very skeptical of the practicality
> and utility of any plastic tube versus paper, paper/cardboard,
> bamboo, or other non-plastic and/or non-metallic tubes.


This is why I asked I asked, not only do you have to have one set of the stuff clean and ready to go the next year and rotate them, but it really struck me as problematic in terms of the tubes breathing and whatnot.

I missed the boat on some the things I wanted to do to get into alternative pollinators this year, they'll be collecting my equipment for next year and didn't want to buy things will only make life harder.

Keith


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Keith:

As long as the fruit blooms are not over, you have not "missed the boat"
on getting a population started. I think Bjorn said he had a large number
of tubes, and if you have tubes, you can make PVC deployment canisters
like the ones I make to get them out there.

If you are lazy, you can buy 1-gallon paint cans for about $1 each,
but they would need at least a drain/weep hole drilled in them for
moisture issues, and one must jury-rigg something to hang the cans
so they hang mostly level.


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