Help Pollinators Help Us
Pollinators are key to our production of fruits and vegetables. If you are old enough, you probably remember seeing honey bees in your yard. Unfortunately today, we have a growing shortage of honey bees worldwide. There is something you can do to counteract this shortage of honey bees other than becoming a beekeeper. Your part in the solution is really quite simple.
Colony Collapse Disorder was first recognized in honey bee colonies in 2006. It is a mysterious plague that destroys honey bee colonies. CCD occurs when the majority of worker bees in a bee colony disappear, leaving behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees. Several possible causes of CCD have been investigated. The possible causes of CCD may be a complex of factors including: pesticides, pathogens, climate change, migratory beekeeping, lost genetic diversity in industrial apiculture, malnutrition, electromagnetic radiation and GMO crops. In the year ending April 1st, 2020, beekeepers lost 44% of their colonies. This was the second largest rate of loss since the surveys began in 2006.One simple solution to the shortage of honey bees is to increase the numbers of mason bees in our environment. Mason bees do the job of pollination more effectively than honeybees. Fortunately, you don’t need to buy mason bees. They occur naturally in most areas. All you have to do is provide a home for the mason bees.
Mason bees do not live in colonies like honey bees (Apis) or bumblebees (Bombus). Instead, they are solitary bees. Each female mason bee is a queen, being able to produce offspring. There are no worker bees. Each queen has to do her own work. They are called mason bees because they create nests for their young in cracks in rocks or other natural tubes. The female gathers food to place in the nest, lays an egg and then seals up the cell with mud - like a mason using mortar with bricks. There are many species of mason bee and they are all members of the genus Osmia. There are 140 species of Osmia in North America. Mason bees are a little smaller than a honey bee and carry pollen on their belly rather than on their legs like honey bees. 
Osmia cornifrons by Beatriz Moisset
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
In spring, the male mason bees exit their cocoons first. They wait for the females to emerge and have even been known to help the females out of their cocoons. The females mate with one or several males. After mating the males soon die. Then the females begin gathering food for their nests.
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| Mason bee egg with food mass by Red58bill |
Mason bee females do not excavate their own nests. They find naturally occurring tubes or cracks - in hollow twigs, woodpecker holes or abandoned nests of wood boring beetles, for example. The material used to plug the nest can be clay, mud, grit or chewed plant material. Many trips are needed to complete a pollen/nectar provision mass. Once complete, she backs into the hole to lay a single egg. Then she creates a partition of mud that serves as the back of the next cell. The process continues until she has filled the cavity, usually creating five to eight cells each containing an egg and a food mass. Now she can move on to the next cavity or tube. The female continues to create cells, gather food and lay eggs for the rest of her lifetime, which is about four to six weeks.
The egg hatches. The larva feeds on the provisions for weeks. Then it spins a cocoon to pupate and develop into an adult. The fully formed adult spends the winter in its insulated cocoon, emerging the following spring when the temperature reaches a consistent 55 degrees F.
Mason bees have advantages over honey bees. Osmia species are very docile and rarely sting when handled. Their sting is small and not painful. Mason bees are not affected by the mites that have devastated honey bee populations. They are not able to mate with the aggressive African bees that have moved into parts of the southern US.
Mason bees are very effective pollinators. They are a messy pollen collector when compared to a honey bee. Pollen spreads everywhere, making them more likely to pollinate flowers. Mason bees have a 95% pollination rate. Honey bees only have a 5% pollination rate. Additionally, mason bees will work in cooler and rainier weather than honey bees.
You can make a simple mason bee nest block by drilling 5/16 inch (8 mm) holes into an untreated block of wood. 5/16 inch holes are the size preferred by mason bees. Don’t drill all the way through the wood block. You want to create a protective cavern for the developing bees. Make the holes a maximum of six inches deep.
You can also buy a mason bee house. A solid and effective nest I prefer is made of bamboo tubes. The house costs around $20 to $25.
In the fall, take down your mason bee nest box and place it in a dark, unheated garage or shed. It will remain protected there during the cold winter months. In early spring, prior to the blooming of trees and other flowers, place the nest box back in its outdoor home position. 
Notice the new mud in lower right; also the emergence holes.
In the wild, mason bee nesting cavities are rarely reused. To avoid pest and disease problems, artificial nesting boxes should be thrown out after a few seasons of use, or when you see that all of the chambers have been used.
Encouraging the growth and reproduction of mason bees is inexpensive and takes very little time. You will enjoy seeing the tubes gradually sealed with mud. Most importantly, you will know that you are helping to increase the number of pollinators in our environment. Our diet would be quite boring without the fruits and vegetables pollinated by bees. Until honey bee populations bounce back consistently, we can help mason bees help us.
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