Saturday, September 12, 2009

Mason Bee house

I saw this in a magazine while waiting at the dentist. I thought it looked really easy and since my neighbor has an out of control bamboo patch along our boarder it would also be free. We just pulled a 2” round stalk that was growing under our siding. It went under a cement path, up our foundation and under the siding.
Mason bees are great pollinators and don’t sting. I placed this home in our plum tree.

Materials:
2 stalks of bamboo (6-8 feet)
Clippers or sharp saw
Twine (I used some twill tape)

Directions:
Cut the bamboo into segments. The magazine said every 6 inches. But I cut it just above the joint so the bee would have somewhere to nestle. So the segments are different lengths. I also used clippers when I should have used a saw on the larger parts. So mine is a little raggedy.
Bundle the bamboo together, wrapping the twine two times around before tying off.
Place bundle in crotch of a tree, somewhere it is protected.

No comments: