Hi there Gardener Scott! This growing season, of 2024, I caught wind of pollinators for the 2024 season's garden. I did not know that the insects that I saw last season 2023, that looked like beautiful flies were possibly bees. My lack of knowledge.... They were the main insects in my garden most of last year's 2023, growing season. The other bees were very late in 2023. This growing season I did my research and stubbed on mason bees, not only reading about them but attending a mason bee presentation at my library. I looked at the presenter's bee motels and wondered whether I could build a similar structure. I stubbed on your video this afternoon and watched it. It is right on the spot of the information and instructions I imagined in my mind. I really believe I can handle building a mason and cutter bee motel. Thanks so very much for sharing. God bless!
What a phenomenal video!! With every fact you mentioned, like you said, it's mind blowing how fascinating these creatures are. I've been wanting to make my very own bee hotel for quite some time now, and I'm so glad that spring is approaching and that I saw this video! 💐
Just look at all the commenters who probably were not going to get a bee hotel until they saw this video, and now they are, maybe for years and years into the future, too. This must make a huge difference in the world! Thanks to Gardener Scott!
This dude seriously needs more subscribers. He’s way better than any of the other gardening channels, and this shit applies to almost anyone’s gardening situation. Wether you have just a few flower pots on your porch or a massive backyard covered in raised beds.
My daughter did this as a project at her nature-based school! (Actually, I did it, technically.) But it wasn't as nice or durable as this one. (It was basically a yogurt cup with sticks in it.)
I glad you can literally make it as simple as throwing twigs inside a sheltered compartment for them. As I am legally DeafBlind and don't have connections and much in the ways of other options because of the fixed income I am on so I glad I can still do this that way.
We have solitary bees in our garden. The males sleep in the pumpkin blossoms. We call them orchard bees and I pet them, much to the irritation of my wife. Good times.
It seems every time I am scratching my head over the next gardening challenge you come out with a great idea for exactly what I was wondering about. Thanks again
I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that until about two weeks ago, my entire life I thought the rose bushes with circles cut out of the leaves were how they naturally grew! Last year I took over caring for the roses and saw the leaves growing normally and suddenly they had the iconic half circles cut out! I thought "wow what a strange behavior for a plant to exhibit halfway through its growing season...!" It wasn't until I started researching beekeeping and how to support more bees in the garden did it all finally 'click'!
I've seen both leafcutter and blue mason bees in my garden last year in addition to the honey bees. I'm allergic to honey bee venom so can't keep a hive, but have actually been wanting to get some of these more docile native species into my yard, so I'm so glad you posted this video!
We are lucky to see a 3 or 4 bees all summer long. Definitely decreased over the last 20 years. We planted more flowers last year but didn’t see an increase in bees so this year we are going to triple what we planted last year in hopes of attracting more bees. I live in New Mexico just outside of Albuquerque. Very sad to see little or no bees 🐝
Same here in WA. So little bees anymore. A decent amount of a holes with wings (yellow jackets mostly). I did see a handful of Mason bees last year versus the year before so that was encouraging. I am doing like you and planting more flowers to try to help encourage more to hang around I'd they are around.
I'm about to set out my first attempt at a bee hotel. I stocked it with the dried stalks of day lilies I cut last fall. Fingers crossed that it goes well.
Here in Florida we have Carpenter Bees that are the size of large Bumble Bees. They bore perpendicular to the wood grain and bore about a 1/2" diameter hole, but only about 1" deep. I imagine they sting, but I do not want to find out the hard way. I respect them, as my older brother learned to do. At age 3 or 4, I stuck my nose into a red tulip to see how pretty they smelled. A Bumble Bee was inside. I shrieked and took off, running. He started to chase me. The back door was locked. He was still after me! So, I ran to the front door crying in panic. My older brother came out the back door, laughing at me. The bee heard his laugh, became agitated at him and made a bee line to the back side of Frank's knee and stung him, instead of me! His leg swelled so big, he could not bend it! These bees are smart and they are not defenseless, as me and Frank learned. Thanks for this Video. I plan on building a bee hotel out of a cane of Bamboo.
Thanks for the humorous (and painful) memory, Elbert. Most solitary bees are less threatening than hives of bumblebees and honeybees. Enjoy your new hotel.
greetings from Denmark! I've got a somewhat large garden, and my girlfriend and me, have decided to make a bee friendly garden, this video was immensly helpful. Thanks a bunch!
I was so stupid to thing there were only honey bees! Thank you again for all the knowledge you are willing to share with us! Love your channel and all the work you do!
I like that you are trying to bring awareness to helping our native bees. I am on the same quest myself and hence, found your video. That said, I do agree with Crown Bees that these sorts of holes are not re-usable year after year, as pests and disease take up shop. (similar things plague Monarchs, with which I am very familiar, having raised hundreds of them). Please educate yourself on this topic as if folks continue to use the same holes over and over, you are inviting bees to make nests where their young will die in increasing numbers as the years go on until survival is nearly nothing
I grew some fennel the past two years. It got to six feet in height the second year. It was amazing to see the different type of solitary bees and wasps it attracted when it flowered. All sizes, shapes, and colors. The blue and purple salvias and sages also attract a wide range of solitary bees. So I made a couple of bee hotels and I learned that the bees may take a couple of years to really start moving into the holes. Here in Georgia we get a lot of the ground nesting bees as well in the spring . There will be clouds of them about 3 feet above the ground. They never bother you . Then after a few weeks they just disappear.
Good observation, Joel. Fennel is an amazing plant for attracting beneficial insects. I love going out to see my salvia; I often see five or more species of bees there.
I need to do this. I have over a dozen bumblebees hanging around. When I set up the garden I kept the honeysuckle vines near where the plants will be growing. They don't seem to mind my working in the area.
Great video! I will make some version of what you suggest, this summer. Reading the many comments, thanks for your great patience and reverence for teaching. Answering questions must sometimes take longer than making the videos.
You keep giving me things to do!!! I'm already busy thank you! Lol! Every time I watch your videos I get all excited and ready to do it right then. So, you're really keeping me busy with really helpful things to do. Just have to tease you... I'm trying to catch up with all your videos and since I love everything about nature and gardening, I'm finding all this great information inspiring. Thanks once again for your calm demeanor. It's so refreshing. Can't wait to make the bee hotel!
I just found this video, and it is awesome! I have been trying to figure out how to make bee houses for my yard this summer. I have spent considerable time looking at bee houses online, but the vast majority of the ones I found did not last according to the reviews, and are too costly to take a chance on. Now I know how to make solid bee houses that will last for more than one season! Thank you so much!
Wow ! We would make great neighbors Gardner scott! I’ve had a bug hotel (big one), for about 4 yrs. And make mason bee trays. And put them in boxes. PLUS. Today, I made your awesome cattle fence hoops for my raised garden beds. Then shade clothed them. They are awesome and so sturdy! So glad I went with the cattle fencing. When I was bending them with the hubby. I kept saying, “wait gardner scott said do it like this. Do you need to watch his video?l 🤣. Love your channel! Such a good teacher! 👍 Thanks so much!!
We have lots of native bees as evidenced on our native flowering plants. All sizes! We also have lots of wood branches and logs! Sounds like a project for me! Thanks for the information and background as that is important to me. Best Regards
Thanks for this video. Maybe thats the reason no bees used my bee hotel. Looks like i have a new project for the weekend. Great channel, i like the way you explain everything, so many things in my garden make now sense to me.
Great, useful tutorial for complete novices like me. Definitely going to give this a try. Of course, the big question that the video doesn't address is "How much do we charge them per night!" 😀
Thank You for doing a video on this! Very good information.I observed bees in my garden in previous years and was astounded by how many different kinds of bees I saw. I will be putting a bee hotel up this year.
Great video. Gonna try this when weathers a bit warmer. Seems very inexpensive. We did a homemade Bee Bath last year, with stuff we already had around. It was a huge success with the bees & other pollinators, so I’m sure this bee house will work perfect. Thx
Good to know, thanks! I have seeds stratifying now with plans of adding Paw-Paw trees to the property and have been considering options of attracting pollinators. This is something I will use for sure!
We purchased a couple of bee hotels a few months ago and I was excited to see the holes start to be used. The highlight was being able to watch a variety of bee I had never seen before using one of the holes to lay her eggs. The 2 I have are not mounted in the ideal place (too high and back to the morning sun) but it was the best I could do in my current garden. We are moving later in the year and I have plans for a raised, enclosed garden bed which will also be perfect for mounting my bee hotels. Love your videos! Thank you.
This was really good. There’s another video on the subject that I like that takes a slightly different approach. It’s on the umami garden UA-cam channel. It apparently comes from Japan and I highly recommend it as a companion to this video. I highly recommend both.
I purchased Eastern Mason Bees, i made the wholes pencil with , and all the way threw , and put straws inside the wholes so i could remove the eggs , i found out a good idea is to put screen over the opening , squirrels like to eat the bee eggs.
Well said! Native pollinators like solitary bees are so much more efficient at pollination and simpler to accommodate their honey-making counterparts. Good tutorial and explanation!
Awesome video and very informative! I have leaf cutter bees! The first time I saw the holes in my rose leaves, I thought my son had done them with a hole punch! 🙈 Then I googled it and found out about leaf cutters! ♥️
Good question. I've never seen a good answer, but I think it's similar to how a green grasshopper finds young green plants, and earthworms find rich soil, and robins find a spot to nest under my deck. The bees are looking for a good spot and suddenly there's a hotel with lots of rooms to choose from.
I tried this and got the dreaded "carpenter bees"...they started to burrow into my 4x4 posts of my front porch and to make holes in some of my wood siding, that had to be replace with aluminum. Love bees, just not these destruction machines, so "bee" careful. Just a side note...the plant that brings the most interest in my garden...from honey bees to black mud-dauber wasps and everything in between...Oregano when flowering.
I've started collecting wood for these to make with my grandkids How dry should the wood be? How small is too smalll for a bee hotel? Also, which direction should the box face? Facing south for warmth? In a shaded area? Near gardens?
Good for you. It will be a fun project. The wood should be dry, about what would be used in a fire. I don't think there is a too small hotel; if the hole is the right size for a bee even a single hole will do the job. It's best to face the box toward the morning sun. It can be in the shade in the afternoon but needs to warm up right away in the morning. At the edge of a yard or garden is a great location.
Excellent topic and video, Scott! This would bee perfect for my polinator flower garden. ;-/ I have dedicated 1 of my 4 raised beds to bee and butterfly friendly flowers. I now have a summer project...
Thank you for the amazing information! I was worried the black birds were still managing to eat my radishes through the bird net but I actually think its leafcutter bees!
Good information might be something I think about doing. I believe bumble bees burrow in the ground so that shouldn't bring any of those if I'm right about that. Actually like the look of your bee hotel nice work.
@@GardenerScott awesome I just wanted to make sure before I thought about making it. Me and bumble bees don't get along very lol 😂 I lost it good hat while I was using a riding lawn mower I went over the hive and I got stung in the back of the head ran over the cap with the mower. It was probably funny to watch wish I had that on video. Thanks for your fast response to my question.
Is there any chances of wasps or other pesky species attempting to utilize this instead of solitary bees? Bothersome bees/hornets/wasps are a big problem around here 😥
Yes there is that potential. After the hotel is mounted, I'll fill the top space to reduce the chance of wasps making a nest. I do that all around the garden, trying to knock out wasp nests before they grow.
I heard once, that you should drill the holes crosswise to the wood fibers, so that they are not that long inside the hole, that prevents the wings of the bees from getting damaged. I think that's plausible so that's how I build my "beehotels". Otherwise great content as always :) my father is a beekeeper, so I know for sure, that wild bees do 10 times the work in polonating as honeybees do. Looking forward to the next video :) Regards from Germany
Thanks, Tobias. It sounds plausible, but I don't think the wood fibers are that important. We can make it easier for them with smooth holes, but if it's not suitable they just won't use it. In the wild these bees are laying eggs in ragged holes in logs and trees.
Gardener Scott: The fiber direction is important. If you drill lenghtwise, the holes tend to crack. Then these holes are less used by insects. That's atleast the experience we have here at the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Germany), but we don't exactly know why insects have this preference.
The Crown Bees website has a lot of great info and gear for keeping solitary bees. If you sign up for their newsletter they send you emails that let you know how to care for your bees at different times of the year ❤️ 🐝
Looks nice! I’ve heard that you are supposed to use removable tubes because you have to clean the houses every year- something about bacteria or something that will end up killing then bees. Have you heard of this?
Thanks, Alice. Bee tubes are an option. They add cost to this process and added labor though. It's one of those scenarios where the solution may be aiding the problem. By having a bundle of bee tubes close together, any parasites or infections can easily pass to the bees nearby, which means you have to regularly change out the tubes. I like the rustic bee hotel as a more natural alternative. I spread the holes out and leave space between them to reduce possible infection. Over time, these holes should be drilled out to clean them and new holes should be drilled.
So, it’s been two years since the video, how has your bee hotel worked. What kind of bees do you have? So people have recommended putting chicken wire on the face of the box to keep out birds looking for an easy snack. Love your channel.
Hi G.S., Nice idea. I know bees are very helpful for your yard, but am usually annoyed by the bad ones, going for the house and such. And those ground bees in my flower beds. Still having trouble working with them. Can't easily maintain those particular areas too well. Back to the Bee Hotel... How do you know when it's time to change out logs, or do you do that? Thanks in advance.
Thanks, Jeff. I do recommend changing out logs. As you may have noticed in the video, many of the logs just have a few holes in them. In the next year I'll drill out the used holes and drill a few new ones. The bees normally won't reuse holes. If the hotel proves popular, each log is good for two or three years before needing to be replaced.
Hi there Gardener Scott! This growing season, of 2024, I caught wind of pollinators for the 2024 season's garden. I did not know that the insects that I saw last season 2023, that looked like beautiful flies were possibly bees. My lack of knowledge.... They were the main insects in my garden most of last year's 2023, growing season. The other bees were very late in 2023. This growing season I did my research and stubbed on mason bees, not only reading about them but attending a mason bee presentation at my library. I looked at the presenter's bee motels and wondered whether I could build a similar structure. I stubbed on your video this afternoon and watched it. It is right on the spot of the information and instructions I imagined in my mind. I really believe I can handle building a mason and cutter bee motel. Thanks so very much for sharing. God bless!
What a phenomenal video!! With every fact you mentioned, like you said, it's mind blowing how fascinating these creatures are. I've been wanting to make my very own bee hotel for quite some time now, and I'm so glad that spring is approaching and that I saw this video! 💐
Just look at all the commenters who probably were not going to get a bee hotel until they saw this video, and now they are, maybe for years and years into the future, too. This must make a huge difference in the world! Thanks to Gardener Scott!
This dude seriously needs more subscribers. He’s way better than any of the other gardening channels, and this shit applies to almost anyone’s gardening situation. Wether you have just a few flower pots on your porch or a massive backyard covered in raised beds.
Good point. Just subbed
I'm a Montessori teacher and this is a wonderful project for our school garden.
Yes, it would be. 👍
I'm looking for a teacher in my area to build a water bottle green bouse for their garden. Such a great lesson in sustainability!
My daughter did this as a project at her nature-based school! (Actually, I did it, technically.) But it wasn't as nice or durable as this one. (It was basically a yogurt cup with sticks in it.)
I glad you can literally make it as simple as throwing twigs inside a sheltered compartment for them. As I am legally DeafBlind and don't have connections and much in the ways of other options because of the fixed income I am on so I glad I can still do this that way.
We have solitary bees in our garden. The males sleep in the pumpkin blossoms. We call them orchard bees and I pet them, much to the irritation of my wife. Good times.
Those are good times. I like showing kids how easy it is to pet a bee.
Anything that pisses of the wife is worth doing often....
I really like the fact that you're a gardener who also enjoys building things. Projects like this help me dream of summer.
Absolutely. I like doing these projects in winter because it helps bring me closer to summer.
It seems every time I am scratching my head over the next gardening challenge you come out with a great idea for exactly what I was wondering about. Thanks again
Keep scratching. Maybe your brain waves are helping my creative methods.
I raise bees in my balkony and it's so fun to watch them ! Thank you for inspriring me to make such a project! Now I learn even more about them.
I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that until about two weeks ago, my entire life I thought the rose bushes with circles cut out of the leaves were how they naturally grew! Last year I took over caring for the roses and saw the leaves growing normally and suddenly they had the iconic half circles cut out! I thought "wow what a strange behavior for a plant to exhibit halfway through its growing season...!" It wasn't until I started researching beekeeping and how to support more bees in the garden did it all finally 'click'!
Note ;..Never use treated lumber.
Great video
I've seen both leafcutter and blue mason bees in my garden last year in addition to the honey bees. I'm allergic to honey bee venom so can't keep a hive, but have actually been wanting to get some of these more docile native species into my yard, so I'm so glad you posted this video!
So glad to help. They are definitely a calm, docile alternative.
@@GardenerScott I am as well so I am glad they are good alternative, even to us who are allergic to honey and wasps.
We are lucky to see a 3 or 4 bees all summer long. Definitely decreased over the last 20 years. We planted more flowers last year but didn’t see an increase in bees so this year we are going to triple what we planted last year in hopes of attracting more bees. I live in New Mexico just outside of Albuquerque. Very sad to see little or no bees 🐝
Agreed ! Fewer Bees & Sad
Pauline - plant a New Mexico fern bush. Bees love it. Easy to grow
Same here in WA. So little bees anymore. A decent amount of a holes with wings (yellow jackets mostly). I did see a handful of Mason bees last year versus the year before so that was encouraging. I am doing like you and planting more flowers to try to help encourage more to hang around I'd they are around.
I'm about to set out my first attempt at a bee hotel. I stocked it with the dried stalks of day lilies I cut last fall. Fingers crossed that it goes well.
Here in Florida we have Carpenter Bees that are the size of large Bumble Bees. They bore perpendicular to the wood grain and bore about a 1/2" diameter hole, but only about 1" deep. I imagine they sting, but I do not want to find out the hard way. I respect them, as my older brother learned to do. At age 3 or 4, I stuck my nose into a red tulip to see how pretty they smelled. A Bumble Bee was inside. I shrieked and took off, running. He started to chase me. The back door was locked. He was still after me! So, I ran to the front door crying in panic. My older brother came out the back door, laughing at me. The bee heard his laugh, became agitated at him and made a bee line to the back side of Frank's knee and stung him, instead of me! His leg swelled so big, he could not bend it! These bees are smart and they are not defenseless, as me and Frank learned. Thanks for this Video. I plan on building a bee hotel out of a cane of Bamboo.
Thanks for the humorous (and painful) memory, Elbert. Most solitary bees are less threatening than hives of bumblebees and honeybees. Enjoy your new hotel.
@@GardenerScott Thanks!
Reading is good. Thanks for promoting books.
Glad to do it.
greetings from Denmark! I've got a somewhat large garden, and my girlfriend and me, have decided to make a bee friendly garden, this video was immensly helpful. Thanks a bunch!
Thanks for the near-zero waste idea. After your review, I bought the bee book.
That's great! I'm sure you'll like it.
I was so stupid to thing there were only honey bees!
Thank you again for all the knowledge you are willing to share with us!
Love your channel and all the work you do!
Wow. You are a great narrator, mr. Gardener. Bad in place I live there is not a lot of solitary bees specimen around.
So excited to make this tomorrow. It’s just what my garden needed 😁
Enjoy it!
verrrry interesting information thanks Scott have a nice day !
I like that you are trying to bring awareness to helping our native bees. I am on the same quest myself and hence, found your video. That said, I do agree with Crown Bees that these sorts of holes are not re-usable year after year, as pests and disease take up shop. (similar things plague Monarchs, with which I am very familiar, having raised hundreds of them). Please educate yourself on this topic as if folks continue to use the same holes over and over, you are inviting bees to make nests where their young will die in increasing numbers as the years go on until survival is nearly nothing
That is the EXACT material and technique I use for making my raised beds! 2' by 6' by 11" deep.
I had no idea there were solitary bees. Gonna make one of these this wknd.
I grew some fennel the past two years. It got to six feet in height the second year. It was amazing to see the different type of solitary bees and wasps it attracted when it flowered. All sizes, shapes, and colors.
The blue and purple salvias and sages also attract a wide range of solitary bees.
So I made a couple of bee hotels and I learned that the bees may take a couple of years to really start moving into the holes.
Here in Georgia we get a lot of the ground nesting bees as well in the spring . There will be clouds of them about 3 feet above the ground. They never bother you . Then after a few weeks they just disappear.
Good observation, Joel. Fennel is an amazing plant for attracting beneficial insects. I love going out to see my salvia; I often see five or more species of bees there.
I JUST started making a bee hotel. lol Thanks to you, I now know about them & am greatly more informed. TY so much!!
Awesome details and explanation! Thank you
I need to do this. I have over a dozen bumblebees hanging around. When I set up the garden I kept the honeysuckle vines near where the plants will be growing. They don't seem to mind my working in the area.
Thanks for this! Planting our first garden this year and we love this idea!!! Always looking forward to your educational uploads!
Consider it. It's pretty awesome to see the bees going in and out.
I loved it!will be sending this to my son & great-grandson for a project together !
Great video! I will make some version of what you suggest, this summer. Reading the many comments, thanks for your great patience and reverence for teaching. Answering questions must sometimes take longer than making the videos.
You keep giving me things to do!!! I'm already busy thank you! Lol! Every time I watch your videos I get all excited and ready to do it right then. So, you're really keeping me busy with really helpful things to do. Just have to tease you... I'm trying to catch up with all your videos and since I love everything about nature and gardening, I'm finding all this great information inspiring. Thanks once again for your calm demeanor. It's so refreshing. Can't wait to make the bee hotel!
I just found this video, and it is awesome! I have been trying to figure out how to make bee houses for my yard this summer. I have spent considerable time looking at bee houses online, but the vast majority of the ones I found did not last according to the reviews, and are too costly to take a chance on. Now I know how to make solid bee houses that will last for more than one season! Thank you so much!
Wow ! We would make great neighbors Gardner scott! I’ve had a bug hotel (big one), for about 4 yrs. And make mason bee trays. And put them in boxes. PLUS. Today, I made your awesome cattle fence hoops for my raised garden beds. Then shade clothed them. They are awesome and so sturdy! So glad I went with the cattle fencing. When I was bending them with the hubby. I kept saying, “wait gardner scott said do it like this. Do you need to watch his video?l 🤣. Love your channel! Such a good teacher! 👍 Thanks so much!!
Your friend’s are nice but I far prefer the rustic look! Inspiring. 👍🇨🇦❤️
We have lots of native bees as evidenced on our native flowering plants. All sizes! We also have lots of wood branches and logs! Sounds like a project for me! Thanks for the information and background as that is important to me. Best Regards
Fascinating! Simple genius plan. I think I will try this in my yard. Thank you Gardner Scott!
Thanks for providing an informative video-next project is to make several of these hotels for my very large garden.
Thanks for this video. Maybe thats the reason no bees used my bee hotel. Looks like i have a new project for the weekend.
Great channel, i like the way you explain everything, so many things in my garden make now sense to me.
I have considered this quite a few times! Thanks for the reminder Scott
You're welcome. 🙂
Great, useful tutorial for complete novices like me. Definitely going to give this a try. Of course, the big question that the video doesn't address is "How much do we charge them per night!" 😀
Amazing project mr Scott! It’ll be super groovy to see an update video in the future to see how the bee hotel has worked out for you!
Thanks! I am definitely planning that video.
I love your bee hotel! Natural design 😆 Very smart!
That was really nice making a 🐝 hotel. I bet no one thought about it before..Thanks
I’ve had one for 4 years. I also make mason bee trays and put in boxes. They are solitary bees.
Thank You for doing a video on this! Very good information.I observed bees in my garden in previous years and was astounded by how many different kinds of bees I saw. I will be putting a bee hotel up this year.
That's great!
Thank you very much I am one of those people that love bees and I want to do what I can to protect them in my garden
Fabulous information on bees. Thank you!
Thanks for the video. I love native bees.
That is way cool , Awesome , Cheers , I’m making some .
So informative, thank you so much!!
Good afternoon Scott. Great project. Do you need to clean the holes after each season or do the bees take care of that process?
Really good question, was wondering that too.
Great video. Gonna try this when weathers a bit warmer. Seems very inexpensive. We did a homemade Bee Bath last year, with stuff we already had around. It was a huge success with the bees & other pollinators, so I’m sure this bee house will work perfect. Thx
Thanks. I'm planning to add a bee bath under this hotel when I mount it.
Inspired to give this ago now. Thanks.
What a great idea! I also just cut a few trees down and this is a wonderful project to do with all the wood I have laying around. Thanks for sharing!
Glad to help.
Thanks Scott! I’ve been looking for a way to create a bee haven.
Absolutely loved this one Scot thanks buddy
Now I know what to do with those young trees I cut down. This will be great for my apples and cherries.
Good to know, thanks! I have seeds stratifying now with plans of adding Paw-Paw trees to the property and have been considering options of attracting pollinators. This is something I will use for sure!
Paw paws from seed. Good for you! 👍
thanks for the video.. !! Found you from GAB.. :)
We purchased a couple of bee hotels a few months ago and I was excited to see the holes start to be used. The highlight was being able to watch a variety of bee I had never seen before using one of the holes to lay her eggs. The 2 I have are not mounted in the ideal place (too high and back to the morning sun) but it was the best I could do in my current garden. We are moving later in the year and I have plans for a raised, enclosed garden bed which will also be perfect for mounting my bee hotels. Love your videos! Thank you.
So glad to hear it's working for you. Thanks.
This was really good. There’s another video on the subject that I like that takes a slightly different approach. It’s on the umami garden UA-cam channel. It apparently comes from Japan and I highly recommend it as a companion to this video. I highly recommend both.
I purchased Eastern Mason Bees, i made the wholes pencil with , and all the way threw , and put straws inside the wholes so i could remove the eggs , i found out a good idea is to put screen over the opening , squirrels like to eat the bee eggs.
A screen can be a good idea. I'll be showing that in a future video after I put this hotel in my garden.
Very helpful and informative. Thank you
Well said! Native pollinators like solitary bees are so much more efficient at pollination and simpler to accommodate their honey-making counterparts. Good tutorial and explanation!
Thanks!
I hope you saved the sawdust for you garden or compost. I think I know what I will be making soon.
Yes! I did. I tried to hide the bag of sawdust behind the box as I filmed, but I definitely saved it.
Excellent information.
Scott, this is just fascinating. You make everything so interesting and now I really want to try this. Love your channel 🌺
Thanks!
great job, my wife would like me to build one. She a talented Aussie gardner!!
Awesome video and very informative! I have leaf cutter bees! The first time I saw the holes in my rose leaves, I thought my son had done them with a hole punch! 🙈 Then I googled it and found out about leaf cutters! ♥️
Thanks! I had to do the same thing. That's how I learned about them too.
How do they find them?
Good question. I've never seen a good answer, but I think it's similar to how a green grasshopper finds young green plants, and earthworms find rich soil, and robins find a spot to nest under my deck. The bees are looking for a good spot and suddenly there's a hotel with lots of rooms to choose from.
Going to start one in the morning. Thank you
Enjoy your project.
I tried this and got the dreaded "carpenter bees"...they started to burrow into my 4x4 posts of my front porch and to make holes in some of my wood siding, that had to be replace with aluminum. Love bees, just not these destruction machines, so "bee" careful. Just a side note...the plant that brings the most interest in my garden...from honey bees to black mud-dauber wasps and everything in between...Oregano when flowering.
Thanks for the tip. Carpenter bees can be a problem.
I've started collecting wood for these to make with my grandkids How dry should the wood be? How small is too smalll for a bee hotel? Also, which direction should the box face? Facing south for warmth? In a shaded area? Near gardens?
Good for you. It will be a fun project. The wood should be dry, about what would be used in a fire. I don't think there is a too small hotel; if the hole is the right size for a bee even a single hole will do the job. It's best to face the box toward the morning sun. It can be in the shade in the afternoon but needs to warm up right away in the morning. At the edge of a yard or garden is a great location.
I'm going to make one this weekend.
That's great!
I'm making at least one of these and have shared this with my students
Excellent topic and video, Scott! This would bee perfect for my polinator flower garden. ;-/ I have dedicated 1 of my 4 raised beds to bee and butterfly friendly flowers. I now have a summer project...
Thanks. Enjoy your new project.
thank you for so much information. you're an awesome educator. 🐝
Thank you for the amazing information! I was worried the black birds were still managing to eat my radishes through the bird net but I actually think its leafcutter bees!
I never saw them doing it, but the circular hole is easy to identify.
Nice video with very good tips, cheers from Northern BC Malvy.
Thanks. Cheers.
Excellent! I'm building one!
Great! 👍
Good information might be something I think about doing. I believe bumble bees burrow in the ground so that shouldn't bring any of those if I'm right about that. Actually like the look of your bee hotel nice work.
Thanks. Bumble bees do burrow and they live in groups, so they're not solitary bees. Yes, these hotels will not bring bumblebees.
@@GardenerScott awesome I just wanted to make sure before I thought about making it. Me and bumble bees don't get along very lol 😂 I lost it good hat while I was using a riding lawn mower I went over the hive and I got stung in the back of the head ran over the cap with the mower. It was probably funny to watch wish I had that on video. Thanks for your fast response to my question.
Awesome info 😊😊
Last year we had a problem with paper wasp, mud dabbers, and yellow jackets. We saw other bees too, however those 3 were everywhere.
They can be a problem with a hotel like this too. I'm always on the lookout and knock them down before they can be too big of a problem.
Is there any chances of wasps or other pesky species attempting to utilize this instead of solitary bees? Bothersome bees/hornets/wasps are a big problem around here 😥
Yes there is that potential. After the hotel is mounted, I'll fill the top space to reduce the chance of wasps making a nest. I do that all around the garden, trying to knock out wasp nests before they grow.
I heard once, that you should drill the holes crosswise to the wood fibers, so that they are not that long inside the hole, that prevents the wings of the bees from getting damaged. I think that's plausible so that's how I build my "beehotels". Otherwise great content as always :) my father is a beekeeper, so I know for sure, that wild bees do 10 times the work in polonating as honeybees do.
Looking forward to the next video :)
Regards from Germany
Thanks, Tobias. It sounds plausible, but I don't think the wood fibers are that important. We can make it easier for them with smooth holes, but if it's not suitable they just won't use it. In the wild these bees are laying eggs in ragged holes in logs and trees.
Gardener Scott: The fiber direction is important. If you drill lenghtwise, the holes tend to crack. Then these holes are less used by insects. That's atleast the experience we have here at the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Germany), but we don't exactly know why insects have this preference.
Man that was interesting. Bee hotel going up in my neighborhood.
The Crown Bees website has a lot of great info and gear for keeping solitary bees. If you sign up for their newsletter they send you emails that let you know how to care for your bees at different times of the year ❤️ 🐝
Thanks for the suggestion.
Looks nice! I’ve heard that you are supposed to use removable tubes because you have to clean the houses every year- something about bacteria or something that will end up killing then bees. Have you heard of this?
Thanks, Alice. Bee tubes are an option. They add cost to this process and added labor though. It's one of those scenarios where the solution may be aiding the problem. By having a bundle of bee tubes close together, any parasites or infections can easily pass to the bees nearby, which means you have to regularly change out the tubes. I like the rustic bee hotel as a more natural alternative. I spread the holes out and leave space between them to reduce possible infection. Over time, these holes should be drilled out to clean them and new holes should be drilled.
Gardener Scott ok thanks!
Thank you!
CONGRATS TO BE HIGHLIGHTED ON UA-cam TRENDING PAGE! SUBED!
Thanks! Welcome to the channel.
Wow! I never knew!! It is amazing!!! WOW
They like my standpipe sprinkler. Guess I should make something for them.
Putting one of these near a water source should make them happy.
Very good 👍
Please provide any chart for 🐝 hotel
Can you show us where you put your bee hotel? Maybe in passing on one of you other videos! Thanks Gardener Scott.
You can see it in some of my recent videos in the background by the white fence.
So, it’s been two years since the video, how has your bee hotel worked. What kind of bees do you have? So people have recommended putting chicken wire on the face of the box to keep out birds looking for an easy snack. Love your channel.
The hotel has attracted a few different types of bees. Wire is a good idea for a bird problem.
Hi G.S., Nice idea. I know bees are very helpful for your yard, but am usually annoyed by the bad ones, going for the house and such. And those ground bees in my flower beds. Still having trouble working with them. Can't easily maintain those particular areas too well. Back to the Bee Hotel... How do you know when it's time to change out logs, or do you do that? Thanks in advance.
Thanks, Jeff. I do recommend changing out logs. As you may have noticed in the video, many of the logs just have a few holes in them. In the next year I'll drill out the used holes and drill a few new ones. The bees normally won't reuse holes. If the hotel proves popular, each log is good for two or three years before needing to be replaced.
My next project! 🐝🌼😁
Excellent!