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Bee hotels are those little collections of hollow stems or holes drilled in a block of wood set out in sunny, secluded locations in the garden meant to provide nesting opportunities for solitary bees & wasps. Those important, native pollinators are in decline mostly due to loss of habitat-- not only fewer flowers around but also fewer nesting sites...
I post this not so much to suggest providing the hotels, but more to warn about being too fastidious in cleaning up the garden of all those dead stems of last year's growth and dead trees. Those hollow stems, beetle & worm holes in the dead wood and abandoned mouse dens are where the bees over-winter their eggs & larvae. By cleaning those out in the early spring (really tempting with the warm spring this year, isn't it?) we're killing off a lot of this summer's pollinators before they have a chance to emerge.
Here's a discussion of the pros& cons of bee hotels. https://extension.illinois.edu/podca...ls-goodgrowing They point out that there is precious little research on the risks & benefits of putting out bee hotels, and half of the studies show the risks of increasing opportunities for parasitic wasps to do their mischief outweigh the benefits.
Anybody have experience with bee hotels to report?
To make them successful, it's best to buy from a source trusted for using all-natural products--no synthetic glues or preservatives which may turn the bees off. Or make it yourself from scrap materials.
Location is important. Typically they want a part-sun location. It will be hotter in the hotel than the ambient temperature, so generally you want to have afternoon shade, morning sun. Sheltered from strong winds or traffic is desirable.
The hotel should be located about three feet off the ground, with native pollen sources nearby. Preferably a small bowl or tray for water also.
No, but a disused watering can in my yard became a bee storage unit. I found a bee had been shoving things into the spout, which was full of various small objects.
My patio umbrellas are moth hotels.
(This reminds me that I wanted to research bat shelters!)
To make them successful, it's best to buy from a source trusted for using all-natural products--no synthetic glues or preservatives which may turn the bees off. Or make it yourself from scrap materials.
Location is important. Typically they want a part-sun location. It will be hotter in the hotel than the ambient temperature, so generally you want to have afternoon shade, morning sun. Sheltered from strong winds or traffic is desirable.
The hotel should be located about three feet off the ground, with native pollen sources nearby. Preferably a small bowl or tray for water also.
Good advice about location & orientation, but the researchers in the sited article don't recommend the commercial items.
Have you had success with yours? Are you located urban, suburban or rural?
I've put out several over the last few years but the bugs uniformly ignore them...but I'm located rurally with many natural, large colonies of golden rod, giant ragweed & helianthus, all preferred food sources and homes for bees & wasps. I guess they prefer living in natural, luxury mansions than Cabrini-Green housing projects.
Every one or two years I make a trip over to Vancouver Island and while I'm visiting seaside towns there I collect good sized pieces of driftwood of character from the beaches. I make a point of collecting driftwood that has lots of holes and tunnels that have been drilled into the wood by sea worms. The pieces go into the flowerbeds for ornamental purposes but I have noticed that a variety of pollinating insects and bees use the pieces of driftwood for laying eggs in the holes and tunnels. So the driftwood pieces are dual purpose.
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