Thursday, July 31, 2008

Make homes for native bees.

A simple way to make some homes for solitary native bees and other insects is to get a big piece of wood, preferably a chunky post or pillar and drill holes in it about 4-6 mm wide for the bees and some a bit bigger for wasps and spiders.

The holes can be on all sides and be 2-3 cm deep. If you don't have a drill maybe try hitting a fat nail in then pulling it back out.
Some wasps can actually chew through the wood a little bit or may use mud to make a cosy coccoon for its babies.

The bees are good pollinators for your garden. Wasps are predatory on caterpillars and insect eggs and some even eat spiders.
This is a good website for native bees.
http://www.zeta.org.au/~anbrc/bluebandedbees.html
http://www.zeta.org.au/~anbrc/beesinyourarea.html

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You have some good information about some simple ideas that people can easily do to encourage bees in th egarden.
Having some patches of bare earth, not all mulched, is also good for those that nest in the ground.