Solitary Bee Hotels – 6 or 10 tray

Full Description

Made exclusively for Green Gardener, these wall mountable, wooden Solitary Bee Hotels are made locally in the UK from sustainable FSC timber and have been designed to attract solitary bees and encourage them to nest in your garden. Available with either 6 OR 10 x removable wooden nesting trays, which can be easily removed for annual cleaning / inspection – great for kids so they can see what is happening. It also means you can “harvest cocoons” and re-locate to other areas of the garden or give them to friends. N.B. 6 Tray currently unavailable.

These Solitary Bee Hotels are designed to last. The wood has been treated with a water based, environmentally friendly water repellent treatment, which is safe for bees, but means the house will last for years and you do not need to do anything else. The wood will naturally weather, but will not rot. Designed to attract non-swarming bees like the Red Mason Bee, Leafcutter Bee and other solitary bees, these friendly bees are safe around children and pets (they rarely sting) and are naturally attracted to holes in wood – holes which are becoming harder to find in modern gardens. The Red Mason Bee is active in the garden from March to July and is responsible for pollinating top fruit and soft fruit. The Blue Mason Bee is active in the garden from late April to late July and is an effective pollinator of summer flowers, herbs and vegetables

Solitary bees then lay their eggs inside the holes and seal them with mud or chewed up vegetation, so it is easy to tell if it is being used. The following year the adults AND their offspring will use the same nest again building up the numbers of solitary bees visiting your garden each year. Site the solitary beehive 1-1.5 metres high, in a sheltered site which catches the morning sun and near scented plants. A mud supply is useful, but not essential. The 6 Tray measures W: 14.5cm x D: 19cm x H: 23cm, while the 12 Tray =measures W: 14.5cm x D: 19cm x H: 30.5cm