Mason Bee Cocoons (Osmia Lignaria) are for shipments East of the Rocky Mountains and are sometimes referred to as blue orchard mason bees.
- Store cocoons in a cool place that will stay below 50F
- Set packs out in attic of mason bee chalet house as soon as spring weather has started and the first plant blooms appear (typically March 1).
- One pack of 20 Eastern Mason Bees / blue orchard mason bees will pollinate about 2-3 orchard trees or early blooming crops.
- Includes Loose Cell Mason Bee cocoons in an introduction cardboard box.
- Typical sex ratio = males x 6 & females x 4 per 10 cocoons, subject to bee variability beyond our control
- Make sure you have clayey mud available for the mason bees to build the dividers / caps in their nesting tubes.
- Optional humidity box available.
Several size packs of Osmia Lignaria cocoons are available. You typically should have around a 1:1 cocoon to nesting reed / nesting block hole ratio or less. Example a 50 pack of blue orchard mason bee cocoons would be appropriate for a 48 hole nesting block. You could go with a smaller cocoon quantity but the bees may not fill all the nesting spots by the end of their season.
For bees that perform pollinating tasks during the summer look into leafcutter bees as they handle pollination of garden and later season fruits from early summer into late summer.
NOTE: Due to the migration of the West coast mason bees to the East coast we are no longer able to guarantee you will receive 100% blue orchard mason bees (Osmia Lignaria) in your cocoon packs. There is a slight chance you will receive a few horn faced mason bee cocoons (osmia cornifrons) OR red mason bee cocoons (osmia bicornis). It is almost impossible for us to cull these cocoons from the blue orchard nesting tubes during harvesting as they appear almost identical to each other. These mason varieties are very good pollinators and work along side the blue orchard mason bees.
