Tasmanian Bee Hotels Project Experiment

did you find a QR code on a contraption in the garden? Congratulations! you've encountered an experimental bee hotel.

Bee Hotels and Tasmanian Bees

A Bee Hotel is a hand-made collection of nesting resources for the hundreds of species of solitary (non-hive-building) bees in the world, including Australia and Tasmania. They are based on good bee science; that many solitary bee females lay their eggs one at a time in a bee sized tunnel. A native bee will either excavate a tunnel for herself, in a soft plant stem (reed bee), or find an abandoned hole in wood (carpenter and resin bees) - this could be a beetle tunnel in a tree trunk or a drill hole in a fence post. Many also nest in holes they dig into the ground (like Lasioglossum bees), but sunny patches of bare sandy soil with no foot traffic are hard to hand-make and haven't taken off as part of the bee hotel trend.

Insects are basically solar powered, so tend to be smaller in cooler climates. This means that bee hotels designed for California or New South Wales (or mass produced with no design at all) will have holes that are far too large for Tasmanian bees. Many commercially available bee hotels have also drifted away from 'truly useful bee habitat' and into 'aesthetically appealing for people' - noone knows what that pinecone behind wire mesh is for, but that's how you get spiders, not bees.

Reed bee

Likely genus Exoneura: a small native bee, black with red abdomen. They are called reed bees because the females lay eggs in tunnels they bore into pithy plant stems like blackberry, and lakri/tree fern.

Reed bee and Honey bee

this is the size difference between a reed bee and a honey bee - the reason why many bee hotels are built too large for our needs. Reed bee tunnels are about 3mm wide.

Short tongued bee

Possibly genus Leioproctus: a native short tongued bee. It is larger than the reed bees, more brown than black and with a fuzzier thorax. These are ground nesting bees which burrow into sunny patches of sandy soil.

Leioproctus vs Exoneura

You can see here the small size difference between the short-tongued bee in front and the smaller reed bees foraging behind it.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

I am trialing bee hotel designs that are quick and easy to diy and deploy in Tasmania, based on the sources above, conversations with other Tasmanian entomologists plust personal observation, trial & error. If you make a bee hotel and deploy it, add the QR code from the bottom of the page which will lead people who encounter it back here for more info.

SOURCE GARDEN

Bee Bundles were placed into the Source garden at the University of Tasmania campus, Sandy Bay in May 2021 - probably too late in the season for new tenants, but many reed bees were still foraging. Some of the blackberry canes I cut already had bees hibernating in them so with luck they will wake up in the hotel come spring and start new tunnells and attract more bees.

bundles of 30cm long, dry stems, harvested locally, wrapped in a bark curl cos it looks nice and may keep out some rain? secured with cable ties somewhere physically stable and sunny.

Good Ideas: location

sunny aspect
sheltered or add a 'roof'

(but the bees don't so don't sweat it)

secure, not too shaky, floppy or spinny.

like a tree trunk, veranda post or fence.

Good Ideas: maintenance

may attract spiders and nesting wasps - ok
may also attract natural parasitic wasps - ok
may develop mold - disassemble!
may develop mite infestation - disassemble!

isolate non mouldy/mity material and see what happens.

Good Ideas: reeds

cut natural untreated stems, dry
pithy stems with stiff walls like rose and blackberry
careful - check for existing holes!
20-40 cm long
let reed bees excavate their own holes

Good Ideas: bamboo

natural or untreated
20-40 cm long
pick small stems, holes 2-4 mm
drill out any knuckles which block the tube

or cut segments from between knuckles.

one closed end is ok -good

Good Ideas: wood

natural untreated wood, dry, not decaying
holes 2-4 mm and as long as possible

but leave a closed end.

drill holes slightly uphill (so water will drain out)
maybe line with a paper straw?

Good Ideas: soil

sandy soil, bare of grass
sunny aspect
no foot traffic
could maybe make in a deep tray and elevate on a box or post? will need good drainage.
You'd be the first! (probably. maybe.)

Peoples Choice

Noone knows who these jumbles of junk behind wire are for - this is how you get spiders. Holes too large. No pithy stems for reed bees. Little overhanging roof to keep dry is good.

Peoples Choice

Holes too large and quite shallow/short - in a long tunnel a bee can make several sequential egg cells. Bamboo is tuff, so if any of the bamboo junctions are intact bees could not tunnel through them.

Peoples Choice

This is incredibly cute but the glazed mug will cause condensation and trap rain, which will encourage mold and decay. But paper straws are a good bee size and can be used as a liner in drilled holes, which you can refresh each year.

Bees Choice

Reed Bees using a bee-made tunnel into a dry tree fern stem which was pruned by the owner. This tree fern stump by a sunny front door in Mount Nelson houses hundreds of these semi-social bees, accommodated in the multiple dry fronds along its trunk. >

A wild blackberry cane in The Source garden with a natural reed bee tunnel in its pithy center. When cutting blackberry canes I have accidentally cut through tunnels that were longer than my forearm (40+ cm)

Bees Choice

The Insects of Tasmania website warns of incautious rose pruning. Check dry stems for tell-tale bee tunnels first.

Got Bees?

Many bee species block their tunnels during or after egg laying making it clear that your hotel is being used. Materials include mud, resin, 'webs', 'cellophane' or the back end of an occupying bee.

Questions?

Contact HybopteraShasta to get more information on the project

Add the QR code to your own hotel

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