Catch the Buzz: Mason Bees

Last weekend, my family and I hung our first mason bee tubes and we hope to start a little colony that lives outside our home. Before you declare me crazy, keep on reading! Mason bees are solitary bees native to North America (as opposed to what we normally think of when we picture a bee.. the European honey bee). They (sadly) do not produce honey like their European counterparts, but because of this, they do not need to be protective, and mason bees will only sting if they are stepped on or grabbed.
Now you may be asking yourself "if they don't produce honey, then what is so great about them?". Let me tell you! Mason bees are extremely important pollinators, especially now with honey bee populations on the decline. So, raising mason bees in your yard promotes pollination for your home-grown food!
This is my first time around with masons so I am still learning the ropes, but I have found my local nurseries to be a good source of mason bees, as well as information. You can purchase mason bee 'babies' in the mud-filled tubes shown above. After they hatch, they will be busy (as a bee) pollinating and creating a nest with next year's bees. So, you need some bee-filled tubes, and some empty tubes that can be used for nesting once the females hatch. You can simply drill 3/8-inch diameter holes (that are 3-6 inches deep) into a piece of wood or you can buy a tube system as is shown above. We went with the tube system as tubes are easily replaced each year, and bees need a fresh hole to nest in. Also, from the research I did, it seems this system is better at keeping out predators and fungal infection (presumably due to the cleanliness). Masons seem pretty low maintenance, and then main duty of the bee keeper is to switch out the used tubes each year.... seems like something I can handle.
I am excited for our masons to hatch and I am hoping some will choose to stick around and build nests for next year. If you are looking for a sting-free way to up your fruit yields, I encourage you to research more about our native buzzing friends. I have found the website of the WSU extension to be fairly informative, and any google search for "mason bees" will pull up plenty of results.