Why You Need a Bee Hotel (& How to Make It)
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- Опубликовано: 17 фев 2020
- A bee hotel allows you to raise beneficial bees in your garden without hives, white suits, or stings. Most bees are solitary bees and are incredible pollinators. Solitary bees are better pollinators than honey bees and a simple bee hotel is all you need to attract them to your garden. Gardener Scott tells more about bees and shows how to make an easy bee hotel using scrap wood. (Video #129)
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Just look at all the commenters who probably were not going to get a bee hotel until they saw this video, and now they are, maybe for years and years into the future, too. This must make a huge difference in the world! Thanks to Gardener Scott!
Hi there Gardener Scott! This growing season, of 2024, I caught wind of pollinators for the 2024 season's garden. I did not know that the insects that I saw last season 2023, that looked like beautiful flies were possibly bees. My lack of knowledge.... They were the main insects in my garden most of last year's 2023, growing season. The other bees were very late in 2023. This growing season I did my research and stubbed on mason bees, not only reading about them but attending a mason bee presentation at my library. I looked at the presenter's bee motels and wondered whether I could build a similar structure. I stubbed on your video this afternoon and watched it. It is right on the spot of the information and instructions I imagined in my mind. I really believe I can handle building a mason and cutter bee motel. Thanks so very much for sharing. God bless!
This dude seriously needs more subscribers. He’s way better than any of the other gardening channels, and this shit applies to almost anyone’s gardening situation. Wether you have just a few flower pots on your porch or a massive backyard covered in raised beds.
Good point. Just subbed
We have solitary bees in our garden. The males sleep in the pumpkin blossoms. We call them orchard bees and I pet them, much to the irritation of my wife. Good times.
Those are good times. I like showing kids how easy it is to pet a bee.
Anything that pisses of the wife is worth doing often....
I'm a Montessori teacher and this is a wonderful project for our school garden.
Yes, it would be. 👍
I'm looking for a teacher in my area to build a water bottle green bouse for their garden. Such a great lesson in sustainability!
My daughter did this as a project at her nature-based school! (Actually, I did it, technically.) But it wasn't as nice or durable as this one. (It was basically a yogurt cup with sticks in it.)
I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that until about two weeks ago, my entire life I thought the rose bushes with circles cut out of the leaves were how they naturally grew! Last year I took over caring for the roses and saw the leaves growing normally and suddenly they had the iconic half circles cut out! I thought "wow what a strange behavior for a plant to exhibit halfway through its growing season...!" It wasn't until I started researching beekeeping and how to support more bees in the garden did it all finally 'click'!
I really like the fact that you're a gardener who also enjoys building things. Projects like this help me dream of summer.
Absolutely. I like doing these projects in winter because it helps bring me closer to summer.
It seems every time I am scratching my head over the next gardening challenge you come out with a great idea for exactly what I was wondering about. Thanks again
Keep scratching. Maybe your brain waves are helping my creative methods.
What a phenomenal video!! With every fact you mentioned, like you said, it's mind blowing how fascinating these creatures are. I've been wanting to make my very own bee hotel for quite some time now, and I'm so glad that spring is approaching and that I saw this video! 💐
I glad you can literally make it as simple as throwing twigs inside a sheltered compartment for them. As I am legally DeafBlind and don't have connections and much in the ways of other options because of the fixed income I am on so I glad I can still do this that way.
We are lucky to see a 3 or 4 bees all summer long. Definitely decreased over the last 20 years. We planted more flowers last year but didn’t see an increase in bees so this year we are going to triple what we planted last year in hopes of attracting more bees. I live in New Mexico just outside of Albuquerque. Very sad to see little or no bees 🐝
Agreed ! Fewer Bees & Sad
Pauline - plant a New Mexico fern bush. Bees love it. Easy to grow
Same here in WA. So little bees anymore. A decent amount of a holes with wings (yellow jackets mostly). I did see a handful of Mason bees last year versus the year before so that was encouraging. I am doing like you and planting more flowers to try to help encourage more to hang around I'd they are around.
Note ;..Never use treated lumber.
Great video
Here in Florida we have Carpenter Bees that are the size of large Bumble Bees. They bore perpendicular to the wood grain and bore about a 1/2" diameter hole, but only about 1" deep. I imagine they sting, but I do not want to find out the hard way. I respect them, as my older brother learned to do. At age 3 or 4, I stuck my nose into a red tulip to see how pretty they smelled. A Bumble Bee was inside. I shrieked and took off, running. He started to chase me. The back door was locked. He was still after me! So, I ran to the front door crying in panic. My older brother came out the back door, laughing at me. The bee heard his laugh, became agitated at him and made a bee line to the back side of Frank's knee and stung him, instead of me! His leg swelled so big, he could not bend it! These bees are smart and they are not defenseless, as me and Frank learned. Thanks for this Video. I plan on building a bee hotel out of a cane of Bamboo.
Thanks for the humorous (and painful) memory, Elbert. Most solitary bees are less threatening than hives of bumblebees and honeybees. Enjoy your new hotel.
@@GardenerScott Thanks!
I've seen both leafcutter and blue mason bees in my garden last year in addition to the honey bees. I'm allergic to honey bee venom so can't keep a hive, but have actually been wanting to get some of these more docile native species into my yard, so I'm so glad you posted this video!
So glad to help. They are definitely a calm, docile alternative.
@@GardenerScott I am as well so I am glad they are good alternative, even to us who are allergic to honey and wasps.
I bought mason bees and the house for them last year and waited for the right time for them to be delivered. Unfortunately I was out of town when they arrived so my husband was in charge of the bees. I called him to remind him they were coming and he forgot so they sat in the mailbox overnight and had time to fully wake up. The next day he took the package in the house and opened it... in the house. Of course all the bees took off and flew all over trying to find the way out. Moral to that story: Do not be out of town when the mason bees arrive.
That's a great moral, Julie. Thanks for sharing.
Your friend’s are nice but I far prefer the rustic look! Inspiring. 👍🇨🇦❤️
Reading is good. Thanks for promoting books.
Glad to do it.
I love your bee hotel! Natural design 😆 Very smart!
Fabulous information on bees. Thank you!
Inspired to give this ago now. Thanks.
Absolutely loved this one Scot thanks buddy
Excellent information.
I had no idea there were solitary bees. Gonna make one of these this wknd.
verrrry interesting information thanks Scott have a nice day !
I JUST started making a bee hotel. lol Thanks to you, I now know about them & am greatly more informed. TY so much!!
So excited to make this tomorrow. It’s just what my garden needed 😁
Enjoy it!
Awesome details and explanation! Thank you
Fascinating! Simple genius plan. I think I will try this in my yard. Thank you Gardner Scott!
Thanks for the near-zero waste idea. After your review, I bought the bee book.
That's great! I'm sure you'll like it.
thanks for the video.. !! Found you from GAB.. :)
I'm making at least one of these and have shared this with my students
Thanks for providing an informative video-next project is to make several of these hotels for my very large garden.
thank you for so much information. you're an awesome educator. 🐝
Thanks Scott! I’ve been looking for a way to create a bee haven.
Awesome info 😊😊
I was so stupid to thing there were only honey bees!
Thank you again for all the knowledge you are willing to share with us!
Love your channel and all the work you do!
You keep giving me things to do!!! I'm already busy thank you! Lol! Every time I watch your videos I get all excited and ready to do it right then. So, you're really keeping me busy with really helpful things to do. Just have to tease you... I'm trying to catch up with all your videos and since I love everything about nature and gardening, I'm finding all this great information inspiring. Thanks once again for your calm demeanor. It's so refreshing. Can't wait to make the bee hotel!
I raise bees in my balkony and it's so fun to watch them ! Thank you for inspriring me to make such a project! Now I learn even more about them.
That is way cool , Awesome , Cheers , I’m making some .
That was really nice making a 🐝 hotel. I bet no one thought about it before..Thanks
I’ve had one for 4 years. I also make mason bee trays and put in boxes. They are solitary bees.
I loved it!will be sending this to my son & great-grandson for a project together !
I'm about to set out my first attempt at a bee hotel. I stocked it with the dried stalks of day lilies I cut last fall. Fingers crossed that it goes well.
Thanks for this video. Maybe thats the reason no bees used my bee hotel. Looks like i have a new project for the weekend.
Great channel, i like the way you explain everything, so many things in my garden make now sense to me.
Thanks for the video. I love native bees.
Wow. You are a great narrator, mr. Gardener. Bad in place I live there is not a lot of solitary bees specimen around.
Thanks for this! Planting our first garden this year and we love this idea!!! Always looking forward to your educational uploads!
Consider it. It's pretty awesome to see the bees going in and out.
Thank You for doing a video on this! Very good information.I observed bees in my garden in previous years and was astounded by how many different kinds of bees I saw. I will be putting a bee hotel up this year.
That's great!
I just found this video, and it is awesome! I have been trying to figure out how to make bee houses for my yard this summer. I have spent considerable time looking at bee houses online, but the vast majority of the ones I found did not last according to the reviews, and are too costly to take a chance on. Now I know how to make solid bee houses that will last for more than one season! Thank you so much!
greetings from Denmark! I've got a somewhat large garden, and my girlfriend and me, have decided to make a bee friendly garden, this video was immensly helpful. Thanks a bunch!
Amazing project mr Scott! It’ll be super groovy to see an update video in the future to see how the bee hotel has worked out for you!
Thanks! I am definitely planning that video.
Thanks for sharing!!
That is the EXACT material and technique I use for making my raised beds! 2' by 6' by 11" deep.
I have considered this quite a few times! Thanks for the reminder Scott
You're welcome. 🙂
Scott, this is just fascinating. You make everything so interesting and now I really want to try this. Love your channel 🌺
Thanks!
Awesome!!
What a great idea! I also just cut a few trees down and this is a wonderful project to do with all the wood I have laying around. Thanks for sharing!
Glad to help.
Great video!
Wow ! We would make great neighbors Gardner scott! I’ve had a bug hotel (big one), for about 4 yrs. And make mason bee trays. And put them in boxes. PLUS. Today, I made your awesome cattle fence hoops for my raised garden beds. Then shade clothed them. They are awesome and so sturdy! So glad I went with the cattle fencing. When I was bending them with the hubby. I kept saying, “wait gardner scott said do it like this. Do you need to watch his video?l 🤣. Love your channel! Such a good teacher! 👍 Thanks so much!!
Awesome video and very informative! I have leaf cutter bees! The first time I saw the holes in my rose leaves, I thought my son had done them with a hole punch! 🙈 Then I googled it and found out about leaf cutters! ♥️
Thanks! I had to do the same thing. That's how I learned about them too.
Great video. Gonna try this when weathers a bit warmer. Seems very inexpensive. We did a homemade Bee Bath last year, with stuff we already had around. It was a huge success with the bees & other pollinators, so I’m sure this bee house will work perfect. Thx
Thanks. I'm planning to add a bee bath under this hotel when I mount it.
Going to start one in the morning. Thank you
Enjoy your project.
We purchased a couple of bee hotels a few months ago and I was excited to see the holes start to be used. The highlight was being able to watch a variety of bee I had never seen before using one of the holes to lay her eggs. The 2 I have are not mounted in the ideal place (too high and back to the morning sun) but it was the best I could do in my current garden. We are moving later in the year and I have plans for a raised, enclosed garden bed which will also be perfect for mounting my bee hotels. Love your videos! Thank you.
So glad to hear it's working for you. Thanks.
Thank you!
Excellent topic and video, Scott! This would bee perfect for my polinator flower garden. ;-/ I have dedicated 1 of my 4 raised beds to bee and butterfly friendly flowers. I now have a summer project...
Thanks. Enjoy your new project.
Very helpful and informative. Thank you
I like that you are trying to bring awareness to helping our native bees. I am on the same quest myself and hence, found your video. That said, I do agree with Crown Bees that these sorts of holes are not re-usable year after year, as pests and disease take up shop. (similar things plague Monarchs, with which I am very familiar, having raised hundreds of them). Please educate yourself on this topic as if folks continue to use the same holes over and over, you are inviting bees to make nests where their young will die in increasing numbers as the years go on until survival is nearly nothing
Great video! I will make some version of what you suggest, this summer. Reading the many comments, thanks for your great patience and reverence for teaching. Answering questions must sometimes take longer than making the videos.
Wow! I never knew!! It is amazing!!! WOW
CONGRATS TO BE HIGHLIGHTED ON RUclips TRENDING PAGE! SUBED!
Thanks! Welcome to the channel.
Good to know, thanks! I have seeds stratifying now with plans of adding Paw-Paw trees to the property and have been considering options of attracting pollinators. This is something I will use for sure!
Paw paws from seed. Good for you! 👍
Thank you very much I am one of those people that love bees and I want to do what I can to protect them in my garden
Very good 👍
Nice video with very good tips, cheers from Northern BC Malvy.
Thanks. Cheers.
Well said! Native pollinators like solitary bees are so much more efficient at pollination and simpler to accommodate their honey-making counterparts. Good tutorial and explanation!
Thanks!
We have lots of native bees as evidenced on our native flowering plants. All sizes! We also have lots of wood branches and logs! Sounds like a project for me! Thanks for the information and background as that is important to me. Best Regards
Awesome
This was really good. There’s another video on the subject that I like that takes a slightly different approach. It’s on the umami garden RUclips channel. It apparently comes from Japan and I highly recommend it as a companion to this video. I highly recommend both.
I grew some fennel the past two years. It got to six feet in height the second year. It was amazing to see the different type of solitary bees and wasps it attracted when it flowered. All sizes, shapes, and colors.
The blue and purple salvias and sages also attract a wide range of solitary bees.
So I made a couple of bee hotels and I learned that the bees may take a couple of years to really start moving into the holes.
Here in Georgia we get a lot of the ground nesting bees as well in the spring . There will be clouds of them about 3 feet above the ground. They never bother you . Then after a few weeks they just disappear.
Good observation, Joel. Fennel is an amazing plant for attracting beneficial insects. I love going out to see my salvia; I often see five or more species of bees there.
Man that was interesting. Bee hotel going up in my neighborhood.
I need to do this. I have over a dozen bumblebees hanging around. When I set up the garden I kept the honeysuckle vines near where the plants will be growing. They don't seem to mind my working in the area.
Now I know what to do with those young trees I cut down. This will be great for my apples and cherries.
Thank you for the amazing information! I was worried the black birds were still managing to eat my radishes through the bird net but I actually think its leafcutter bees!
I never saw them doing it, but the circular hole is easy to identify.
I'm going to make one this weekend.
That's great!
Excellent! I'm building one!
Great! 👍
Great, useful tutorial for complete novices like me. Definitely going to give this a try. Of course, the big question that the video doesn't address is "How much do we charge them per night!" 😀
I read a mesh screen is helpful to protect the bees from birds who insert their beaks into the holes to make a snack out of the bees. I placed mesh over the face of the hotel, with a wide enough opening on the sides to allow for bees, but not birds, to enter.
The Crown Bees website has a lot of great info and gear for keeping solitary bees. If you sign up for their newsletter they send you emails that let you know how to care for your bees at different times of the year ❤️ 🐝
Thanks for the suggestion.
My next project! 🐝🌼😁
Excellent!
great job, my wife would like me to build one. She a talented Aussie gardner!!
Last year we had a problem with paper wasp, mud dabbers, and yellow jackets. We saw other bees too, however those 3 were everywhere.
They can be a problem with a hotel like this too. I'm always on the lookout and knock them down before they can be too big of a problem.
I heard once, that you should drill the holes crosswise to the wood fibers, so that they are not that long inside the hole, that prevents the wings of the bees from getting damaged. I think that's plausible so that's how I build my "beehotels". Otherwise great content as always :) my father is a beekeeper, so I know for sure, that wild bees do 10 times the work in polonating as honeybees do.
Looking forward to the next video :)
Regards from Germany
Thanks, Tobias. It sounds plausible, but I don't think the wood fibers are that important. We can make it easier for them with smooth holes, but if it's not suitable they just won't use it. In the wild these bees are laying eggs in ragged holes in logs and trees.
Gardener Scott: The fiber direction is important. If you drill lenghtwise, the holes tend to crack. Then these holes are less used by insects. That's atleast the experience we have here at the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Germany), but we don't exactly know why insects have this preference.
I purchased Eastern Mason Bees, i made the wholes pencil with , and all the way threw , and put straws inside the wholes so i could remove the eggs , i found out a good idea is to put screen over the opening , squirrels like to eat the bee eggs.
A screen can be a good idea. I'll be showing that in a future video after I put this hotel in my garden.
They like my standpipe sprinkler. Guess I should make something for them.
Putting one of these near a water source should make them happy.
Never mind yes They Are
I bought a small bee hotel at the store. It is made from wood and open in the front like yours. Painted yellow, very cute. Inside, instead of wood it is made of different sizes of bamboo. Looks like it would be easy to make, and the bamboo is already got holes of various sizes. Thanks for the video G.S.
Great idea
👍
I tried this and got the dreaded "carpenter bees"...they started to burrow into my 4x4 posts of my front porch and to make holes in some of my wood siding, that had to be replace with aluminum. Love bees, just not these destruction machines, so "bee" careful. Just a side note...the plant that brings the most interest in my garden...from honey bees to black mud-dauber wasps and everything in between...Oregano when flowering.
Thanks for the tip. Carpenter bees can be a problem.
I hope you saved the sawdust for you garden or compost. I think I know what I will be making soon.
Yes! I did. I tried to hide the bag of sawdust behind the box as I filmed, but I definitely saved it.
Nice ideea. But just wonder if the spiders would like it too :)
Yes, you can probably expect spiders to move in. Most of the spiders wouldn't bother the bees and could help keep out some pests that might be harmful to bees.
Timely. RUclips suggested I watch this video less than 10 minutes after I put some hardware cloth over my just purchased Bee Hotel, cocoons are waiting in the fridge. Of course, RUclips by now knows I have been watching a lot of Scott's videos and also have studied up on mason bees. How did RUclips know I spent the last hour in my garage fiddling with a Bee Hotel? Sneaky! 😉
Question for Scott: are you not worried about attracting leaf cutter bees and the damage they could do to your plants, or is it too little to worry about?
I welcome all bees. When I see the missing leaf sections from the leaf cutter bees I know I have a diverse ecosystem and that those bees will be pollinating my flowers. I actually like seeing them.
Hi; thank u for the great vid; can u do more such vids about helping the wildlife in our gardens as we all know our wildlife are in great need of our help. Such things as frog and toad Abode and helping out birds with nests and hedgehogs. Cheers.
Absolutely. I am planning many more videos about helping the wildlife. Thanks for the suggestion.