How to Make a Clay/Mud Hole for Mason Bees

Mason bees get their name for their masonry work. They use mud to separate each nesting chamber for their babies. This mud is very important for mason bees to have to construct their nests for each baby.
Using weed killer and pesticides in your soil can harm your fragile mason bees. Please find alternative methods to remove weeds safely.

How to Make a CLAY/MUD Hole for Your Mason Bees:
1) Dig a hole about 30-50 feet from your mason bee house.
2) Sprinkle the dusty clay around the hole.
3) Water and get wet
4) Mix together and pull up the sides of the hole.
5) Make sure it remains damp throughout spring.

About Rent Mason Bees:
Our program makes it easy to become a solitary bee host. Gardeners purchase a bee kit that comes with house, nesting block, clay and bees. You release solitary bees into your yard and RENT our nesting blocks for your bees. When you release the bees into your yard they will lay babies in your natural habitat and your nesting block. Harvesting and cleaning the cocoons and blocks is a critical step when hosting solitary bees to remove harmful predators. When you rent from us we take care of the maintenance and cleaning for you. You keep the black house and return the nesting blocks back to us. The following year, you will just need to reorder an “insert” with a sterilized nesting block and clean bees. Please watch our Fall Harvest Video to see how we clean them.
• Our Mason Bee Fall Harvest (why you Rent… we do all the cleaning) – https://youtu.be/wzDWeADhOno
• Inside a Mason & Leafcutter Block (the importance of why you need to harvest and clean… remove predators) https://youtu.be/oDNejgF-w5g

Mason bees need spring blooms and leafcutter bees need summer blooms. We provide a variety of options to help you become a solitary bee host. Our Mason Bee Starter kits come with a black shelter, nesting block, bag of clay and pollinator seeds. If you would like both spring and summer pollinators, our Pollinator Package comes with spring mason and summer leafcutter bees, two different nesting blocks for both bees, bag of clay for your masons and flower seeds. We send you both bees and you put out the mason block out first in spring and swap the blocks with the leafcutter block in summer. Don’t worry, we’ll notify you and teach you along the way. Here is a video we did about swapping blocks:
“HOW TO SWAP YOUR MASON BEE BLOCK WITH YOUR LEAFCUTTER BEE BLOCK” – https://youtu.be/nmAIqvJkW50

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Here are some of our favorite videos about solitary bees:
• PBS did a beautiful video on mason bees and how they build their nests – https://youtu.be/oPbH1YhsdP8
• Life Cycle of a Mason Bee – https://youtu.be/rbqnruwG6pA
• How to Successfully Raise Mason & Leafcutter Bees – https://youtu.be/NADMbe8WB3A
• A Year with Mason Bees (this is a compilation of the 30 educational videos we made in 2021) – https://youtu.be/N6icZmNTzq8
• Mason Bee Tribute Video in macro lens and slow motion – https://youtu.be/JMbP7BIdYuo
• Learn About Mason Bees – https://youtu.be/-ca5tykSlF8
• Learn About Leafcutter Bees – https://youtu.be/iiCiKRt7a_w
“HOW TO DIG A MUD/CLAY HOLE FOR YOUR MASON BEES” – https://youtu.be/QCFG2F7L1j4

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If you have kids or grandkids, we created a program to teach kids about pollinators with free printable workbooks and worksheets. Turn Kids into Backyard Scientists – Teach Kids About Mason Bees & How They Make Our Food

Learn what to plant in your garden to support pollinators. Pollinator Partnership has created “recipe” cards for your region. https://www.pollinator.org/gardencards

Since we’re on a roll, one more item to share… Birds & Blooms Magazine and Mother Earth News both published articles this month on solitary bees. In addition to all the above information, you’ll learn so much more reading this article in Mother Earth News: “Backyard Solitary Bees”

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