Blog · Leafcutter Bees · Video ·
Holding Leafcutter Bees
Meet the Leafcutter Bees! They’re the tiny superheroes of our garden, barely bigger than a watermelon seed. Just like their buddies, the mason bees, they’re experts at gathering loose pollen with their special belly hairs, known as scopa. With this awesome skill, they can pollinate an incredible 95% of the plants they visit! And because they’re so tiny and agile, they can dart around to even the smallest flowers! That means every single bloom gets a visit, helping them produce more food for a magnificent harvest. Leafcutter bees are like the garden’s secret helpers, making sure we have a bounty of delicious fruits and veggies to enjoy!
Here is more information about when they emerge and how they construct their nests:
Leafcutter bees emerge when temperatures consistently reach 75+ degrees for about two weeks. As solitary bees, each female locates her own nesting hole and independently cares for her offspring, resulting in their non-aggressive and friendly nature. During her 6-8 week lifespan, a female typically lays around 30 eggs. Building her nest involves collecting tiny crescent-shaped leaf cuts or flower petals, which doesn’t harm the plants. She transports this material back to her nest, where she chews it until pliable, lining the cavity walls before laying an egg and providing a pollen loaf for her offspring. The leaf chamber is then delicately wrapped, resembling a cozy “sleeping bag” for the developing bee. This meticulous process can take up to four hours per offspring! Unlike mason bees, leafcutters do not form cocoons. Instead, they overwinter in their leaf sleeping bags in the larva stage, emerging as adult bees the following summer. Leafcutter bees are found across North America and are used around the world for alfalfa pollination. Honey bees do not efficiently pollinate alfalfa due to a spring-loaded pistil mechanism found in the alfalfa flower, which they avoid. The small leafcutter bee effectively pollinates by “tripping” the pistil and is therefore responsible for creating a majority of the food for pigs and dairy cows. They are an equally gentle generalist bee that will visit a majority of types of flowers in your backyard during their flying months of July and August including your flowering vegetable garden. As their name suggests, leafcutter bees use leaf pieces, which they cut using their mouthparts, to construct their nests. To learn more, please visit our website. /
Leafcutter bees are found across North America and are used around the world for alfalfa pollination. Honey bees do not efficiently pollinate alfalfa due to a spring-loaded pistil mechanism found in the alfalfa flower, which they avoid. The small leafcutter bee effectively pollinates by “tripping” the pistil and is therefore responsible for creating a majority of the food for pigs and dairy cows. They are an equally gentle generalist bee that will visit a majority of types of flowers in your backyard during their flying months of July and August including your flowering vegetable garden. As their name suggests, leafcutter bees use leaf pieces, which they cut using their mouthparts, to construct their nests.
