1. Plant Bee-Friendly Flowers
While fruit blossoms are extremely attractive to bees in their own right , it ’s always helpful to have extra informant of nectar around . Bees — both domesticated Honey bees and wild native bees , such as bumblebees , minelaying bees and mason bee — will be more probable to natter your orchard if they can be sure of finding a various selection of flowers to choose from .
Bees tend to be particularly attracted to flowers that are yellow , drab , royal or white , such as asters , lilac , clover , helianthus and bee balm ( a favourite with hummingbirds , too ) . Many types of bees also enjoy veggie blossoms , with squash and pumpkin flowers being freehanded attracter . Fragrant herb , such as rosemary , sage and coriander , are also undecomposed choices .
When make your fellow plant selections , opt for aboriginal plant life whenever potential . Natives tend to have higher quantities of nectar and pollen , which make them in particular worthy to indigen bee . You ’ll also desire to keep in brain that different flowers bloom at unlike time of the year , so purport for a selection of blossom that will flower successively during the spring and summertime months and will provide continual food source for the bees . The Xerces Society , an organization that advocates bee conservation organization , suggests plant flowers in enceinte clumps in rescript to make them more noticeable and appealing to bee .
2. Establish Nesting Sites
Although naturalise Honey bees are dead felicitous to reside in man - made wooden hives , the absolute majority of native bees are flat coat nesters , while or so one - third are wood nester . The public figure are jolly self - explanatory : ground nesters make their home in holes in the ground , while woodwind instrument nesters inhabit in holes in — yep , you guessed it!—wood .
Ground nesting bee require bare slopes or bank for their nests , and they peculiarly appreciate a sunny locating . you may allow for a suitable born home ground for ground - nesting bee by leave bare area of grime in your orchard .
Wood squatter , on the other hired man , need log , stumps , fence place or dead trees to make their homes . Encourage wood nesters by leave a brush heap somewhere in or near your grove . If you ’d care to try something more specialized , exercise holes of a few unlike size ( to hold varying bee species ) into a fencing Wiley Post or a pulley-block of wood , then provide your newly create nestle site near your orchard . To specifically pull in the native mason ( orchard ) bee , make the holes 5/16 - inch in diameter , about 4 to 6 inches deep .
you could also buy prefabricate bee habitat that are suitable for native bees .
3. Provide a Water Source
If you have a birdbath , you might discover bee trying to get a drink from it and run out miserably . The Sojourner Truth is , a water author like this is too deep for bees , and many drown when trying to drink . Bees need a shallow container placed at reason level with islands to walk on , which can be as childlike as a few rocks placed above water around the edge of the container .
4. Skip the Pesticides
Pesticides are specifically intend to keep worm off your plant life , and that include bee . consort to the USDA ’s National Agroforestry Center , insecticide have a extensive range of toxicities and can cause last to bees and their larvae . By avoid the habit of pesticides or chemicals in your grove , you ’ll cater an organic environs better suited to nurturing a population of native or Honey bees — and advance these important pollinator to frequent your orchard now and in the future .
