NZ NATIVE BEES AND BUMBLE BEES

[Angie Gibbons]

Hi anyone got ideas or suggestions to encourage New Zealand native bees ? designs for artificial structures etc

Also ws thinking about bumble bees anyone got any info how to build and encourage them to stay in garden?
ANGIE

[Hester]

I know Bumble Bees are attracted to Irish strawberry trees. We used to have one in our garden and a local man who dealt in bumble bees was always looking for gardens with irish Strawberry trees as a source of bumble bees.
Altough we don't have one of those trees in the current garden we still get lots of bees and bumble bees. The bumble bees like flowers with bigger trumpets that they can get into. If you grow a good range of flowering plants you should get bees, providing they are in your area.

[Hester]

Hi again Angie.
I came across this information in a book I'm reading .
'Only the Queen Bumble Bee survives the winter by hibernating in the undergrowth. In the spring she emerges and searches for a suitable site in which to lay her eggs and build her colony. This nesting site will generally be below ground in old mouse holes, burrows in the undergrowth or even cracks of concrete in the street.
You can make your garden more Bumble Bee friendly by growing plants that are rich in pollen and nectar and easily accessible to passing bees, and by having some plants that flower throughout the year.
Providing a haven for the Queen by leaving areas of your garden untouched, especially with soft earth and coverings of leaves, can also help Bumble Bees to thrive.
In spring, to encourage them to nest, put some dried moss or hamster bedding in an earthenware pot, then place the pot upside down in a hole in the ground.
Cover the hole with a piece of slate or tile to stop the rain getting in but leave enough room for the Queen bee to get under the tile. Hopefully she will find the pot and make it her home.'
From 'Keeping Bees and Making Honey' by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum

[Kenny]

Hi, I would love to know more about native bees as well.

From what I understand the european honeybee was introduced to NZ (by a Ms Busby=) as the new crops that were being grown were not being pollenated. The native pollenators of this land are its abundant resource: the wind and the birds.

I thought that native bees are like lone cowboys, not settling in one spot permanently and not living in colonies (?)

It would be great to encourage them, good luck.

[Daniel Andrews]

I once saw a native bee when we lived out in dairy flat it was pure matt black in colour vary strange looking creature i read up on them apparently they have a ground burrow and live alone from what i can remember very different to the european honey bee a far more sociable creature.

[Derek & Julie Craig]

Hi Angie,
My understanding that the native bees tend to be more solitary and not particularly useful in an exotic environment. (Though still worth protecting).
Bumble bees have become more comon as honey bee numbers crashed - I've noticed many more about at work. There are plans available on the internet for Bumble bee hives - sorry can't find the link right now. We certainly have wild colonies at work, usually in overgrown banks.
They where introduced into NZ to aid clover polination, we are lucky, mainland OZ had no success in introducing them.
Derek

[Derek & Julie Craig]

Here is a good link for native bee info.
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/wasps-and-bees/4
Derek

[Janet Byers]

Hi
Very interesting info Hester, I've often wondered where bumble bees live.
Our garden was a paddock two years ago and I worried about not having bees the first year we were here, we didn't seem to see any. We planted all the insect plants we could think of, alyssum, buckwheat, coriander, parsley, loads of phacelia, amongst the veges and under the fruit trees. At first the bumble bees came, and they especially loved the long row of lavender I planted as soon as we got here, but there were few honey bees. We started the garden in November 2007, and this year, our second spring, there has been a constant buzz from both honey bees and bumble bees. I don't know how to identify native bees but there are many small holes in our banks and other dry areas and I have wondered if they are native bee homes. We are wondering whether to do a beekeeping course, I think Koanga has them, or whether to rent some hives, I think someone in Northland hires them out.

[Elisabeth]

Introduction of bees
Mary Bumby, the sister of a Northland missionary, was probably the first to introduce bees to New Zealand. She took two hives with her from England aboard the James, in March 1839, to the Mangungu Mission Station in Hokianga Harbour. Bees were also brought by the Reverend Richard Taylor, William Cotton, Lady Hobson and James Busby in 1843. The introduction of bees to the Bay of Islands is attributed to Bishop Pompallier.

Kenny said:

Hi, I would love to know more about native bees as well.

From what I understand the european honeybee was introduced to NZ (by a Ms Busby=) as the new crops that were being grown were not being pollenated. The native pollenators of this land are its abundant resource: the wind and the birds.

I thought that native bees are like lone cowboys, not settling in one spot permanently and not living in colonies (?)

It would be great to encourage them, good luck.

[Angie Gibbons]

The neighbour has let me use the back section of his place and I am about dig it up for a garden, I have noticed lots of little holes in the ground that could be native bees, any suggestions? can I dig them out, will they be deeper than my dig and they just make new holes?

Angie

[Ian Morton]

Check out our Hand-crafted NZ Made Solitary Bee Hives and Bumble Bee Nesting Boxes! We also offer Leafcutter Bee Cells/ Cocoons for purchase.

http://www.creativewoodcraft.co.nz/bees

Register for a free downloadable e-book Bees, containing information about New Zealand Native Solitary Bees, Leafcutting Bees and Bumble Bees.

Help your flowering fruit trees and gardens by providing a comfy home to Leafcutter Bees, Native Solitary Bees and Bumble Bees.

See your garden explode with blossom as a result!