The vast majority of the insects we see every day are beneficial or benign. I hope this group will provide a forum to discuss the insect world and all the wonderful and occasionally devastating ways the bugs interact with our gardens.
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  • Butterfly House/ Shelter/ Feeder

    This butterfly house/ shelter/ feeder gives migrating and hibernating butterflies a helping hand by providing them a place to live. When butterflies migrate they need to find shelter from bad weather. Usually they seek shelter in cracks of trees or buildings. Some butterflies will hibernate in the winter and need shelter to protect them from winter cold. This purposely designed butterfly house will provide habitat for migrating and hibernating butterflies.

    • Removable front panel allowing for cleaning and placement of twigs.
    • Can be used all year round
    • Great gift idea
    • Increases pollination
    • A unique addition to any Garden
    • Easy to clean.

    Butterfly%20Feeder%203-500x500.jpg

  • Visit our web site www.creativewoodcraft.co.nz/ and Register to receive your free downloadable e-book BEES providing information about Bumble Bees, New Zealand Native Solitary Bees and Leafcutter Bees (this book is specific to New Zealand )

  •  help your flowering fruit trees and gardens by providing a comfy home to Leafcutter Bees and Native New Zealand Solitary Bees.

    Creative Woodcraft solitary bee house has four different diameters of nesting tunnels.

     
    Creative Woodcraft Solitary Bee House has four diameters of nesting hole has the capacity to host 6 species of bees and 3 possibly several more species of wasps. By beginning with lucerne leafcutting bees which will emerge from the trap nest there is a very high probability of nesting action from at least one species in the first year, and the potential for more species to appear later. 
     
    All species of bees visiting flowers will be enhancing the level of pollination, and the removal of leafroller larvae by one species of wasp will help reduce damage to some leaves and fruits. For those who don’t like spiders the mason wasps will be seen as beneficial, but of course spiders catch a good number of insects that can be damaging. All told, if even just a few of the species of bees and wasps inhabit your solitary Bee house, there should be plenty of activity to observe and entertain.

    So if you’d like to join us in our quest to encourage our native bees – and see your garden explode with blossoms as a result - please provide a healthy habitat for them by purchasing one of our custom-designed Creative WoodcraftSolitary Bee Houses!

    We also offer Leafcutter Bee Cells/Cocoons for sale. (Pre order today!) 

    As supplies are limited Leafcutting Bee Cell/cocoons orders are processed on a first come first served basis.

    We can all use a little more pollination!! 

    This unique solitary beehive nesting tray system is designed specifically to attract non-swarming solitary bees. 

    These types of bees do not swarm, are gregarious and safe around children and pets, they are naturally attracted to the holes in wood and the Solitary Bee Hive provides a habitat that has become harder for them to find in modern gardens today. 

    www.creativewoodcraft.co.nz/solitary-beehive

  • ever wondered who is pollinating the feijoas?2170544348?profile=original

  • HI Rob, awesome, I had a look at your photos on facebook too from the food forest, lots of good ideas there. might make one of the modest bamboo-in-a-can insect condominiums. i have been noticing a lot more mason bees and parasitic wasps etc in our garden this year than ever before, love watching all the little critters on the flowering things throughout the garden. didn't know there was a west coast permaculture group so glad you gave the link to that too.

  • What a neat idea building that insect home

  • Hi Kali

     

    I think the regional councils no longer recommend using diesel because of the environmental damage it causes... It could be worthwhile to check it out with the local regional council, Jacinta.

     

    Jacqui

  • HI Jacinta, we have the same problem and I have been looking into this, there is powder sold at the likes of Mitre10 which you puff into the wasp entrance if you know where that is, but of course you need some protective clothing and a red cover on your torch, do it at night when they are at home and  inactive. you can also upend a bottle of diesel in the hole, leaving the bottle to block the hole, DO NOT LIGHT THE FUEL, or poke a diesel or petrol dowsed rag in to block the entrance, the fumes will kill them.  good luck
  • I have a very active wasp nest in my garden. I suspect german wasps- yellow and black, nesting in the ground. Anyone got any ideas for getting rid of them?
  • Off to get more bird netting today... My second lot of brassicas have been
    shredded by blackbirds or sparrows? I'm so frustrated by it. Even my
    replacement plants I had growing in the glass house and I planted out last
    week have been annihilated by scissor beaks. Grrrrr!
    The only replacement plants I have left now in the glasshouse are caulis,
    not a popular vegie with the rest of the family unfortunately. Will have to
    get creative.
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Pollinator Friendly Gardening

Whether pollinator-friendly gardening sounds daunting or adventurous, it is in reality quite a simple and do-able task. By making an urban garden, regardless of its size, a welcoming place for insects and animals, you are helping to preserve essential pollinators, which in turn will help to make any garden thrive. The urban environment is not always best suited to pollinators, but by providing suitable nesting habitat and planting a garden focused on supplying their needs is one step in the…

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Native Bees... Great Pollinators for Farmers, Lifestyle Block Owners, Fruit Growers and Gardeners!

Native Bees for Farmers, Lifestyle Block Owners, Fruit Growers and Gardeners! Are you a farmer, lifestyle block owner, fruit grower or gardener thinking about native bees? Even if you aren't, pretend for a moment and read what you can do to make your land more pollinator-friendly. Leafcutter Bees and New Zealand Native solitary Bees are great pollinators. Native bees can help pollinate your crop for free. All you have to do is provide a place for them to live, some food, and not spray them with…

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Enhancing habitat for Frogs, Reptiles & Bats in gardens.

I know this group is focused on insects but often these three groups are often underestimated in NZ due their low diversity, low population and non-standard beauty. But they can be extremely good predators and they are endangered. There is an enormous challenge to integrate them in our gardens specially if we have cats around but I would love to give them a chance. Any experiences or ideas?frog-pakeha.jpg

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Cabbage White Butterfly deterrent

  I have been told of a a deterrent for cabbage white butterflies: To place a large white butterfly hanging in her garden and the real ones wouldn't go near her cabbages (etc). This woman got told it by a friend, who swore it works. She tried it and she says it works. (She said she couldn't find a large white butterfly so hung two supermarket shopping bags in a sort of butterfly shape instead.) It sounds a bit like that theory that if you left 1.5 litre pop bottles lying around your front lawn,…

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