Couple tips.
1) You can’t have a bee house mounted like that. They can’t move around (in the wind or for whatever reason). Once you get bees, the babies fall off their pollen mound and die since they can’t get back on top.
2) If you buy some bees, get some straw inserts for your bee house to keep the holes clean. These bees have their own mites and problems… and swapping straws each year helps keep them under some control.

As far as I know those destructive mites that plague American bees haven’t made their way down here yet. What is being done to combat this pest? Has the U.S. economy lost billions? Why aren’t we reading this on the front pages?

I found an interesting chart on the web. In what fruits and vegetables have honeybees shown to increase crop yields in New Zealand? Apples, kiwifruit, avocado, grapes, mandarin oranges (but oddly enough not regular oranges), passionfruit, pears, blackcurrants, blueberries, strawberries, apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, and plums are among the fruits that benefit from bee pollination.

In the vegetable family, asparagus, beans, carrots, cucumbers, onions all benefit, but not peas, potatoes, garlic, and peppers. After all, the bees are discriminating as to where they hang out and what they eat.

There’s no data on lettuce (I wonder why?). I’m afraid we’re not doing much gardening down here now, it’s winter. We’re planning ski trips and such. But when I do garden, I grow a lot of different types of lettuce. My personal favourite is Boston lettuce, a member of the butterhead group.

I also grow regular head lettuce, which is the most popular and common variety, as well as exotic ones Royal Red and Ruby, which are green leaf lettuce types. I’ve never noticed how honeybees interact with my lettuce plants, I must keep an eye out for them.

The cool temperatures of southern Australia are perfect for lettuce growing as is our soil pH of 6.5 to 7.0. Subfreezing temperatures, on the other hand, will seriously injure or kill a lettuce crop.

I’ve had really good results using a 100% organic fertilizer made by a company called Advanced Nutrients. They’re quite popular down here, because their Iguana Juice Grow and Bloom just cannot be beat where results are concerned. My lettuce is crisp, healthy, and huge, as opposed to my neighbour’s, who relies solely on compost to feed her lettuce plants.

I also use it in my flower garden, augmented by Scorpion Juice, which inoculates my plants against all sorts of pathogens. Bug Away is another Advanced product that comes in handy when the little critters try to invade your garden. And it doesn’t hurt bees or ladybugs, or any helpful insects. You never spray the flowers, in any case.

Thanks for your great insights in your blog postings. Keep up the good work!

Interesting post!

I don’t have much fruit for them to pollinate, so I personally can’t speak to their efficacy. However, the blue orchard bee *is* used commercially to pollinate orchards in the U.S. and elsewhere. For example, most commercial almond orchards in Southern California use the orchard mason bee for pollinators.

You can order a can of bees from Knox Cellars — they have plenty of good info.

CindyRae
wildporch.blogspot.com

I don’t keep an orchard or anything, so I don’t “need” the bees. I don’t know why I’ve missed the point before that mason bees are native. I like to support my local native species.

As for local laws about keeping bees: I wonder if putting up houses for native wild bees would have the same problem? Since they’re not managed or fed or provided any other suport, they’re not being farmed. One could make the case that it’s an invertebrate equivalent of putting up a bluebird house.

I also want to put up a bat house!