Neudorff Hyöteishotelli for Rusomuari bees
Insect hotels For nesting and winter shelter
Insects are very useful for nature and humans. These little helpers, such as ladybugs and bees, pollinate flowers or take care of the ecological balance of the garden, terrace or balcony by exterminating insect pests.
We want to keep gardens and yards clean, so there are often too few twigs and piles of leaves around the yard that are suitable for insects to live in. Insect hotels are especially suitable for urban environments and clean, well-maintained yards. Even if you only own a balcony or terrace, you can provide useful insects with comfortable accommodation and maintenance.
Hotel for valued guests of the garden.
Wooden tubes attract mason bees, wild bees and predatory wasps as residents. The hotel offers an ideal place to raise offspring. Mason bees and their larvae feed on pollen and nectar from early flowering plants in the environment.
Ways of life
In our latitudes, the waste mason bee is often found. It hibernates as an adult in hollow plant stems or other burrows. In March-June, wild bees leave their wintering places to mate. At this stage, the fertilized female looks for a suitable hiding place for laying her eggs, for example in a hollow straw.
There, it first builds a back wall of clay and saliva. In front of it, it collects water and pollen for the wild bee larva that will soon live in the shelter. When the cell has become full enough, it lays an egg on this food mattress and closes this first cell with clay and saliva. In this way, it continues and may build up to 10 cells in one go. It takes a female one whole day to build a single cell, provide it with food and lay eggs!
What is fascinating about this way of laying eggs is, among other things, that the mason bee lays fertilized eggs in the first cells located at the back, which develop into females that need a longer time to develop and therefore hatch later. From the unfertilized eggs placed in front, pupae hatch, which develop faster and therefore hatch earlier.
1-2 weeks after laying the eggs, the larvae hatch and for 2-3 weeks use the food store of their cell for food. During this time, they create their skin several times. After this, they spin a cocoon for themselves, where they develop into a cocoon. Adults hatch in late summer, and they hibernate in the insect hotel until the following March.
Where is the insect hotel set up?
The insect hotel should be hung in a sunny place, protected from wind and rain, preferably in the southern direction (southwest, south, southeast) at a height of 1-2 meters, above the vegetation. A wall of a house or garage, a hedge or a tree support is also suitable as a hanging place. Ideally, there should be plants that produce pollen and nectar near the insect hotel. Wild bees and other beneficial insects can settle even on the 5th floor of an urban apartment building!
frequently asked questions
this is how insects help us
