Planning ahead for next year, what good bee friendly plant seeds could be sown this year to give a good display for the bees next year?
I'll be collecting/sowing seeds from my foxgloves, but I want to make sure i'm not left with gaps in my border, so I want to plan ahead now. So what seeds will any of you be sowing this autumn?
Oh well! I think my shed gets plenty cold enough. @LeadFarmer did you get many hatching in the end?
Thankfully all the cocoons hatched. But I had a couple of tubes where there were still grubs inside that hadn't turned into cocoons, I think this was in April so I assumed they weren't bee larve and some other insect had laid eggs in them. I kept these separate but they didn't ever hatch into anything.
This year I only had two tubes filled in my drainpipe nest, all the rest are empty. But they did also use the G Pilkington box for the first time where a couple of rows are occupied.
I would to net the bags so there isn’t predation by spiders but you have to keep a close eye on ambient air temp so the cocoons don’t hatch in the bag in the spring.
Around October/November I put my cocoons in plastic takeaway containers with the lids on, and air holes punctured, then placed them up high on the inside of my garage out of the way for the winter. I then put them into the release drawer of my G Pilkington box around May I think?
I was lucky enough to watch one of them hatch and fly away, the rest waited until I wasn't looking
I do the same with a plastic pot, although barely worth it after having only one measly tube filled! I don't understand it, I had plenty of the bees about. Or I thought I did, maybe they were all miners or something.
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I'll be collecting/sowing seeds from my foxgloves, but I want to make sure i'm not left with gaps in my border, so I want to plan ahead now. So what seeds will any of you be sowing this autumn?
@LeadFarmer did you get many hatching in the end?
This year I only had two tubes filled in my drainpipe nest, all the rest are empty. But they did also use the G Pilkington box for the first time where a couple of rows are occupied.
I was lucky enough to watch one of them hatch and fly away, the rest waited until I wasn't looking