Crown Bees Mason Bee Holes, Guard Tube and Insert

I ordered 8mm mason bee tubes and inserts but the boxes that were sent were clearly labeled (by Crown Bees, the manufacturer) as 6mm leaf cutter bee tubes without inserts. The vendor (mrsethq) had put their own label on the boxes identifying the contents as mason bee tubes with inserts. These tubes are too small to attract mason bees.

The tubes and inserts are perfect, but I will need many more next year. I have 9 gardens around the property, with insectary hotels all over the place. Many new insectary structures are being made, and I use these, interspersed with various 6 inch length bamboo tubes, of various diameters.

Great product waiting for fall to arrive to clean cocoons out.

Everything was great! My bees are a little slow but they are at work

Work great!

Great help for the bee's

Advertised as appropriate for Mason bees, but when they arrived they were smaller in diameter than the tubes handed out at the Backyard Fruit Growers (in PA) meeting. I had run out of those. There were no bees who laid eggs in the tubes I purchased, but they did do so in some of the extra unfilled tubes left over from last year. Crown Mason bees has an obligation to make sure the items it sells claiming they are appropriate for the purpose advertised, and they just did not.

It might have been ok if I had anything to put in it but when I got the cocoons, 6 or 7 had already hatched and I had to let them go with harly anything to eat. I store the rest in the fridge and when I placed them outside in the sun to hatch, they didnt. It was not a sucess.