I was pondering ways to increase the number of bees in my little orchard, to improve the pollination of trees. I built a bee house several years ago that a conservation group recommended. Nothing used it. Maybe that explains why my trees aren't producing fruit. Last week I had a DNR forester tour my property. He looked @ my bee house & was surprised it doesn't get used. Maybe I need to find a native perenial wild flower specie to plant (1 deer won't destroy).

some places just don't have many if any wild bees nowadays.
fruit bloom should be all the draw ya need

There are alot of pollinators , not just honeybees, bumble bees actually pollinate more than honeybees. But their numbers are down. Blue bottle bees also do alot of pollinating. Pesticides are taking a toll on all our bees and good insects.

If you want bees get a bee keeper for a neighbor. Or buy a start and become one. But with your opposition to invasive species, you may want to rethink the honey bee thing.

I have more wild bees now than I've seen in a long time. My thinking is it is from established clover plots.

You need enough variety in plant sources that the bloom covers a longer period of time to build your local bee population. The solitary/ mason bees are actually far better pollinators of fruit trees than honey bees.

Don't know what type of "Bee House" you have but did you put any lemon grass oil in it? I've good luck with lemon grass oil on a cotton ball in the back of the swarm trap. I also put a few drops by the entrance. You can also set up some sugar water mix on top of the box just to see if any are around.


JMO
B

I'd recommend becoming a beekeeper, but it's not as easy as buy a hive and bees, there's a lot more to it just like buying traps and baits doesn't make you a trapper. Take some classes and start up a hive or two next spring, this is my second year and I love it

I would recommend either putting an add on Craiglist or getting ahold of a local bee keeping assoc (if any around you) and asking if any beekeeper close would like to have bees on your property. This happens a lot in our beekeeping asssoc. I've also seen adds on Craiglist for it. Some beekeepers are always looking for a place to drop some boxes.

I think you're spinning your wheels trying to plant more for the bees...and becoming a bee keeper (although addicting) is biting off a fairly big bite if you haven't kept bees before.

Don't understand the bee house concept. If the bee has it's own hive why would It Inhabit a empty box?
I can see loading It with sugar water or something. But there just going to gather It and haul It home.
WE have about 50 apple trees on the farm we have no hives anywhere In the area that I know of and the trees do just fine. Maybe It's your trees that are at fault or maybe you need to be spraying them.

I checked It out doesn't look like It's honey bee thing. Good luck

Those houses are for the mason and leaf cutter bees.

Lack of bees won’t be the reason for no fruit.

I've never heard of lemon grass oil.

Here's what I built. I made the holes various length and diameter, but it didn't help.
http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/gardening/building-bee-nesting-block/

Then why do most fruit growers PAY beekeepers to keep honey bees on their farms during the bloom?

In Parts of China they wiped out the honey bee. They hire humans to manually pollinate the fruit trees with a cup of pollen and a make up brush. Yep, they crawl around the branches hitting every bud. Sucks being them.

Maybe we need to stop using toxic insecticides and instead use neem oil to repel the pest insects. Our fruit trees are struggling with mold this year. It's been raining for 2 weeks straight where I live.

Because it helps. Bees are far from the only pollinators, and in most cases aren’t the primary pollinators. If theres no fruit, theres a bigger issue than honey bees.

California almond growers have hives trucked in from across the country every season. I believe beekeepers are charging about $175 per hive for the pollination season. You won’t get a harvestable yield without bringing honey bees.

We get keepers from California setting by the North Dakota Canola fields to the point that they are setting them 100' from the Hwys, I ride motor cycle and this is a big issue with keepers in North Dakota...