Honey bees – vital in sustaining our fruits, nuts and vegetables – are fast disappearing, victims of the varroa mite, pesticides and poor nutrition.
This is a looming disaster we should all be alarmed about because we rely on our native bee population to help pollinate one third of our food.
So, we desperately need more bees.
While scientists scramble for solutions, BeeGAP, in partnership with Creative Woodcraft, has come up with a long-reaching initiative to head-off our bee crisis.
BeeGAP is offering schools and neighbourhood gardeners the opportunity to raise New Zealand native solitary bees – exceptional pollinators and easy to raise in the backyard.
The choice of affordable Bee House Kits – visit https://creativewoodcraft.co.nz/ -includes everything you need to get started raising gentle-natured leafcutter bees for garden pollination. Kits include bees, house, nesting material and accessories.
Our NZ BeeGAP (Gardeners Adding Pollinators) website explains everything you need to get started and how to look after your bees – http://beegap.co.nz/
It doesn’t take much money or time to raise leafcutter bees. Nesting holes, housing and bees are very affordable, and come in a variety of price ranges. Also, there is no need for protective gear, since they rarely sting, nor expensive equipment to buy.
And you can be up and running with your bees in no time – it takes just 15 minutes to select a location and set up your house.
Our youth are the future caretakers of the planet. Therefore, it’s important that they experience nature’s pollinators up close. We invite you to teach the children near you about gentle leafcutter bees. The BeeGAP Resource Centre has a PowerPoint presentation available at http://beegap.co.nz/get-involved/ The slides are designed for adults but can be adapted for any age. We’ll help you with reduced cost products for classroom purchases.
Creative Woodcraft’s bee products have been designed in consultation with Dr Barry Donovan, of Donovan Scientific Insect Research in Lincoln.
“We have designed a range of products including solitary bee houses and bumble bee nesting boxes that will encourage our native bees to take up residence in our backyards, helping increase pollination and growing the native bee population in New Zealand,” Creative Woodcraft says.
“By providing a suitable habitat, a growth in population will occur and positively benefit the number of pollinators out there.”
Creative Woodcraft’s solitary bee houses include a variety of nesting tunnel diameters, suitable for hosting up to six species of bees and three species of beneficial wasp.
Key objectives:
1) Help gardeners increase their own garden yields.
2) Encourage others to raise gentle-natured leafcutter bees
3) Increase leafcutter bee, native solitary bee and bumble bee population for future pollination
4) Create eco-balanced yards and gardens that are chemical-free and naturally nutritious for our beneficial insects.