Leafcutter bees

Dizzy_Ditzy

We have leafcutter bees making their nest in pots in the greenhouse. Yesterday morning we noticed that they'd burrowed into a pepper plant via the drainage holes at the bottom. We took that out of the greenhouse and by the time I got home from work, they'd burrowed into one of my aloe vera plants via the same.

I am absolutely not adverse to encouraging bees, I just don't want them nesting in the greenhouse.

They are cutting bits out of a plant next to the greenhouse. We have cobbled together a little bee hotel next to the plant and greenhouse. For obvious reasons I can't cover the drain holes in the pots.

Other than getting rid of the plant they're cutting up, is there anything I can do? All the websites I've looked at are all aimed at encouraging them and don't seem to have any suggestions of how to get them to go somewhere else in the garden

Dizzy_Ditzy

I've repotted both plants, after carefully removing the pods they'd built

For bees, these were very well constructed!

I'm not proud of getting rid of it like that but I needed them out of my plants

[Deleted User]

we have loads of leafcutter bees, they are so gentle and very good pollinators. We simply built a couple of bee hotels from bamboo and they lay grubs in the holes and cover the entrance with a bit of leaf. That is the only place they use and they like it if their hotels face south. Cutting the leaves does not harm the plants

Dizzy_Ditzy

kittie wrote: »

we have loads of leafcutter bees, they are so gentle and very good pollinators. We simply built a couple of bee hotels from bamboo and they lay grubs in the holes and cover the entrance with a bit of leaf. That is the only place they use and they like it if their hotels face south. Cutting the leaves does not harm the plants

Thank you. We built a bamboo hotel for them and it is facing south, but they arent using it. We repotted the two plants they'd burrowed into only to go in a day later to find they'd burrowed into two more. They burrow deep into the pots and have been breaking the roots. Thats how they are damaging my plants.


They've so far burrowed into three aloe vera pots and a pepper. I dont mind them using my garden at all, I just dont want them in my greenhouse.

[Deleted User]

perhaps they aren`t leafcutter bees queenofcheap, mine have never gone into holes in any pots. They cut the leaves to stop up the entrance to the bamboo

Dizzy_Ditzy

kittie wrote: »

perhaps they aren`t leafcutter bees queenofcheap, mine have never gone into holes in any pots. They cut the leaves to stop up the entrance to the bamboo

They definitely are leafcutters. A few websites have suggested that they like burrowing into plant pots via the drainage holes and use the leaves to create the pods that they lay their eggs in.

They are very intricate considering what they are made by

wiltslass

Hi just seen your post. We have leaf cutter bees that make use of our plant pots for a few weeks a year. I have cacti that I bring out from the greenhouse towards the end of April. They are put on a shelf attached to a fence and left there for the summer. What we have found is that they only use the black pots , going to and fro through the side drainage holes. Are your pots black?

We also have masonry or solitary bees who visit every year about the same time, they use bee boxes my husband has made with bamboo canes and screwed to a fence panel that faces south. They stop up the holes at the end of the canes with a sort of muddy paste after they have done their business, about a fortnight or so, then disappear. The young ones fight their way out the following year, then it all starts again. We feel privileged that they use our facilities.

Dizzy_Ditzy

wiltslass wrote: »

Hi just seen your post. We have leaf cutter bees that make use of our plant pots for a few weeks a year. I have cacti that I bring out from the greenhouse towards the end of April. They are put on a shelf attached to a fence and left there for the summer. What we have found is that they only use the black pots , going to and fro through the side drainage holes. Are your pots black?

We also have masonry or solitary bees who visit every year about the same time, they use bee boxes my husband has made with bamboo canes and screwed to a fence panel that faces south. They stop up the holes at the end of the canes with a sort of muddy paste after they have done their business, about a fortnight or so, then disappear. The young ones fight their way out the following year, then it all starts again. We feel privileged that they use our facilities.

Thank you!

Yes, all the pots are black. They'll get changed to brown over the weekend. Hopefully that'll make a difference

You might well be a genius :A

wiltslass

Please let us know if changing to brown pots makes a difference, hope so.

We have also found that rose leaves seem to be the preferred ones to gather. Most of the leaves on our rose bushes have small oval shapes missing on the edge! The edges are so smooth. Wonderful really.