World Bee Day: Help the bees with an insect hotel

DIY
Building an insect hotel: How to create a new habitat for bees & Co.

With just a few simple steps you can build your own insect hotel

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To protect the bee, you too can help to secure the future of the small farm animal – for example with an insect hotel or the right pollen.

It’s no longer a secret that bee populations are shrinking. One of the reasons for this is their dwindling habitat in which they can spread, such as trees and shrubs, perennials and flowers. It is all the more important to create new hibernation and nesting opportunities for the insects. In this way you not only make an important contribution to the preservation of our ecosystem, but you can also derive your own benefit from it.

Long flowering periods equal more food for bees

According to Oliver Fink from Association of German Tree Nurseries (BdB) registered association Bees are not only foraging for food in summer, when most of the flowers are in bloom – the insects also forage for food in spring and autumn. “They need more than wild flowers to really get their fill. Only a mix of different plants provides enough nectar and pollen for the hard-working pollinators,” explains the master gardener. “Bees are immensely important pollinators for all of us and it is high time that we humans support them”.

If you have a yard or a small balcony, you can help plant more food sources for bees by adding specific flowers, shrubs, and trees. Here some examples:

  • winter jasmine is particularly suitable as bee food. It already blooms at the beginning of the year (approx. January/February) in radiant shades of yellow.
  • Due to their evergreen leaves, mahonias not only offer year-round retreats for bees, but also for other creatures.
  • cherry or apple trees enchant the garden in April with a colorful sea of ​​flowers. For bees, a veritable feast begins with the flowering period!
  • The so-called “bee tree” Euodia is just as rich in pollen and nectar: ​​in August and September it is one of the most important food sources for the small beneficial insects.
  • In the garden or on the balcony, aromatic plants make themselves Herbs such as thyme, rosemary, lavender and sage are particularly good because they benefit both humans and insects alike.

Build an insect hotel: You need these materials

This offers another possibility to set up even more wintering and nesting possibilities in the home garden insect hotel. The artificially created area has been enjoying growing popularity since the 1990s: the effort is low, but the insect protection is extremely effective. This is partly due to the fact that the materials used not only provide a home for wild bees and bumblebees, but also for parasitic, wrinkle, digger and spider wasps, lacewings and earwigs.

If you have decided to build an insect hotel, you should definitely observe the following tips – otherwise there is a great risk that the artificially created nesting aids not be accepted. Or worse, the brood does not survive the winter. With the following tips you are well prepared:

  1. Hardwood such as beech, ash and oak is best suited for the scaffolding – or the wood of a fruit tree. In any case, it is important to ensure that there is no moisture left in the wood, otherwise there is a risk of it becoming mouldy.
  2. The same goes for any holes that drilled by hand must always be in the longitudinal direction, i.e. perpendicular to the direction of the fibres. Otherwise, cracks will form more quickly, in which moisture can collect and mold can form.
  3. When drilling, it makes sense to hollow out different holes of two to nine millimeters with enough space between them. The decisive factor here is that the holes are smooth on the inside, since splinters pose a great risk of injury for insects and their wings.
  4. bamboo tubes are often installed – unfortunately many forget to remove the inside of the stems. In order for the animals to accept them, the tubes must be neatly unwrapped, attached horizontally and sealed at the end. Alternatively go cardboard sleeves.
  5. There are a variety of materials that are popular but not at all suitable as nesting boxes: clay, pinecones, straws, plexiglass, glass, wooden bricks and concrete should definitely be avoided.
  6. The location of the insect hotelplays an equally important role for its inhabitants. A place in the sun (southeast to southwest) that nesting quarters Protection from both rain and wind is just as essential as a firm grip a few centimeters off the ground.

Source: press portal

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