Garden Leafcutter Bees

Garden leafcutter bees are tiny, gentle, solitary native pollinators that build nests in small cavities and use neat leaf cutouts to line their brood cells. They are fabulous pollinators for your garden plants and can help increase yields. They rarely sting, require hardly any work from you, and contribute to a healthier ecosystem! The bees will take tiny, semi-circular cuttings from the edges of tender leaves and flower petals to seal the brooding cells where the female lays her eggs. This does not hurt the plants. Each block is 6x6 inches across, 3 inches deep, and contains about 1000 dormant bee cocoons. This is a great quality block that leafcutter bees can reuse for years if you maintain it and keep it in a sheltered place. Once you receive your bees, keep them in a cold place (less than 40 degrees) such as the refrigerator until outdoor highs are consistently in the 70s. Then you can place the block outside, facing southeast. The block needs to be at least 3 feet off the ground to deter ants and should be secured to a stable surface. It takes 23-28 days at 70 degrees for them to incubate and emerge (usually in June or July).