• Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    How do I get only bees like the one on the bottom has only flies?

    I’m willing to allow other insects like butterflies and mantises, but flies and gnats are non-starters.

    • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
      10·
      2 months ago

      Many non-honey bees like to burrow in small tunnels. Preparing such tunnels for them can help them set up camp in your garden. You can do so, by e.g. drilling a few holes into a piece of wood and putting it somewhere where it doesn’t get rained on too much.

      Edit: I just saw that the uppermost picture has in fact one of those hanging on the tree to the right.

      These are referred to as insect/bee hotel.

      • Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        51·
        2 months ago

        I was mostly joking on the assumption that it would be impossible, but now I’m fascinated by the idea that I can actually influence butterflies and bees so they’re more abundant in my area. I was aware of the bee hotels, but didn’t know they were anything more than a weird hobby. Do they exist for preying mantises? We sometimes find them in our yard, but they’re endangered and I’d love to have a way to help them propagate.

        • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
          5·
          2 months ago

          Ah, yeah, it certainly is impossible to get only bees. 😅

          I’m not actually a biologist or insect hotel expert myself. You’ll probably get much better advice, if you ask in e.g. !askbiologists@lemmy.world.

          Given their camouflage, though, I imagine, they mostly want bushes to hide/hunt in. Maybe also don’t rake the leaves in autumn right away.
          Well, and you would probably actually want many other insects in your garden, for them as prey.

          • SizzlerEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            It’s one of those self-perpetuating behaviours. The more you spend time in the garden improving plantlife, the more animals you see especially on the microscopic level, the greater your interest. Good fun.

    • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Our gnat population went down when we put up a hummingbird feeder and planted stuff that they like. It went up when we started composting though.

      We have a few bushes that the bees really like, and it’s cool to walk by them and hear such loud buzzing.