A Guide to Creating Bee Nesting Grounds

Quick Take

• Most bees don't live in hives, and the type that dominates your garden determines exactly what kind of home you need to build for them. Explore bee home types →
• A bee hotel built with the wrong materials can trap moisture, grow mold, and harm the very bees you're trying to help. Build it the right way →
• One bee type decorates its nest with stones and pebbles, and knowing which one tells you exactly who has moved into your garden. Meet the pebble decorators →
• Skipping end-of-season maintenance on your bee hotel can trigger infestations that silently wipe out next year's colony. See seasonal care steps →

Bee populations are dwindling at record levels due to habitat loss, climate change, pesticides, and disease. While managed honey bee hives are experiencing historic losses, many wild native bee species, including some bumblebees, mason bees, and leafcutter bees, are experiencing declines, though trends vary by species and region. Around 70% of all bee species are solitary ground-nesters. Instead of living in hives, females dig individual burrows in the soil to lay their eggs, provision them with pollen, and raise the next generation completely underground. Fortunately, supporting these critical pollinators is incredibly easy by creating natural nesting spots right in your garden. Continue reading to discover just how easy it can bee.

Ground Nesting Bees

A bee nesting ground is an area of loose, bare, or undisturbed soil where solitary bees dig individual brood pods in which to deposit their eggs. Unlike honey bees that live in social hives, these gentle, non-aggressive bees raise their young in provisioned underground brood chambers.

Ground-nesting bees prefer warm, sunny, well-drained patches of soil with sparse vegetation or bare earth. Although multiple females may nest near each other to share a prime location, each bee acts as a solitary mother, building her own nest without a queen. These underground nesters are incredibly docile, highly efficient native pollinators.

Cavity-Nesting Bees

Cavity-nesting bees nest in linear, tunnel-like chambers built inside existing holes, such as hollow plant stems, beetle borings in dead wood, or man-made bee hotels. About 30% of solitary bee species use these pre-existing structures rather than digging into the ground.

Wood and pith-nesting bees are types of cavity-nesting bees, but instead of using pre-existing holes, they excavate their own tunnels. In contrast, other cavity-nesting bees (like mason and leafcutter bees) find empty spaces, such as old beetle holes or hollow reeds, and build nests inside them.

Wood and pith nesting bees, such as carpenter bees, are active excavators that chew out their own tunnels in wood (larger species in the genus Xylocopa) and pith, such as the smaller species in the genus Ceratina.

Renter, Architectural, and Resin Bees

Renting nesters are the bees that don’t build or create their own nests but rather use existing structures to turn into their homes. These bees will use cracked stones, snail shells, burrows of other insects and animals, and human-made materials like straws, fencing, tubing, and window frame gaps.

Bee species that build their own free-standing nests out of a range of materials are known as architectural bees because they design the nests using local materials to create their unique homes.

Resin bees use their own natural secretions combined with plant matter and plant resin to create their hard-shelled, water-resistant nests. They often decorate their nests, too, using stones and pebbles. So if you see a pretty nest, chances are that it belongs to a resin bee.

If you have bumblebees in your area, consider keeping a pile of clippings and woody plant materials in your garden for their nesting purposes. Leave behind leaf litter and plant ornamental grasses to provide these buzzers with nesting grounds.

Everything You Need To Create The Perfect Bee Nesting Ground

Creating the perfect nesting grounds for bees is as easy as providing ground-nesting bees with an area of bare earth. For optimum results, consider having a water source nearby. For cavity-nesting bees, make a DIY bee hotel.

The first step is packing a wooden box or an old tin can tightly with hollow or pithy plant stems like bamboo, sumac, elderberry, or cardboard bee tubes. Ensure all tubes have a closed back end and are about 3 to 6 inches long.

Use untreated, unpainted natural wood, cardboard, or bamboo. Avoid using plastic or metal tubes, as they can trap moisture, which can cause mold and fungus. Tunnels must be smooth inside so bees do not tear their wings. If using wood, drill clean, splinter-free holes of varying diameters to attract different bee species.

You may attach wire mesh or hardware cloth to the front of the bee hotel to deter birds from pulling out the nesting tubes. Place the bee hotel so that it faces south or southeast so it catches the morning sun. Mount it to a sturdy wall, fence, or post about 3 to 5 feet off the ground and angle it very slightly downward so rainwater doesn’t pool in the tubes.

Caring for Your Bee Hotel

Once you’ve created your bee nesting grounds, you will need to maintain them, particularly bee hotels. In some cases, bee hotels can be prone to mold issues, so it’s important to keep them clean.

At the end of the summer, clean out any cells that are still walled up. These cells likely contain eggs that did not hatch and should be removed to prevent illness or infestations by other insects.

Remove the larvae of flies or other insects. They eat pollen and bee larvae.

Any drilled blocks in the hotel should be replaced every other year, during the summer, after the young bees have emerged. This prevents mold and fungus from growing.