Mortar bees

[Pford75]

We have a fairly large number of mortar bees on the South elevation of our house. It has reached the point where more than 10-15 of the things make their way into the bedroom at their favoured spot and then simply die on the carpet.

They have obviously been at it for a number of years as the pointing is in need of repair. Having done my googling, most suggest waiting until late summer before repointing....but experience tells me that we have had some early frosts here and the weather can hardly be relied upon. I've got some putty maturing and would prefer to do the repointing as soon as sunny weather and a lull in my day job coincide.

Has anyone else had this problem? Are the bees likely to want to burrow their way into my new (soft) pointing? Any way of stopping them without resorting in insecticides?

 

[Jon Maine]

We have an eastern wall with the same problem, it was pointed with putty lime and they just got through it again. Although in all fairness we have no problems inside the property from them.

I have decided to leave well alone.

 

[Feltwell]

No suggestion for a fix I'm afraid, but I'd be interested to see what others have done. We've had them in the past at one place on the back of the house I believe - the only place they could get in, one of the few bits that's not been repointed in cement

 

[Flyfisher]

I wonder if the bees could be tempted to use nest tubes? It would be less effort than digging into your pointing. Might be worth a try, and looks fairly easy to make from garden canes or similar. More info and construction details here.

 

[Hatster]

My sympathies - we have been invaded by honey bees, who keep dying on the carpet. I don't object to bees at all, but I want them to be alive in the garden, not dead in the house.

 

[Pford75]

SPAB recommend that the repointing is done in later summer since there is a risk of them burrowing into the new mortar if repointing is done now. They also suggest using a fine mesh net to keep them away and try to break the nesting cycle.

I think I may repoint as soon as I get chance and then net the area off to give the mortar chance to harden first.

 

[Jon Maine]

Sounds like a good plan, I seem to remember we re-pointed our wall around this time of year ( around 12 years ago) and did not net it off so may be why we have bees again, although they are not getting inside so I am not to bothered.

 

[chuckey]

The ones we have(had?) are called Pharohs Wasps, little darlings are protected. Very interesting set up though, adult burrows a hole about 1 1/2" deep in a mortar course, lays egg in bottom, packs it with pollen with a little clay plug to make it weather proof. Seemed such a shame to dig out this gunge and pack with mortar. The little beasties manages to dig out 90%+ of the mortar under my upstairs bay window cill, causing its brick pillars to move. If you use a good sharp sand and really pack it in (use a punch - see above), I doubt if the wasps could extricate the larger morsels of sharp sand (~6mm grain size).
Frank

 

[DaveBrigg]

The bee nests look like a fun garden project, thanks for the link flyfisher. We had a small wasps nest in a downstairs wall when we bought the house. I wasn't too bothered, but the plumber had a bit of a surprise when he drilled into the other side while fitting pipes.

 

[Jon Maine]

The bee nests look like a fun garden project, thanks for the link flyfisher. We had a small wasps nest in a downstairs wall when we bought the house. I wasn't too bothered, but the plumber had a bit of a surprise when he drilled into the other side while fitting pipes.

We all love plumbers, so have you any pictures? :twisted: