[Cob] Bees and beeswax

[Shannon C. Dealy]

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005, dorethy at juno.com wrote:

>
> Has anyone with a cob house had problems with bees drilling holes in
> it?  Last year, when we applied earthen plaster, they were there and we
> sorta entombed some, and I guess they're getting revenge--in the very
> same place--talk about cosmic memory!  Surprised that the caustic
> quality of the lime plaster does not deter them at all.  I replastered
> it, but they dig in again. Perhaps the major damage is only to my
> sculptures (my Mayan Jaguar Mask now looks like a smiley face without
> teeth, since I tried to patch her up!), but who knows how extensive the
> damage may eventually be.  Any ideas?  (I won't use pesticide.)
[snip]

I know of some people who have been having problems with mason bees,
I have them also, though I can't really call them a problem, my exterior
walls are covered with holes I put in them to speed drying while I was
building, and now the bees seem to be using the holes, though I can't see
any harm from them.  The link below gives some good information on the
life cycle of mason and leaf cutting bees (though it is from a pesticide
company):

   http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page1345.html

>From the article it sounds like possibly the best non-toxic solution is
to simply provide bee houses for them so they don't feel the need to
create a home in your plaster work.  I'll probably need to do something
similar if I ever get around to plastering the walls . . .  guess I can
safely ignore the problem for a few years :-)

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
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