[Cob] Bees and beeswax

[Amanda Peck]

You can buy mason bee houses.  Might be a way to wean them away from holes, 
since apparently they come back to the the home place to nest.  Or Dorethy 
in particular may have some other sort of insect (one she inadvertantly 
plastered up, digging its way out, holes reused by the mason bees--if that's 
what she has.)  With the diseases among the honey bees, mason and to a 
lesser extent leaf-cutter bees are being used as a replacement as 
polinators, although not as honey producers.

Here's another link, I like the ag school/exension service reports, a bit 
less panic-inducing than the pesticide guys:

http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/inse006/inse006.htm

Shannon replied to Dorethy (snipped):

 > 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]

  >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 :-)