Hello garden enthusiasts,
Last year, I spent time preparing a poor grassland area. About 40m² (430 ft²) was fully dug up, edging stones were installed, and mixed with sand. Now, I want to place an insect hotel in the middle. Unfortunately, I have no experience with this yet. I know there are ready-made hotels available, but some are built completely incorrectly and therefore not used by the insects.
Has anyone here dealt with this before and can share some advice? Or are there websites where especially good information can be found?
Since I’m just starting, I am wondering, for example:
- What is the best orientation to the sun?
- Should I design separate compartments for each type of insect (such as bee section, beetle section, lacewing section, etc.)?
- Can wild bees be housed together with other species? Or do some always need their own separate “home”?
- Where can I order "building materials" affordably?
I appreciate any advice!
Last year, I spent time preparing a poor grassland area. About 40m² (430 ft²) was fully dug up, edging stones were installed, and mixed with sand. Now, I want to place an insect hotel in the middle. Unfortunately, I have no experience with this yet. I know there are ready-made hotels available, but some are built completely incorrectly and therefore not used by the insects.
Has anyone here dealt with this before and can share some advice? Or are there websites where especially good information can be found?
Since I’m just starting, I am wondering, for example:
- What is the best orientation to the sun?
- Should I design separate compartments for each type of insect (such as bee section, beetle section, lacewing section, etc.)?
- Can wild bees be housed together with other species? Or do some always need their own separate “home”?
- Where can I order "building materials" affordably?
I appreciate any advice!
Vicky Pedia13 Jan 2020 13:56Hello Katja,
great idea!!! Hopefully, it will work out well for you! I myself have an orchard meadow in the forest. There, I have a bee hotel, exclusively for wild bees because of the pollination aspect. I bought the first 200 bees, and now it runs on its own. The hotel is positioned directly on the south side, although it is shaded by trees. The opening faces east to prevent rain from coming in. I bought the largest hotel I could find and added to it myself. The building material I used is exclusively untreated wood (I used a piece of a roof beam) with 8mm (0.3 inches) tubes inside. For you, pine cones, bundles of reed stems, but also bricks with holes could be suitable. Most conservationists also offer building instructions for these. Fingers crossed …
great idea!!! Hopefully, it will work out well for you! I myself have an orchard meadow in the forest. There, I have a bee hotel, exclusively for wild bees because of the pollination aspect. I bought the first 200 bees, and now it runs on its own. The hotel is positioned directly on the south side, although it is shaded by trees. The opening faces east to prevent rain from coming in. I bought the largest hotel I could find and added to it myself. The building material I used is exclusively untreated wood (I used a piece of a roof beam) with 8mm (0.3 inches) tubes inside. For you, pine cones, bundles of reed stems, but also bricks with holes could be suitable. Most conservationists also offer building instructions for these. Fingers crossed …
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Fummelbrett!13 Jan 2020 14:00I think the idea is great! Have you checked with Nabu for guides or tips? They have quite a lot of information available online, and I believe that information is fairly reliable. So far, we have only drilled multiple holes into two thick bark pieces and hung them on a tree and on the shed. After a few weeks, they were occupied.
I hope you keep us updated.
I hope you keep us updated.
Vicky Pedia13 Jan 2020 14:18@Fummelbrett! That’s exactly the place I was referring to, I just didn’t dare to mention the name. Great tip!