Previously we had placed leaf cutter bees in Gilbert (8 May 2020) and Payson (9 May 2020). The Gilbert leaf cutters started emerging at the end of the month and are still going. The Payson bees may have emerged; but we saw no activity at the habitat.
We decided to put a second batch of leaf cutter bee cocoons at the Master Garden in Flowing Springs, just north of Payson. The first time, there was a physical distance (5-10 feet) and no direct line of sight from the cocoons to the habitat. This time we will co-locate the cocoons and habitats in a shaded location.
We checked the cocoons again on the 31 July and 2 August. And we may have discovered the problem with no observed propagation in the Master Garden - ANTS:
We are concerned that the ants observed there are eating the bees as they emerge from the cocoons. We plan to ask Wayne of JWMleafcutters about this in a few days.
In the meantime, the bees in Gilbert at Site1a2h continue to propagate albeit at a lesser rate than before. We will ask Wayne about the proper future actions concerning taking the habitats inside and/or harvesting them.
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