Leaf Cutter BeeWhile sitting out in the garden recently eating dinner, we were attracted by audible munching noises from our wisteria plant. Further investigation showed a bee-like creature neatly chopping an oval piece out of a leaf then flying away with its prize. It then returned for another piece of leaf, and then several more.
Later research told us that it was indeed a bee—a leaf cutter bee in fact—a solitary but quite friendly creature that likes wisteria, rose and other leaves as nest making material.
Webmaster
Came across your entry when ‘googling’ for details of this bee. [Firstly let me say I live up the other end of Cornwall to you near Callington]. I have roses and wisteria in my garden and together with a box of bee nesting tubes, supposidly for Red mason bees, have been facinated this month by the constant too-ing a fro-ing of bees carrying their piece of leaf which they then enter into the tube with, the larger bees departing in reverse [the tube must be a tight fit] I do have some images of them on camera. So thank you for adding to my knowlege of these creatures. PS I do wonder if I should leave the nesting tubes outside over the winter? {They are attached to my garden seat/rose frame}
I to was sitting in the garden watching a bee take leaves into a hole in a block of wood I had fixed to the fence it carefull packed the hole tight with the leaves. Do they lay eggs in the hole first and if so when will the eggs hatch ,this year or next. I found it quite interesting.
I’m glad others find these little chaps as interesting to watch as we did. However I don’t really know a great deal of detail about them so would suggest you scan the web – there seem to be some quite interesting not to say learned articles. The link in the blog is quite good and would not doubt lead you to others. Happy bee watching – particularly if you are going to see the next generation!
The leafcutter bee is quite important to farming, organic farming. Our community colleges will pay us to take courses in the handling of these little critters. I am glad to see that others have noticed them. They are quite harmless, and can be gently handled, but will sting you if rough with them.
Yes, and the wild ones overwinter their tube nests with a drop of pollen and the egg of the next generation inside. The link is excellent!
Forgot to say: we live in Saskatchewan!
I just got stung by a leaf cutter bee when repotting a plant from the greenhouse and hadn’t noticed the bee. Unlike a honey bee, it didn’t leave its sting behind and it was a mild sting in comparison to that of a honeybee ( I used to keep bees, but gave up when I was hospitalised after a sting; they thought I was becoming allergic to the stings. Thankfully I didn’t have a serious reaction this time.) The pot contained at least 18 sealed nest cells, with pupae in, each one surrounded by at least 10 semi circles on leaf, including one over the end of the cell. Sweet pea plants in the greenhouse had been “raided” by the bees for the semi-circles of leaf.
and I forgot to say I am in Chippenham, Wiltshire.
Chris – glad to hear that your encounter wasn’t too serious. Hope it didn’t kill the bee – as I think can happen with some sorts. It’s always interesting to hear more about these little creatures. What does the nest look like – did you take any pictures? We never got to see where our bee was going with her leaves. I gather that in general leaf-cutters are solitary but do you have signs of there being more than one in your greenhouse?
Shame about the sweet peas – hope they survive!
How do I get rid of these bees? My rose leaves look like green lace instead of foliage. I do spray with anti-bug stuff but no product specifically mentions leaf eating bees or even bees in general, and I can find no product which works well. I live in Palm Springs, CA, and these bees work all summer long – not just spring.
Reply to Gil McDonald – Stop using bug spray! Bees are the gardeners friend! They will not harm the plants. Ok, so the leaves look a little ‘bizarre’ but start a new trend! Lacecut rose leaves will be all the rage!
It seems a shame to exterminate these little chaps – but we all get upset by damage in our gardens. As far as we know we only had one bee so the depredations to our wisteria were relatively limited. I think I would check out some of the web-sites for thoughts on protecting the roses etc. I’m afraid I’m not an expert so not really able to give advice.
Ah, I’m glad I read this blog before taking action. I have at least two leafcutter bees turning my rose leaves into doilies. They are taking the cut pieces through a slit into a polythene hanging flower bag.
I thought they might be wasps and was going to dispose of the bag but now I know they are not harmful I shall leave it where it is and continue to watch with interest.
Jackie (London)
Hope they continue to be a source of interest – and I’m glad you didn’t exterminate them!
We haven’t seen our bee yet this summer – so the wisteria is in in “full”-leaf – but we keep looking.
I have a folding beer garden type bench and have been watching these leaf cutter bee’s using the the area’s where the screws go to build their nest/s
They are also doing the same to my wooden garden table and spend all day finishing off the holes with a variety of coloured leafs.
I’m sure they are using my passion flower leaves.
our leaf cutter bees make their nests in the screw channels on the underside of our garden tables. We have a nice time at out door meals watching them fly down under the table with bits of leaf to make the nests. Occasionally our guests are a bit alarmed when bees fly straight at them during meals. They have just reappeared (29th July). The screw channels are probably about two and a half inches deep and the same diameter as the bits of leaf.
I live in Spain and my roses are being decimated, one bee flew past me with a great chunk of a pink pelargonium, I still have to find a nest but after reading the site I am heading for my wooden garden table.
We noticed a bee entering one of our hanging flower bags a few weeks ago and today 23rd Aug 2007 have watched the bee taking leaf pieces in with it so have now identified same as above.
I live in central Edinburgh and our balcony post and tubs have been decimated this year with the leaf cutter bee – we are on the third floor. We also noticed plants in the Botanic Gardens in the city have also been affected. Does anyone have a solution to stop them nibbling my plants there is no where for them to nest on my balcony?
Thanks for all the information here! I was wondering what had been eating our leaves until I saw that some of the bamboo in our insect house (hanging on the front of the shed by the wisteria!) had fresh green leaves sticking out the end. Did a search and came up with this blog…
I shall leave the bees to get on with it.
Jackie, we have wasps nesting in our garden and, as long as we leave them alone, they don’t do us any harm. They eat aphids and other nasties :¬D
these little treasures come every year and somhow make their homes in the hard compost in my cactus plants. I should miss them if they emigrated somewhere else