> What are your first-hand experiences with deploying solitary bees for
> pollination, if any?
Alfalfa leafcutter bees are used on Prince Edward Island for blueberry
pollination, and they were also used in past years for hybrid canola
seed production. They are a commercially deployable solitary bee.
You buy a tray of frozen cocoons and thaw them out a certain number of
days before pollination.
Although they are "sociable" in that they will nest by the hundreds in
a single hanging block of wood with holes, they are not "social bees",
but solitary by the definitions I have seen of social bees. Each
leafcutter bee provisions only its own brood. Because they do not
give up reproduction to a queen they are not social bees.
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html