Surely you have already seen pierced tree discs in insect hotels. Did you also notice that these are only very sparsely populated? In the following, we will explain why tree discs are not suitable for insect hotels and what alternatives there are.

Tree discs tend to crack and are therefore more a hotel for viruses and fungi than for bees

Why tree discs do insects more harm than good

Tree discs drilled parallel to the wood fiber, which are intended to serve as insect hotels (€11.33), have the following disadvantages for bees:

  • the drilling direction attracts moisture and thus creates an optimal breeding ground for viruses, bacteria and fungi
  • When the wood dries, cracks appear
  • Cracks, edges and frayed corners pose a threat to insects' sensitive wings

The good news is: bees, bumblebees and the like instinctively avoid such dangerous nesting aids. Only the virus and fungus-free, cleanly drilled passages are inhabited, which means that a tree disc sometimes harbors a few insects, but you will never achieve a decent population with a tree disc.

digression

Tree slices in nature

Have you ever seen an inhabited tree disc in the wild? Probably not. Tree discs can only be found in a forest when trees are felled. Then beetles could drill holes in these panes, but the holes would then be vertical and thus exposed to rain and the like. No bee, bumblebee or wasp would ever dream of nesting there. In short: tree discs with horizontal holes do not exist in nature. Deadwood is always drilled by beetles and other insects at right angles to the wood grain. These completely smoothly gnawed, crack-free holes are then inhabited by bees and the like.

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sensible alternative

Wood is still suitable as a nesting aid for insects, if we imitate nature as closely as possible:

  1. Choose a hard wood
  2. Thoroughly sand the block
  3. Drill clean (!) holes across the grain of the wood (as if the wood were vertical)
  4. Leave a backing board so the holes are protected from one side
  5. The wood should neither fray nor crack nor show any other damage

If you work clean, your insect hotel should be well populated in no time.

tips

Drill different sized holes in your log to provide a home for different species of bees and bumblebees.

Category:

Animals in the garden