Solitary bees eat nectar and pollen. Adults drink nectar for energy, and each female stocks her nest cells with a ball of pollen mixed with nectar for her young. They do not make honey, have no queen and do not eat meat or carrion. Most of the world’s bee species are solitary.
What Solitary Bees Eat
Nectar
Nectar gives adult bees the sugar they need to fly and to build nests. Species with short tongues favor open, shallow flowers, while long-tongued species reach deeper blooms.
Pollen
Pollen is the protein source. Females carry it on a brush of hairs under the abdomen (leafcutters and mason bees) or on their hind legs (mining bees). Some species are specialists that collect pollen from only one plant family, while others are generalists.
How the Young Are Fed
There are no nurse bees in a solitary nest. The female builds a cell, packs it with a pollen and nectar loaf, lays an egg on it and seals the cell. The larva eats the loaf alone, pupates and, depending on the species, emerges in spring or summer. The mother usually never meets her offspring.
Common Solitary Bees
- Mason bees: nest in tubes and hollow stems and use mud to seal cells.
- Mining bees: dig burrows in bare ground.
- Leafcutter bees: line cells with cut leaf pieces. See what leafcutter bees eat.
- Carpenter bees: drill into wood. See what boring bees eat.
- Blue banded bees: see what blue banded bees eat.
Best Plants for Solitary Bees
Choose native flowers that bloom from early spring into fall. Good choices are fruit tree blossom, willow, borage, lavender, thyme, asters, goldenrod and sunflowers. Single-petal flowers are easier to feed from than double-petal ones. Letting some lawn weeds like dandelion and clover bloom gives early-season food.
Giving Them a Home
- Leave patches of bare, well-drained soil for ground-nesting species.
- Keep dead stems and logs with small holes.
- If you use a bee hotel, clean or replace the tubes each year and keep it dry and facing the sun.
- Skip insecticides, especially on flowering plants.
Do They Sting?
Solitary bees are gentle and rarely sting, because they have no colony to defend. A sting, if it happens, is mild. People with bee allergies should still be careful.
Bottom Line
Solitary bees live on nectar and pollen, and the best way to feed them is to plant flowers and avoid pesticides. For a social bee, see what can I feed a bumblebee.
