Leaf cutter bees - a docile pollinator small enough for tomato and cucumber polination

Recently we have added leaf cutter bees to help with greenhouse pollination. We were seeing too many squash that were aborting due to failure to be pollinated. In addition to hand pollinating, we decided to move some leaf cutter bees into the greenhouse. They’re a tiny and docile bee that’s capable of pollinating even a tiny bloom like on tomatoes.

You know you have leaf cutter bees when you start seeing small nearly perfect circles cut out of the leaves in your garden and your trees. They use those pieces of leaves to make a chamber where their young will grow. Once you provide them with the block you see in the video they don't require any inspections like a honey bee. At the end of the season the block is separated and the cocoons are collected. The cocoons are stored in a fine mesh bag to protect them from their predators and kept safe for the next year.

There are several places which provide leaf cutter bees and associated products. We use Crown Bees.