An insect hotel, insect hotel or bichotel may look like a plot of a children’s movie or something similar, but no, it is an important contribution to our orchards and the ecosystems generated there.
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What is an insect hotel and what is it for?
In the garden we can place shelters for the insects to settle and hopefully they decide that it is an ideal place to live and reproduce.
But why would we want that, some may ask? Well, because these animals, once established, will feed on the pests that plague our crops. And we will have one more ally who will help us fight these pests in an ecological way, without toxic chemicals or pesticides. Let’s see how this bichotel works.
bambuswald© Insect Hotel with 3 floors and…
- 🌱 AN EYE-CATCHER IN THE GARDEN – The insect box was handcrafted from different types of wood, including bamboo and pine. Natural materials have not been processed. If you want to varnish it, choose a product that is not toxic to animals.
- 🐝 HELPS SPECIES PROTECTION – Bees, wasps, beetles, earwigs, lacewings, flies and butterflies feel very comfortable in the holes and cracks of the house. The insect hotel helps them find a suitable habitat and take care of their young. At the same time, they contribute enormously to the well-being of nature. Your garden will bloom!
- 💚 WELCOMES VISITS ALL YEAR ROUND – The craft pavilion serves as an incubator, shelter and temporary residence for various species of insects. Thanks to the bamboo poles, the small hotel is perfect for wild bees. It also has a butterfly house in the center.
- ✅ ENTERTAINMENT AND EDUCATION – With our bee house, nature lovers, home gardeners and curious children can watch pollinators come and go from their room for hours.
- ♻ SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING – Like all Bambuswald products, the insect house is delivered plastic-free. We recommend that you hang the eco-nest in a place in your garden that is sheltered from the weather.
In nature, many insects dig galleries in the ground, hide in dry grass, rotten logs or simply take advantage of holes dug by other animals to take refuge or reproduce there.
But the farmer can also recreate this environment in a small space or area of the garden, so that he can build a kind of hotel for insects, an “insect hotel” as you can see on the picture above. It is full of holes, leaves, branches and cracks which attract a lot of insects. Below and in the video we explain step by step how to make an insect hotel.
How to make a homemade bug hotel
Making a homemade insect hotel is not a complicated and very beneficial task. It will help us to control some pests in our garden, such as the caterpillarsThe aphids or mealybugs. It can be a lot simpler and more bearable than you think.
In addition, with this refuge we can also increase production by up to 20% thanks to the action of pollinators. The ideal in our organic gardens is to bet on biodiversity and balance, since each insect has its task. We have already seen these years, over the various articles, the benefits of having certain insects and their contribution.
All are known as garden allies or beneficial fauna. It is important to know them, because if we see them in our garden we should be happy, so I encourage you to know them all and identify them with the orchard allies guide.
make an insect hotel
To make our hotel there are many alternatives and it can be done in several ways. We made this shelter by taking advantage of all the recycled materials we were able to collect.
We made the structure with pallet wood and we also used leftover chicken coop mesh. The rest of the organic matter is made up of pineapples, reeds and branches, we took them from the area closest to the orchard. You will see how simple it is to make it and install it in our garden.
Where to put an insect hotel
Now let’s see where to place an insect hotel, which is the best place. The ideal is to place it sheltered from strong winds with a southern orientation, those of us who are in the north and those who are in the southern hemisphere, with a northern orientation.
It is ideal to place it a little high, either so that insects find it more easily when it comes to walking in the garden, as well as to protect it from possible predators, or to prevent it from not be damaged.
You also have the option of buy one here I assure you that it is very interesting and rewarding to have one or more of these shelters scattered around our garden.
Navaris Hôtel des Insectes Bois M – observatory of…
- 5 STAR HOTEL: The insect house serves as a shelter for living insects in the garden, terrace or balcony of your home. In their cavities will live bees, butterflies, ladybugs, beetles, ants, etc.
- BIOLOGICAL BALANCE: The materials of the insect hotel are natural: wood, bamboo and pineapple. This allows creatures to easily build a nest as if they were in the wild.
- AGAINST RAIN: The sloping roof of the insect cage has an iron plate to protect the house from rain. This way the wood and branches are not too wet. In addition, it also protects insects from birds.
- PORTABLE: With the pendant, you can place the insect catcher on a wall or on the fence of your garden or terrace (nails not included).
- FUN AND EDUCATIONAL: Children will learn about wildlife and this is one item that will help with pest control that may be in your home. It is a great decorative wild creature collection item.
Who can stay?
Solitary bees are the main hosts, as they need a hole to lay their eggs. These will not eat caterpillars and aphids, but they will pollinate the flowers of our crops.
Later, they will frequently come to feed their descendants with pollen or with prey such as caterpillars or larvae of other insects. Wasps will also come, like the potter wasp, which will fill its den with caterpillars and lay an egg to finally seal it with mud. When the larva hatches, it will eat the caterpillars and a new wasp will emerge.
We will also have to ladybugswho find in insect hotels an ideal refuge to spend the night, or lacewings, which will also use the cracks to hide. In addition to these insects, many others can also enter who see a special place in the bichotel.
Do they pose a risk to us?
Well, they are not dangerous species because they are not like bees or wasps that live in a hive and do not risk their lives because they have many offspring to feed. Having them in the garden is therefore an advantage.
A curious fact is that many times they can come to us and observe us closely. They are just looking for caterpillars, there is no need to slap or be alarmed.
How to prevent your insect hotel from being a death trap for bees
Like all hotels, this one also needs cleaning and repair. An insect hotel in poor condition can become a deadly trap for insects.
An old bichotel can transmit diseases and parasites to predators who decide to use it as a home. This is why every year we have to clean and renovate the hotel.
You should also know that many of these hotels are not built with materials, but by using cheap materials, they will ultimately not fulfill their function of attracting certain bees or predators. That’s why it would be better to have it made to order by a professional or to build one yourself.
How to tidy up a hotel?
To facilitate cleaning, it would be better to have separate compartments that we will fill with the necessary materials. The different materials inside such as reeds, wood or tubes must be removable and must not be glued, because in this way we cannot replace them if necessary.
The reeds or wood must have only one access to their interior, because if the hole is made on 2 sides, predators or parasites can enter more easily. The holes should be deep and of different sizes.
The canes should not have splinters or very sharp edges, as the brood may be damaged. Although if possible it is better not to use rods because if we do not choose the right ones they will have a membrane in each node and the cabin may be too small. Also, if the cane or bamboo is very green, it can easily generate fungus.
The ideal is to investigate the types of bees present in our area and provide them with the appropriate shelter.
When should the hotel be cleaned from insects?
The best time for cleaning is in the spring, when the inhabitants leave the nests after the harsh winter. It’s easy to tell if there are specimens inside or not, as they usually cover the hole they stay in.
A trick to prevent new bees from coming to build their nest is to put a box that covers the whole hotel or the part that you think is inhabited. We make a hole with a pencil in the direction where the sun comes from and little by little they will come out and come out through the hole. This is because insects are guided by sunlight.
Once the hotel is empty, it’s time to clean up. Reeds or bamboos and natural straws made with straw trunks are replaced. With a branch or a pencil, hit all the holes in the wood or the trunks to make the clay fall, then blow with compressed air or a vacuum cleaner. Logs with holes must be replaced every 2 years.
Replacement Bug Hotel
Another option is to have two hotels, one kept in the house and the other in the garden. When it’s time for cleaning, we’ll swap them out and clean it little by little, until it’s ready for next year, when we’ll make the change again.
wood pests
If we observe pests such as termites or woodworms, it is advisable to remove the affected trunks so that they do not end up eating the whole hotel. Remember that we cannot add any product because we would kill the insects that were staying there.
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