Native bees are doing way more work than I gave them credit for

I was reading a state extension page about backyard habitats and it said native bees pollinate about 80% of the flowering plants around here, way more than honeybees. That blew my mind because I always assumed honeybees were the main ones. I started leaving a bare patch of dirt in the corner of my yard for ground nesting bees last spring, and my squash and tomatoes set fruit noticeably better. Has anyone else tried making nesting spots for native bees, and did you see a difference?

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jamie7941mo ago

Ha, hate to be that guy but the 80% number gets tossed around a lot and it's a bit off. That stat usually means something like 80% of flowering plants can be pollinated by native bees in some way, not that they're doing 80% of the actual work in your yard. Honeybees and natives both pull their weight depending on the plant, and a lot of crops like squash actually do way better with natives like squash bees specifically. So you're right that natives are underrated, no question there. But the whole "honeybees are useless" thing that floats around online is kind of a stretch too, they're just generalists doing a different job. The bare dirt patch thing is legit though, ground nesters love that and squash bees in particular are way more active when they have bare soil to dig into.

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