To attract beneficial insects such as wild bees to your own garden, you can use a little skill to build your own unique hotel that is sure to be one of a kind and costs only a fraction of what is charged for an off-the-shelf hotel.
In the garden, there is always supposed "waste" that can be easily recycled and costs nothing at all. For example, hollow stems from perennial pruning, old reed mats, fallen spruce or pine cones, old bricks from the cellar, clay shards, branches from fruit tree pruning, wood wool from packaging, etc., can be put to good use. Here is a guide from my dear friend Sandra, who really built a luxury hotel for insects:
Build your own insect hotel
What you’ll need:
- Large box or old boards from e.g. pallets
- Cordless screwdriver with wood drill bits of various sizes
- Screws
- Stapler
- Hammer and small nails
- Wooden box with lid from e.g. Ikea
- Paint, red
- Mouse or rabbit wire mesh
- For filling: hollow, old perennial stems, bamboo or reeds, pine/spruce cones, old bricks, wood wool, straw, branches, clay shards
- Tree trunk slices approx. 10 cm thick
- Roofing felt
- Houseleeks (Sempervivum)
Instructions:
For the "outer walls" of the hotel, use old boards from e.g. pallets (they have a convenient size); these are simply screwed together. A thinner plywood board, like those found on cabinets, is suitable as a back wall; this is nailed to the frame and immediately gives the whole thing stability.
The subdivision can be designed individually; simply screw additional small boards vertically and horizontally into the frame and you have single, double, and superior rooms.
Now it's time to fill the individual areas, just as you like:
Tree trunk slices can be recycled when a tree is cleared (they should dry for some time, otherwise the wood will crack). Simply cut (or have cut) slices from the tree trunk in the appropriate size for the insect hotel. These here are approx. 10 cm thick (matching the width of the "outer walls") and holes were drilled into the slice with drill bits of various sizes.
A home entirely in red was created for ladybugs and lacewings; they just like that. To do this, cut slits into the lid of the box and paint it red. The box should be mobile so that it can be overwintered in a protected place on the terrace or in a cool cellar in winter.
To ensure nothing falls out when you set up the hotel, place a suitable piece of mouse wire mesh over the entire frame at the front and staple or nail it down.
Since this insect hotel stands unprotected, it needs a functional roof. To do this, screw together a small frame again according to the same principle and nail on a back wall. This resulting tray should be lined with roofing felt and holes drilled on the sloping side so that rainwater can drain off. Place the roof on the hotel, screw it tight, and fill it with soil and gravel. Now just plant small houseleeks and nothing stands in the way of the "grand opening".
Read also: Build your own recycled fountain
Photo by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at
