Building and placing an insect hotel: attracting beneficial bugs

Why an insect hotel belongs in your garden

My first insect hotel was a disaster. A fancy design piece from a garden show, filled with pine cones and bamboo. Looked gorgeous. Not a single insect moved in. Only when I understood what insects actually need did everything change. Two years on, my home-built hotel is packed with solitary bees and lacewings.

GardenWorld helps you visualise your garden's potential after seasonal care. An insect hotel fits perfectly into any garden style and completes the picture.

What makes a good insect hotel?

It's all about nesting opportunities. Solitary bees, which make up the vast majority of British bee species, look for narrow tunnels to lay their eggs. Drill holes of three to ten millimetres in blocks of hard wood. Use hardwood like oak, beech or ash. Softwood splinters and damages wings.

Hollow stems of reed or bamboo work brilliantly too. Cut them to length (ten to fifteen centimetres) and make sure one end is sealed. Bundle them together and place them horizontally. Vary the diameter: narrow tubes attract different species than wide ones.

What doesn't work?

Pine cones, straw and bark look charming but attract hardly any beneficial insects. Glass tubes overheat in the sun. And holes that are too large attract wasps rather than bees. Keep it practical and functional.

Building one: step by step

You'll need: a wooden box or old fruit crate, blocks of hardwood (oak, beech or ash), bamboo or reed, a drill and some sandpaper.

Drill holes in the hardwood at diameters of three, five, seven and nine millimetres. Drill into the end grain, never the side grain: this prevents cracking. Sand the edges smooth. Fill the box with the drilled blocks and stem bundles, packed tightly together.

Add a roof of a piece of board or roofing felt to keep rain off. The back must be closed: bees won't use open-ended tunnels.

Cost

Almost nothing. With some leftover wood, bamboo from the garden and an afternoon of building, you'll have a hotel that works better than the fifty-pound ones from the shop. Garden centres sell loose materials if you've nothing in the shed.

Choosing the right spot

This is where it often goes wrong. An insect hotel needs a sunny, sheltered position with the opening facing south or south-east. Insects need warmth to become active. In the shade, your hotel will stay empty.

Mount it at least fifty centimetres off the ground, stable and out of the wind. Against a garden wall or fence is ideal. Don't place it on the ground: moisture and slugs are the enemy.

Close to food

A hotel without a restaurant doesn't work. Plant flowering herbs, wildflowers and native plants nearby. Bees need nectar and pollen. Lavender, thyme, sunflowers and cornflowers are favourites. A flower-rich border a few metres away makes your hotel irresistible.

When to put it up?

The best time is early spring, in March or April, before the first solitary bees become active. But really you can put one up any time of year. Leave the hotel in place all year round, including winter. The larvae overwinter inside the tunnels and emerge the following spring.

Don't move the hotel once it's occupied. Bees memorise the exact location and won't find their nest if you relocate it.

Maintenance

Very little, really. Replace occupied stems after two to three years once the bees have emerged. Check occasionally for mould. Empty stems where the sealing cap has disappeared are the ones that have been used and vacated.

Keep birds at bay. Woodpeckers and tits love bee larvae. A piece of chicken wire fixed five centimetres in front of the opening keeps them at a distance without hindering the bees.

More than just a hotel

An insect hotel is a start, but not the whole story. Let a corner of your garden go wild. Leave dead stems standing through winter. Don't mow everything short. Stack some stones or logs for shelter. The more variety you offer, the more species will inhabit your garden.

And avoid pesticides. A garden full of insect hotels but also full of chemicals is like a restaurant that poisons its guests. Choose natural gardening and your whole garden becomes an insect paradise.

Curious what your green, biodiverse garden could look like? Discover it on GardenWorld and design a garden buzzing with life.