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Insect of the Month

HONEY BEES

 

The Do's & Don'ts of

Pesticide Use~

to protect your friendly

neighborhood pollinators

Honey Bees play an important part in the production of many crops in Idaho.  Since most crops need protection from other types of damaging insects and diseases, pesticide poisoning is the most serious problem for today's pollinators in Idaho's agricultural areas.  Protecting your bees from pesticide poisoning should be a significant part of any pesticide application program.

 

Blooming Season.  The blossom is typically the only part of the plant that bees visit.  Avoid killing your bees by not applying pesticides hazardous to pollinators during the blooming phase of plant growth.  Even applying pesticides to non-blooming crops when weeds and wildflowers are blooming within close proximity can result in the death of your valuable pollinators.

 

 
Drifting Pesticides.  Drift occurs from nearly all spray and dust applications.  Pesticide dust drifts further than sprays.  It is extremely less hazardous to the bee population to spray only in the early morning and late evening when the air is calm. 

 
Application Timing.  In a perfect world, pesticides should only be applied when the wind is not blowing and when the bees are not visiting nearby flowers in the target area.  Blooming apple trees and clover are extremely attractive to your bees during the daytime, but cucumber and corn are visited most commonly in the early morning and early afternoons.  An early evening or night application of pesticides is least harmful to bees.

 

Pesticide Formulas.  As I said earlier, dusts are more hazardous than sprays.  Wettable powders have a longer residual effect than emulsifiable concentrates.  Granular pesticides seem to have little or no effect on your bees.  Ultra-low volume formulations of some pesticides are much more toxic than regular sprays.  There seems to be no type of repellent on the market that will keep your bees out of toxic areas. 

 

 
 

PRECAUTIONS FOR FARMERS AND APPLICATORS*

  1. Apply pesticides only when you need to.

  2. Use the recommended pesticide at the lowest effective rate.

  3. Use the pesticide least hazardous to bees that will control the pest involved.  If all recommended pesticides are equally hazardous to bees, use the one that has the shortest residual effect.

  4. Use sprays or granules instead of dust.

  5. Use ground equipment instead of aerial application to apply pesticides near bee hives.

  6. Apply pesticides in late afternoon or at night when bees are not working the blooms.

  7. Avoid drift of pesticides onto plants that are attractive to bees.

  8. Notify beekeepers several days before applying any pesticide that is hazardous to honey bees.  This will give them a chance to protect their colonies.  Please note:  Notifications are NOT a release of responsibility.

 
 

Highly Toxic Pesticides*--just a few

  1. 2,4-D

  2. Sevin

  3. Dursban, Lorsban

  4. Diazinon

  5. Lindane

  6. Malathion

  7. Ambush, Pounce (permethrin)

  8. Supracide

 
 

Almost Non-toxic Pesticides*

  1. 2,4-D butoxyethyl ester (Aqua-Kleen)

  2. Lasso

  3. Temik

  4. Kytrol

  5. Captan

  6. Round Up

  7. Pondmaster

  8. Probe

  9. Vantage

  10. Sulfur

 

*Information taken from OSU FactSheet HYG-2161-97, Dr. James E Tew