honey bees

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

FYI, a bedtime story...

 

http://www.pitchcare.com/magazine/article/6417

[David Humphries]

Chemical controls ( herbicides etc) are very bad for bees as they are very sensitive to such things...Indeed, chemicals that are approved in the uk have been banned elsewhere in europe, eg France, precisely because bees cant handle it......Glynn Percival was merrily prescribing this an' that ( turn of phrase ) whilst the truth is that bees would most likely be devastated...

 

 

4 years on

 

the situation appears to be moving on, with the EU wide banning of neonicotinoids

 

Bee-harming pesticides banned in Europe | Environment | The Guardian

 

Pesticides linked to honeybee decline | Environment | The Guardian

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/29/bees-european-neonicotinoids-ban

 

 

Bees and Pesticides - Information and Action

 

.

[silky fox]

This is VERY good news!

[mdt]

This is VERY good news!

 

Is it???? Don't think people realise that foliar insecticides are worse than the neonicotinoids!!!

[coleman]

Is it???? Don't think people realise that foliar insecticides are worse than the neonicotinoids!!!

 

What are the other pesticides we are going to see in thier place??

[Gardenmac]

Last year we lost 3 of our five colonies due to a number of circumstances. Namely

The weather and the wet,cold and damp being one of the main issues and the bees couldn't simply get out to forage. We had a poor crop of fruit from our damson trees due to the weather as in the bees couldn't pollinate because they couldn't get out to fly.

The fact we live in a very rural area and there being very little for the bees to forage on being another and also the constant day time spraying by local farmers being a key factor. If local farmers can plough through the night then why can't they spray at night too? Bees don't fly at night and it would give them a safer chance of foraging in a spray free environment.

Banning the neonicotinoids may not be as good as we think as it means the farmers will revert back to other more harmful pesticides.

[Stephen Blair]

I can't believe that's over 4 years since I started this thread!!!

I was listening to it today on the radio.

[openspaceman]

Bees don't fly at night and it would give them a safer chance of foraging in a spray free environment.

Banning the neonicotinoids may not be as good as we think as it means the farmers will revert back to other more harmful pesticides.

 

 

As these neonicotinoids are systemic they will still affect the nectar I think. Your last sentence is the worry, has agriculture become so hooked on insecticides that they cannot get a yield without them?

[Gardenmac]

As these neonicotinoids are systemic they will still affect the nectar I think. Your last sentence is the worry, has agriculture become so hooked on insecticides that they cannot get a yield without them?

 

Out here on the Lancashire Plain they seem to spray every couple of weeks. Its a real shame especially as the we are surrounded by grade 1 agricultural land, highly fertile deep peat soil. The problem is its intense agriculture with high yields and quick crop turn arounds.

Edited April 30, 2013 by Gardenmac

[Gardenmac]

As these neonicotinoids are systemic they will still affect the nectar I think. Your last sentence is the worry, has agriculture become so hooked on insecticides that they cannot get a yield without them?

 

Out here on the Lancashire Plain they seem to spray every couple of weeks. Its a real shame especially as the area we are surrounded by is grade 1 agricultural land, highly fertile deep peat soil. The problem is its intense agriculture with high yields and quick crop turn arounds.

Many of the crops sown here are already coated in the neonicotinoids and then regularly sprayed.