Let’s spray the trees while they bloom! Great idea!
You have probably heard by now that 25,000 bumble bees were killed last Saturday in a shopping center parking lot in Wilsonville, Oregon. The parking lot is home to 55 European linden trees which were...
View ArticleA warning about bee-friendly plants
When you go to your local gardening center and buy plants for pollinators, what are you really getting? It turns out that these plants may have already been treated with insecticides, including...
View ArticlePesticides on the prairie
Yesterday I went to Glacial Heritage Preserve to photograph bees. The prairie was in full bloom, a watercolor of camas, golden paintbrush, chocolate lily, and balsam root. The scent of flowers floated...
View ArticleWhen the weak become strong
I write this with one eye swollen shut. My neck is as wide as my ears, and I look a lot like a football player, right down to the eye black. And no, I’m not allergic to bee stings: this is normal. I...
View ArticleBee size, mites, and pesticides
Many beekeepers are convinced that raising smaller, natural-sized bees is the answer to controlling Varroa mites. According to one theory, smaller bees mature faster—in about 19 days instead of 21....
View ArticleSpinning the truth in favor of pesticides
Sometimes, what we hope will be a good thing, turns out in the worst possible way. Here’s a perfect example of completely truebut totally misleadingadvertising. If you recall, last year a number of...
View ArticleNeonicotinoids: euphoria then death for bees
Two papers published in the journal Nature earlier this week are causing quite a stir in the bee world. The first, “Seed coating with a neonicotinoid insecticide negatively affects wild bees” by...
View ArticleThe Pesticide in Our Own Backyards
Silence is a powerful thing. I was on my way to the compost bin when I noticed an enormous mound of dead bees in front of my strongest hive. No buzz issued from the landing board. No industrious thrum...
View ArticleMosquito spraying decimates honey bees
In the sunny and tranquil village of Islamorada in the Florida Keys, beekeeper Jamie Hulet was caught off guard by a spray of pesticide. She writes: “We had a mosquito plane fly overhead this morning...
View ArticleAssessing a pile of dead bees: what happened?
After mosquito spraying in his neighborhood, Jim Metrailer of Little Rock, Arkansas, discovered a pile of dead bees. He wondered if his bees got into the spray itself or if they ate poisoned nectar. He...
View ArticleAerial spraying and honey bees
Have your colonies ever been hit with aerial mosquito spraying? Unfortunately, it’s a common experience. Today’s featured question is about a specific insecticide, naled. More than half of my bees died...
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