Free Seeds for Bees

[Erichalfbee]

!!

 

[peteinwilts]

on a pot of ultimate bug killer...

technically, aren't bees 'bugs'!?!

 

[Curley]

I think true bugs (aphids, leaf shield bugs etc) are the order called Hemiptera not Hymenoptera which include wasps, ants and bees. Its to do with the mouth parts. Whether the makes of this particular insecticide mean this or any insect I don't know. Does seem like a marketing fail though.

 

[wessexmario]

Provado Ultimate Bug Killer contains Thiacloprid (a neonicotinoid) which is pretty much a universal insecticide and definitely not bee friendly.

 

[Heather]

I have to hold my hands up here. I use it very early days on lilies only. Only thing to keep lily beetle off them. But bees don't use the lilies, and I use well before any flowers set.
I am sick of my lilies getting trashed when I turn my back. ( no rude comments needed)

 

[B+.]

I am sick of my lilies getting trashed when I turn my back. ( no rude comments needed)

My lillies get eaten too but I keep picking the beetles off and stamping on them.

 

[Swarm]

Class!!
Sew seed, grow flowers, attract bees, kill them. All for just £4.57.

 

[REDWOOD]

I prefer to grow things that don't get eaten, although I don't mind the birds having a grape or two.

 

[itma]

Provado Ultimate Bug Killer contains Thiacloprid (a neonicotinoid) which is pretty much a universal insecticide and definitely not bee friendly.

One would be forgiven for thinking that Bayer using free "seeds for bees" to promote neonic sales was just a touch cynical.

I certainly couldn't make up anything that inverted.

But its seemingly so successful that it is being repeated this year ...

 

[REDWOOD]

Like pigs to slaughter

 

[madasafish]

One would be forgiven for thinking that Bayer using free "seeds for bees" to promote neonic sales was just a touch cynical.

I certainly couldn't make up anything that inverted.

But its seemingly so successful that it is being repeated this year ...

It just goes to prove the old maxims "you can fool some of the people all of the time..etc" or
"there's a sucker born every minute"....

 

[jonnybeegood]

would it not be wise to contact this company & explain the problem rather than just discussing the problem on here before lots of people buy this thinking they will be doing good by growing these seeds then using the spray on the plants? which company was it selling them?

 

[itma]

would it not be wise to contact this company & explain the problem rather than just discussing the problem on here before lots of people buy this thinking they will be doing good by growing these seeds then using the spray on the plants? which company was it selling them?

It seems that you have a bit of catching up to do.

Bayer is a multinational chemicals company. The very embodiment of "Big Ag". They have a vast agrichemicals business and are major manufacturers and promoters of neonics. They ARE the problem!

Their products are sold in all manner of shops.

See here for a bit of the catch-up http://www.foe.co.uk/campaignhubs/index.php?topic=1913.0

 

[pargyle]

would it not be wise to contact this company & explain the problem rather than just discussing the problem on here before lots of people buy this thinking they will be doing good by growing these seeds then using the spray on the plants? which company was it selling them?

Widely stocked in Garden Centres, Homebase is a major seller and it's stocked in all branches, Wilkinson and B&Q both stock it ... The trouble is that there's a demand for these products from people who want prissy gardens without the hassle of so called 'pests'. Most people really don't understand how completely these systemic control systems destroy ALL bugs ... and some of these are vital for the sustainability of our natural environment. Ladybirds eat aphids .. kill all the aphids and Ladybirds that eat them die out so you are left with no natural predators for the aphids... and therefore more aphids ... and so on. It's not just the effect on our bees that worries me it's the prospect of a sterile environment where the only survivors are those things that you were trying to wipe out in the first place.

The Soil Association wrote to all the retailers of these products asking them to take them off sale ... not a lot of response so far as much as I can see:

http://www.soilassociation.org/keepbritainbuzzing/householdpesticides

But ... up against the commercial muscle of Bayer - what chance have they got ?

 

[jonnybeegood]

It seems that you have a bit of catching up to do.

Bayer is a multinational chemicals company. The very embodiment of "Big Ag". They have a vast agrichemicals business and are major manufacturers and promoters of neonics. They ARE the problem!

Their products are sold in all manner of shops.

See here for a bit of the catch-up http://www.foe.co.uk/campaignhubs/index.php?topic=1913.0

No i do understand, i know its virtually impossible to stop these people but i was meaning more the adding of seeds for bees as an added incentive for people to buy the spray, i wasnt sure from the OP's post whether it was the company making the spray that was selling the seeds as an incentive or just the company/store that was adding the seeds to make sales. I thought if it was one large store it would be easier to target.

 

[itma]

No i do understand,... i was meaning more the adding of seeds for bees as an added incentive for people to buy the spray, i wasnt sure from the OP's post whether it was the company making the spray that was selling the seeds as an incentive or just the company/store that was adding the seeds to make sales. ...

As you'll see from the FoE link I posted, it is a cynical Bayer promotion. And that those June and July posts couldn't be from this year ...

 

[Heather]

I was doing a 'bee teaching day at a garden centre in Brighton last month.. They stuck me opposite the rows of pesticides. Great opportunity to demo what was destructive to bees..

I have tried removing and crushing the lily beetles but there are so many, and when one falls to the ground I have lost an opportunity. One treatment in the evening on early plants seems to sort for the whole season.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I have tried removing and crushing the lily beetles but there are so many, and when one falls to the ground I have lost an opportunity. One treatment in the evening on early plants seems to sort for the whole season.

I expect many others have the same problem with insect pests, so just use insecticide, hence the reason the seed packs are supplied complete with the insecticide needed to protect them, good thinking...a bargain.