OSR Sprays

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

roche

Queen Bee
***
BeeKeeping Supporter
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
2,092
Reaction score
975
Location
Newburyish
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
6
I just had a phone call from the guy that drives the sprayer on the farm next door. He'd going to spray fungicide and fertiliser tomorrow on the 160 acres of OSR next to my colonies. Good Man! I asked him to call, and he has.

The question is - he's spraying fungicide and fertiliser, not pesticide. So should I shut them in for the day, or let them fly as normal?

Cheers,

Roche
 
They'll be fine, its going to be warm tomorrow so won't like being shut in. My farmers are all spraying pesticides in the evenings now after the bees have stopped flying so don't worry about shutting them up at all.
 
Now, this is a tricky one.

I too have bees on OSR and, considering the volume of acreage, and the likelihood that your bees will be foraging on the OSR and little else, there is no doubt that they WILL ingest some of the sprays in the nectar and pollen.

If you read the posts on the Environment part of the forum, and you believe what is written, then you will be concerned about the effects fungicides and herbicides have on our bees - these chemicals are NOT natural and they do affect the bees, although more concrete evidence is required before the agricultural community sits up and takes notice.

Yes, the weather is forecast to be good, but do you want to risk it and let your bees be sprayed ???

Pesticide or not, they will be bringing back these chemicals to the hive, contaminating the honey .

As a responsible beekeeper who has the option of shutting them in or not, I'd take the former or move them temporarily out of range.

If shutting them up, put a travelling screen in place of the crown board and remove the roof. I presume you have open mesh floors ? in which case this should keep the bees cool enough.

I'd wait at least an hour after spraying before letting them out. If you are around, a mist of water on the travelling screen will help.


I moved my bees off the rape when the sprays were due and then moved back the next day.

regards

S
 
from my understanding, one of the most dangerous things is "cocktail effects...."
Neonicotinoids, when mixed with commonly-used fungicides can become 1,000 times more potent. They are often tank mixed and applied together (certainly in the US) :puke:
 
They are often tank mixed and applied together (certainly in the US

As they are in this country,Lambda cyhalothrin, tank mixed with Triazole is just one combination, not good for bee's for days.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top