BY DORIS CROWLEY
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. - Protecting
bees from pesticide poisoning is a
challenge for farmers and home
gardeners alike. Without 'bees,
people couldn’t grow apples,
pears, melons, cucumbers, squash
and many other crops. And seed
companies wouldn’t be able to
produce many kinds of seeds. Even
crops that are less dependent on
bees, such as soybeans and lima
beans, yield better when foraged
by them. In controlled studies at
the University of Delaware
Agricultural Experiment Station,
researchers have documented up
to a 16 percent increase in the yield
of some soybean varieties that
were foraged by bees.
Pesticides are equally essential
in crop production. To achieve
marketable yields, farmers must
protect plants from harmful in
sects, diseases and weed com
petition. Though less economically
dependent on what they grow,
home gardeners, too, must
sometimes protect plants by using
chemicals. Herbicides and
fungicides generally pose no
danger to honeybees and other
beneficial insects, but some in
secticides will kill them along with
the targeted pests.
“Pesticides are very much a
necessity,” says Dr. Dewey Caron,
an apiculture specialist at the
university. “The challenge is to
use them in ways which don’t
endanger bees. In some situations
the bees are in a field or orchard
for their pollination services.
Sometimes, they’re just there
collecting nectar and pollen
trespassers of a sort. Either way,
when they come in contact with
chemicals applied to protect a
crop, they may be poisoned.”
Two Types of Exposure
Exposure occurs either because
the bees are foraging at the time
sprays are applied, or because
they begin collecting nectar and
pollen before pesticide residues
have had time to break down.
Many bees are poisoned, not while
pollinating the crop itself, but
while foraging in nearby con
taminated weeds. Their death is
usually accidental. Caron says
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Bees Need Protection from Pesticides
-*V* f
most people recognize the value of
honeybees both as pollinators and
as producers of wax and honey and
don’t intend to kill them.
Early in the growing season,
heavy infestations of mustard in
treated orchards are a common
hazard to bees, which like to forage
the flowers. Later in the summer,
<hi the Delmarva peninsula, sprays
on commercial lima beans pose
another serious threat But the
danger to pollinators exists in any
treated crop that’s in bloom
including soybeans, early season
potatoes and corn.
Chemical formulation and
means of application affect
pesticide toxicity to bees, Caron
says. Soil incorporated chemicals
are safe because honeybees don’t
come in contact with them.
Granular materials are also
usually safe. However, powders
and liquid sprays can be a
problem.
Pesticides kill bees in two ways.
Some, like parathion and
malathion, kill them on contact if
the bees are present during
treatment. But the materials of
greatest concern to beekeepers are
insecticides like Sevin and Penn
cap-M which, because of their
small particle size, are collected
with pollen and carried back to the
hive, contaminating pollen stores
and other bees. When this happens,
all or a large part of the colony
may die.
“In commercial agriculture,
large aerial applications pose one
of the more serious pesticide
threats to bees,” the scientist says,
“especially where there are lots of
weeds and the crop itself is not in
bloom. Though the bees may be
foraging weed flowers, when the
crop reaches a certain stage it’s
got to be sprayed to protect it. In
the process flowering weeds, and
thus bees, get contaminated.”
.Timing la Important
Timing of pesticide applications
can reduce the danger to bees, as
can choice of materials. “Late
afternoon or early evening sprays
are generally preferable because
honeybees and other beneficial
insects are less likely to be
foraging then,” Caron says.
“Aside from direct contact, the
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critical factor is whether the in
secticide gets onto or into
flowering plants. For example, you
can spray your lawn without en
dangering bees provided no
dandelions, clover or other weeds
are blooming there at the time.”
Given a choice, Caron suggests
farmers and home gardeners use
pesticides known to be less toxic to
bees. Pesticide labels contain this
information, along with advice on
protecting honeybees.
Biological insecticides such as
•acMn ttartvHMb and milky spore
disease are completely safe for
bees, the apiculturist says. t.
MariigMsfe is a bacteria which
destroys the digestive tract of leaf
feeding insects. It is used to control
worms on cabbage and other cole
crops and is also favored for use in
large scale aerial applications to
control gypsy moths in forested
areas. Milky spore, another
bacteria, is used to treat lawns
infested with Japanese beetle
grubs.
A recent study at the Delaware
Agricultural Experiment Station
has helped refine information on
the impact of several chemicals on
bees. During the 1985 growing
season, insect ecologist Dr.
Charles E. Mason compared
knockdown and mortality effects
on honeybees of seven commonly
used insecticides, including Sevin,
malathion, Lannate, Vydate,
Ambush, Zolone and Penncap-M.
He also studied the effect of
mixtures of Penncap-M with
several of these materials.
Mason found that when sprayed
directly on honeybees in a manner
simulating field exposure, each
insecticide combination had an
effect similar to that of the most
toxic chemical in the mixture. His
results also suggest that Vydate
previously considered only
moderately toxic to bees is
actually highly toxic to them.
Bee protection is a season-long
challenge, Caron says. Pesticide
treatment generally starts in early
spring with fruit tree sprays.
Orchardists apply some materials
prebloom, then treat again im
mediately after flowering,
spraying at intervals throughout
the summer.
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“Apple, melon and cucumber
growers know they must rely on
bees for pollination,” he says, “so
they don’t put insecticides on any
of these crops while they’re in
bloom. Most of these growers rent
bees, paying a beekeeper to move
his colonies to the site for the
period of bloom and then removing
them. You wouldn’t want to keep a
bee colony in an apple orchard
through the season,” he explains,
“because of the need to follow up
with post-bloom sprays. You also
don’t want the bees around during
harvest when they’ll go after fallen
fruit and create a problem for
picking crews.”
Caron says home gardeners, like
commercial gardeners, can help
protect bees and other beneficial
insects by applying insecticides in
late afternoon or early evening. He
recommends treating only those
plants which need protection and
avoiding anything that’s in bloom
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to lessen the chance of exposure.
“Where there is a continual
problem with pesticides,” Caron
concludes, “the only solution for
beekeepers may be to relocate
hives. Trying to confine bees to a
hive can be risky during warm
weather because the colony may
overheat and suffocate.”
E. L. Adkins, an entomologist at
the University of California’s
Riverside campus, has screened
many chemicals for their effect on
bees. Out of this research he has
developed a list, “Comparative
Toxicity of Pesticides to Bees,”
which Caron recommends to
anyone concerned about protecting
this highly beneficial insect.
Residents of the mid-Atlantic
region can obtain copies of Adkins’
list from Caron by writing the
Department of Entomology and
Applied Ecology, Townsend Hall,
University of Delaware, Newark,
DE19717-1303.
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