> In summary, this study reports residue levels of neonicotinoid
insecticides in pollen and nectar

Oddly, they did not actually sample either pollen nor nectar directly, but
rather sampled flower parts that bees do not eat, and "rinsate," which
contained some of the pollen, and presumably nectar (but was not checked to
see if nectar was present).

Results for the rinsate, which would have contained any nectar:
"All rinsate samples had no detectable amounts of imidacloprid, except two
that were collected from plots receiving split treatments."  The amounts in
those two were extremely low.

What the study indicated was that seed treatment was likely OK, but that the
commonly used split treatments might result in some bee exposure to IMD,
although at very low levels.

After the reports that I hear from cucurbit pollinators, I'm now more
curious just what is happening, as I have no reason to question that their
bees crash afterwards.

Randy Oliver

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