>> the systemics are clear and compelling improvements
>> over the pesticides they replaced.
> I am not convinced by this mantra.
> It is not necessarily the pesticide that matters, but often
> the way that it is used.
I could argue that all pesticides should be as deadly as possible to
pollinators on contact, so that the foragers die before they can bring back
contaminated nectar or pollen to their hive, and thereby protect the hive.
But crops treated with this extra-deadly pesticide would never get
pollinated if foragers were killed on contact, so the attempts to make less
and less toxic pesticides continue, with that toxicity being thus imposed
upon the entire hive, from larvae to foragers. Modern problems. The
growers internalize the profits of higher yields with pesticides, but cost
is externalized on beekeepers.
> new pesticides came in (like Aphox) that could even be
> sprayed where bees were foraging
I was not aware of this, and as a general rule, I tend to take an interest
in claims that any pesticide can be safely used on blooming crops.
This older "field trial style" study from the 1970s seems to disagree - and
the formulation seems the same.
I am not sure what the process is in the UK, but here in the US, the
question would be one of "was this paper considered in the label review
process, and if so, how did the this product still not require
bee-protection language?"
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03015521.1974.10425765
Effect on honey bees of pirimicarb applied as a spray to chou moellier,
New Zealand Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 2:2,
P. G. Clinch & T. Palmer-Jones (1974)
209-211, DOI: 10.1080/03015521.1974.10425765
"Pirimicarb dispersible powder (50% w/w) was applied at the rate of 0.28 kg
a.i. in 112 liters water/ ha...
For the crop in full flower, mortality of collected field bees was 1% before
application and averaged about 8% during about 4 days
after application. Mortality averaged about 1 % for the crop just coming
into flower, and less than 1% for the control one, during the same
period of bee collection...
The compound exhibits such a degree of toxicity to honey bees that it cannot
be recommended for application to flowering crops. It
should therefore be applied to crops only before or after blossoming."
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