On Aug. 14 I posed the following question to Brian Ames in Minnesota: "If there are honeybees working the bloom when soybeans are being sprayed with Lorsban, then what's stopping you and other beeks from posting videos of that fact on YouTube to document the alledged widespread label violations?" Brian responded: "Most beekeepers have no time to ponder You Tube etc...the [Lorsban] label says do not spray on bloom. Not my problem how the bean grower figures out how to do it without spraying on bloom." The Lorsban 4E label actually says: "do not apply this product to blooming crops or weed IF BEES ARE VISITING THE TREATMENT AREA." http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/ffd.jpg Between Aug. 15-18 I spent 4 days driving around the farm roads of south-central Minnesota looking for evidence that soybean farmers were spraying insecticides on soybean fields in bloom when honeybees were working the blooms. I failed to find even one case where honeybees were working the blooms of any of the numerous soybean fields I checked. I did find examples of honeybees working the blooms of weeds growing along the margins of soybeans like this: Landscape view of blooming soybeans: http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/ffa.jpg Closeup view of the soybean blossoms with no pollinators present: http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/ffc.jpg Closeup view of honeybee visiting the milkweed flowers growing along the margin of the blooming soybean field: http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/4ALC/ffb.jpg But no honeybees or other pollinators were observed on the soybean blooms. Evidently honeybees rarely visit soybean blooms. So it makes sense to me Minnesota farmers can legally spray soybean fields in bloom without being in violation of the label directions. Paul Cherubini El Dorado, Calif. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html