Thanks for responding to the group, Bob. Others have responded privately and
I expect many more will.
The symptoms we have seen here on PEI started 2 years after potato farmers
started using Admire (about 1998). It is not normally sprayed but applied
in-furrow at planting. At first glance one would think this would be a good
thing since no drift occurrs and no fish kills after a heavy rain (those
always make TV headlines). What we suspect is happening is the chemical or a
metabolite of it is staying in the soil and coming back in the nectar or
pollen of the red clover 2 years later and killing the bees.
The symptoms we see are:
1. dead hives in the spring with a few dead bees on the floor but mostly the
hive is empty. Sometimes there are a very few workers alive with a queen.
2. dead empty hives in August on clover, some with 4 or more combs of brood,
some with a few (5 or 10)  workers and a queen...hives that were strong July
1 coming off blueberries.
3. weak hives with brood diseases that don't respond to Terra.- AFB, EFB,
Chaulk.
4. poor honey production in hives that seem to be strong.
5. nucs that just can't seem to get going...some stay at 2 combs of brood
and some die out completely.
I have not found bees dead at the hive entrance as you would expect from
some insecticides. Mostly they are just gone. Some beekeepers have suggested
I may have a mite problem but I test for Varroa twice per year and have
sampled for tracheal once per year for the last 12 years. No mites have ever
been found in my bees.
I would like to hear from beekeepers in potato growing areas, in particular
the Maritimes, Ontario and Manitoba. If Imida. is not the problem (and I
really hope it isn't) then there is something else causing these symptoms.
If Imida. is the problem then I cringe to think what the damage could be to
our industry world wide. As I understand it Imida. is to be used on pretty
much all the canola going in the ground this spring and on corn as well.
Sorry for the long post.
Al