Indeed in my opinion Bob Harrison method of dealing with growers who do
not give a darn about effects of pesticides on the honeybees that they are
renting is the best choice. His method is very simple, �g�c removing the
hives from the areas of pesticide kills as the best solution. Has worked
for me. Once I lose a yard to a farmer/grower not following label I am
gone from the area.�h

I have a pollination customer who always claims he never sprays, I have
never seen him spray; however, hive strength and honey yields over several
years are statistically variant to the average honey yields of my
operation.  As you would guess I am skeptical of probable pesticide
activity based on statistical analysis and am now thinking of leaving this
seasonal contract at the end of this year. I also have a farmer/grower who
uses methyl bromide under plastic in the fall prior to planting
strawberries. This past year the plastic used had less thickness than in
prior years resulting in shredding as it was stretched during row
formation. It is my opinion that I lost all my hives on this particular
operation due to methyl bromide gas forming a cloud over the field on a
windless still night and encapsulated my hives.

I have since learned that the North Carolina Department of Agriculture &
Consumer services has the capability of testing freshly deceased
honeybees. That�fs right, they are now using Liquid Chromatograph/Mass
Spectrometers, (LC/MS to jim) to identify pesticide kills. Of course this
will only be able to identify the bees either killed inside their home or
the ones who made it back to the hive and later died.  Bees lost to
pesticide spraying often never make it back to their hives.

Aaron mentioned,�h For instance, Dave Green has many times mentioned
pesticide kills in the height of winter (as if South Carolina had a clue
about winter ;-), where hives succumb to poisoned pollen stored months
earlier.�h To which I reply, one good thing is that the chemical industry
is moving away from microencapsulated pesticide capsules. Unfortunately
there are still farmers who have and use the stuff. Bees think that this
is pollen and bring it back to the hive to store and feed brood. How the
FDA could have allowed this stuff to hit the market in the first place is
beyond common sense.  Aaron also asked, �gAnd even if I�@were to quickly
jump to a pesticide poisoning conclusion, how would I begin
to find the source?  Where would I begin?�h Perhaps the New York State
Dept. of Agriculture has a testing service like North Carolina�fs. If not
then perhaps the State Beekeepers Association could become a squeaky wheel.

Finally, I went to the Lowes Home Improvement regional guru for their home
and garden section and asked if they could work with me to establish some
sort of educational display in proximity to their pesticide area which
would serve to educate homeowners on how to use pesticides with minimal
damage to honeybees and other pollinators.  I really would have liked to
see something develop; they were not interested.

Chuck Norton
Norton�fs Nut & Honey Farm
Reidsville, NC

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