>
>
>
> And with daylight savings time my bees are foraging heavily up to 9PM in
> late June.  I am at 44 degrees north while Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are
> at 42 degrees north but still with sunlight well after 6PM.
>
> Bob Darrell
> Caledon Ontario
> Canada
> 44N80W
>

The law taken from the Iowa Code article:

"21—45.31(206) Application of pesticides toxic to bees.
45.31(1) Owners of apiaries, in order to protect their bees from pesticide
applications, shall register
the location of their apiaries with the state apiarist. Registration shall
be on forms provided by the
department. The registration expires December 31 each year and may be
renewed the following year.
45.31(2) *Between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., a commercial applicator shall not apply
to blooming crops
pesticides labeled as toxic to bees when the commercial applicator is
located within one mile of a
registered apiary.* A commercial applicator shall be responsible for
maintaining the one-mile distance
from apiaries that are registered and listed on the sensitive crop registry
on the first day of each month.
This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code sections 206.6(5)"a"(3) and
206.19(2).
[ARC 7572B, IAB 2/11/09, effective 1/22/09]"




I live in Ames (30mi (48KM)) north of Des Moines, IA. Bees during the summer
do fly before 8am, not a lot but some. Also, you can still find bees flying
at 8 or 9pm at night during the summer, with some returning around 10pm
even. The law, mostly from what I've gathered is more for protecting bees
from blooming soybeans and other blooming crops like apples etc. You do not
find many bees in corn fields (and for that matter soybeans) even though I
have been told of stories from a former Dadant manager in Sioux city, (where
I grew up) that bees could make honey from soybeans. Also, as you can see
above it is only for blooming crops, yet it does not define what bloom is
(any or >5% 10%).

It's a start, but I think there are more questions now in a way.


Nick

-- 


Nick Behrens
Graduate Assistant
Department of Entomology
Iowa State University

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