I am sure you are not using Apistan during a honey flow, so the issue is- will any
residual Apistan in the hive be transferred to the flowers. If there is any at all
it would take lab equipment measuring parts per million to detect it. And it is
unlikely to be on the foraging bees if you applied the apistan according to
directions.
Also, if your orgainc gardeners have any non-organic nectar sources within two or
so miles, the bees -or any pollinators-  are not going to be "organic" based on
the proposed bee organic standards. They will be carrying more interesting things
than a non-detectable trace of Apistan. So the question should be moot.
Also, if they are using "organic" pesticides, like rotanone, most are orders of
magnitude more toxic than the miniscule dose of Apistan you are applying. Just
compare the lables. I also believe several "organic" pesticides are either the
same as (but stronger) or from the same family as Apistan.
All that said, when you enter the "organic" world, none of what I just said may be
acceptable to those who want your bees.
Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME
 
BKPR333 wrote:
 
>   I have a question for the list  that doesn't seem to have any reference in
> the bee-l  archives . We, my wife and I,  have been asked to place two or
> three hives at a organic garden location, the organic garden people are very
> strict on the non-use of any chemicals.  We believe the bees probably won't
> survive without apistan.  Is there any threat that the apistan and the organic
> garden principle conflict with each other? In other words, would the apistan
> cause a problem by rubbing off on the plants and leaving a chemical residue or
> is that amount too insignificant to even measure or jeopardize the organic
> concept?
>
>                                                      thank you in advance
> [log in to unmask]
>                                                        8 hives and growing?
>                                                         north central ohio