Bob wrote:
> ALWAYS TELL FARMERS TO SPRAY PESTICIDES & HERBICIDES AT DUSK WHEN BEES
> ARE NOT FLYING.

Dave said:
.  I think some farmers will laugh, because herbicides are pesticides.
Using this
terminology is like saying fruit and oranges.

With orchard owners in the Midwest  the terminology most use for pesticides
is "poison".

They say :
"get those hives out as we need to get the poison on".

They are trying to kill bugs.

fungicides most times will not kill bees (has been my experience) and  are
mostly for disease.

I have seen bees sprayed with fungicides often. Especially in apples &
almonds. I have never seen a problem even when bees were flying but others
on the list may have.

Herbicides most often refers to the chemical used to kill weeds and some
will kill bees if sprayed directly on the bees foraging on or around the
weeds the farmer is trying to kill..

All of the above can be carried back to the hive if sprayed directly on bees
and the bees are not killed.

Dave said:
  Farmers are pretty knowledgeable about
pesticides, and the use of such terminolgy will likely result in some
stories told among farmers....

I doubt the farmers I deal with would put out a story about my terminolgy
afraid I might get upset and not pollinate their crops and they would be in
big trouble.

Dave said:
I think what you are trying to say is insecticides.

I think you paint the picture with a very broad brush. Even below you refer
to herbicide. When a farmer calls and says he is going to spray around my
bees he uses terminolgy like pesticide (or poison), herbicide and fungicide.

I had a big kill (foragers) in a yard this year when a farmer called and
said he was spraying a herbicide in an 80 acre field next to the bees. I
told him OK as long as he sprayed when the bees were not flying. I later
found from a neighbor he sprayed in the morning at a time the bees were in
his weed field (no till farmers are the worst). The hives did not die but
were knocked back so much they did not produce a honey crop.

Dave said:
2. I don't worry about herbicide use. There's no point in being picky about
something that is basically non-toxic to bees. Yes, I know the surfactant
will kill bees, but the
farmers aren't  spraying them directly on the bees. Even if the hives are
hit, you would only lose a few guards at the entrance.

You sound like a few of the farmers I deal with. Lets take a chance with
Bob's bees and  spray when the bees are flying. I did not charge the farmer
for the bee kill because he called me but should have as I knew he sprayed
the herbicide (weed killer). All hives were effected and the dead bees out
front clearly displayed the problem.

Bob

Ps. Farmers are famous for mixing their own mix of sprays to save labor. A
few of these combinations can kill bees (and I believe have killed mine
before).

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