Dave,
    Good advise. I called mosquito control and when I said "beekeeper" they
passed me to a supervisor that got a little defensive. I made sure he knew that I
was trying to be helpful and he cooled down. They use malathion and the spray was
during flying time. I will note times in the future and bring up the information
at our next meeting.
    His first compromise is to stop the fogger prior to my house and turn it back
on again after my house. That only gives me a few hundred feet though, certainly
not enough space for foragers. I will contact my local extension agent and use
his assistance to see if we can get the standard times changed to sunset rather
than 6 PM. That certainly cannot be too much to ask.

The stopping of the spray near my home is inadequate to protect my bees, also, it
does not address unmanaged hives or hives moved for pollination services. The
label is to protect all bees, and not just honeybees.

Kinda fired up now 'cause if it was a private citizen ignoring the label, the FDA
and EPA would be repossessing my business license and fining me. We'll try
education first.
I'll pass on information as it is discovered.

Thom Bradley
Chesapeake, VA

[log in to unmask] wrote:

> In a message dated 99-06-30 22:57:31 EDT, [log in to unmask] (Thom Bradley)
> wrote:
>
> << I live in a mosquito spraying district.
>  It is my understanding the spraying is supposed to occur after dark. Of
>  course my concern is bees  still flying. The spraying occurred today at
>  5:52. Anyone have access to the labeling for this stuff. >>
>
>     Best bet is to call your vector control, and let them know bees were
> still flying, and that you want the label information. Common adulticides
> include resmethrin, dibrom and malathion, all of which prohibit application
> while bees are foraging.

>    Offer to help them monitor when bees are flying. Otherwise they do need
> to spray after dark.
>
>     Insist that they obey the labels; if they are using adulticides while
> bees are flying in the application area, it is a violation. And insist that
> they base their applications on actual monitoring of bee flight rather than
> assumptions.
>
> Dave Green   SC  USA
> The Pollination Home Page   http://www.pollinator.com
> The Pollination Scene   http://members.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
>
> Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop on the Internet  (honey & beeswax candles)
> http://members.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm