> pollinator of almonds.Tim,let us know if you see a lot of orchard bee
> activity while you are checking your hives.(I really enjoy walking
> through an almond orchard in full bloom on a warm day listening to the
> roar of the bees,at least until a fungicide spray rig shows up)
> ----Mike


Hi Mike and all

What's the deal with these fungicides? The manufactures don't give any label
warnings for bee kill but they sure blow a few over. I'm talking about
Antracol and also Manzate with one grower mixed with Bond Extra as the
sticker (surfactant).
I got the grower to not apply the sticker but he still got a good kill
spraying in the daytime. He agreed to not spray after that.

I warned another grower of these problems so he sprayed Antracol at 4 am to
get it dried by the time bees flew but when I were there at 2 pm the bees
were dropping out of the sky dead and dying in front of the hive. He agreed
not to spray any more.

Another grower sprayed Antracol in the evenings after bee flying times and I
never saw any bee kill but the hives did no good.

Why no warnings on the label? Is it up to me to sort these fungicide
manufacturers out? The growers had no warning of the damage they were
inflicting and if I hadn't stopped them they would have put their own crops
in even more risk.

(If anyone has any suspicions about wether any particular chemical is
killing bees just put some in a cage in the growers spray path and give them
a dose at the application rate being used).

Kevin Gibbs

New Zealand

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