-- James Fischer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>When pesticides don't get airborne, bee kills
>go to nearly zero

hi jim,

i agree with your post almost 100%...but the above, although i think generally is true, is not always true...and we have a situation in my area.

the asian longhorn beetle has been found in worcester, ma and in some surrounding areas.  the beetle has been here since at least 97, and the survey work (climbing trees, bucket trucks to visually inspect every host tree in the area) has just really begun.

in the past, they took down a lot of trees, and treated some.  because people don't want to lose their trees, they have decided they are going to cut down the infested trees, and treat the rest with injected imidacloprid. 90% of the trees in the city of worcester are norway maples.

in nj, they found about 700 infested trees, and took down over 21,000 of the host trees in the area.  thus far, they have found over 1500 infested trees in worcester...and since they are going to treat rather than remove the non-infested host trees, it wouldn't be unreasonable to conclude that we are going to have several tens of thousands of trees (maples, willow, horsechestnut, etc) that are injected with imidacloprid for at least 3 years running....and as i said, it's been in the area since at least 97, and the survey is really just getting started.

the timing still seems to be up in the air, but according to aphis, this might have a negative impact on bees.  there does not seem to be good data on the effects of this kind of application (how much ends up in the pollen, nectar, resins), nor the effects on the bees.  we are working with aphis and with some researchers to analyze/monitor durring the treatment so that we can learn something...but this is an example of a pesticide application that isn't sprayed (not airborne) that i think will have a significant impact.

deknow

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