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Bees and insecticides?
Amanda219
Posts: 7
Instructions always say do not spray when bees are actively foraging. When exactly is this foraging time?
From when they come out of hibernation until they go back again?
Throughout daylight hours?
Can I remove open flowerheads before I spray a particular plant in the evening?
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Posts
I don't risk it ... I don't use insecticides ... there's always a bee or two about in this garden ... even on a dull damp February day like today we've got bees making busy in the hellebores.
As I see it, even if you spray late in the evening after the bees are supposed to have gone to bed how do I know that aren't a few staying up late ................ and there must be some residue of the insecticide remaining on the plants next morning.
Since we've been here (2011) the natural predators (ladybirds, lacewings, hoverflies, bats, birds, hedgehogs, frogs, toads etc) have built up and now we really don't get bad infestations of aphids or similar problems. If there are a lot of aphids on the rose buds early on before the predatory insects are about I just brush them off with a finger and thumb, leaving a few for the ladybirds of course.
In my opinion bees are so vital to this planet and under such threat I'm not going to risk a single one.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'm with Dove. 100%
When should you not spray? Every day.
In the sticks near Peterborough
No sprays here either. I did once buy some Provado to deal with lily beetles which were ravaging my numerous pots of lillies but never used it. Instead I gave up growing lillies for a few years.
We need beneficial insects to pollinate our crops so can't afford pesticides whose reach can't be 100% controlled in a garden.
I did that once Obelixx and like you I never used it.... not once I'd read how it actually makes the pollen of the plants treated poisonous to bees, even if you've only put it on the roots or foliage ....... it stayed in the shed for a few years then went to the Hazardous Waste place at the local tip. Never again.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I agree with everyone else, an organic approach with a wildlife friendly garden is so much more appealing to me. Nothing better than sitting back with a cool drink in the Summer listening to the 'buzz'.
Honeybees are active most days, all year round and the bumbles have certainly already risen from hibernation here - some may have stayed around all Winter. The bumble queens will be looking for nest locations soon.
Last edited: 21 February 2018 17:13:36
No sprays, but I have to admit to using a bug spray in my conservatory at the moment, trying to control white fly on fuchsia cuttings, one they are grown on a bit and go outside that will be it. Greenfly on roses can be rubbed off, but I don’t get outside pests except slugs, and I will also own up to using a few slug pellets, and when I say few, I mean two or three grains on newly emerging delphiniums.
absloutel no need to put them on so the soils blue!
Make love, not war.
Bees tend to be most active during daytime and when the sun is out, and less active during nights and when it is cold and raining.
But so are most insects seen as pests.
If you choose to do this, consider the fact that when you are killing the "pests", you are also killing their natural enemies, making your garden a haven for the pests as soon as the toxines wear off, and they will. If you consider yourself to have a pest problem now, it will become worse when you mess with the balance as there will be no natural defence.
Why not instead think about why it is that you have a problem. Is your soil not suitable for the plant making it stressed? Have you planted to many of the same variety in the same place? Are the plants getting enough sun? Is the drainage suitable for the plant? And so on..
You will do yourself, the planet and future generations a massive favour if you choose not to use toxines.
Can we make an exception for gooseberry sawfly? Only asking.
Otherwise the answer is NEVER!