Hello everyone, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with fungicides sprayed on mostly corn and some soybeans via aerial application. I live in a farming area in Nebraska and everyone is spraying fungicide right now (Headline, Stratego, and Quilt are the names of the products). I'm just curious if anyone knows anything about whether these are harmful to bees. Like I said before, they are fungicides only, not insecticides. thanks
Jay
Yes, there are a couple of the fungicides that are damaging to the young bee larva's. I don't remember the report or where I got it from at the moment, possibly from Eric Mussen at UCDavis, ca. He's the Ca. state ag extension at the university.
Here is a link to another forums where this was mentioned in a thread concerning roundup spray...
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231738&highlight=eric+mussen
If you understand how something as "claimed" safe as BT is to bees, and how BT is scientifically produced to effect only larvae within a very narrow range, then anything you place in the hive, including fungicides, could ultimately effect larvae and bee development. (BT is designed to act on pH levels, and different combinations of chemicals could change the natural internal bees pH levels, making them susceptible to normally safe products.)
We need to quit using such terms as fungicides, herbicides and insecticides. WD-40 and hairspray are label as none of them, but will kill a bee quicker than snot! Something gets labeled on testing, application, and use requirements. It does not mean it was tested on bees, claimed safe as an insecticide just for the labeling of a fungicide or anything else.
Agent Orange was safe at one time, cigarettes were promoted to Olympic athletes as performance enhances, and Coumaphos cause no damage. And we know now that all that is false. You want to trust a label, a government report, or the makers of such products as to their safeness?
It may not even be the single application of any particular chemical or spray, but the combination of items that bees come in contact with.
I don't want insecticides, fungicides, or herbicides inside my hives. I am always amazed at conversations that seem to indicate a willingness to rationalize, accept, or somehow make placing such items in ones hives as OK.
While insecticides kill bees directly, there is an increasing amount of research which indicates that fungicides and herbicides are detrimental to colony health. Of further concern is the fact that the insecticides used on soy beans for spider mites and aphids has long-lasting residue effects (3 weeks). Worse still, some farmers are combining applications of fungicides and insecticides creating what may be an even more toxic brew.