My bees are situated at the edge of a field that we just started letting our neighbors cut for hay. It has quite a bit of weeds in it. We had talked about letting him spay it with 24d which would kill the weeds but not the grass. I can't see that it would affect the bees as nothing in the field is blooming.
I am considering this even though I let bugs eat my beans up because I didn't spray them to protect my bees.
I will probably regret this but what are everyones thoughts on this. :happy:
The stuff that 24D kills is what bees eat...
If the bees are also bringing in pesticides, the combination of the 2 is extremely deadly to the bees where they might survive each one individually with no problems.
Jim
I realize that bees visit these when they are blooming. I guess what I was asking is there
Any reason to believe that it would hurt the bees when it was not blooming and sprayed then.
I also realize that it will be lost to the bees as a food source but it is not that large an area and there's plenty of other sources in the area. I just do not want to hurt the 🐝 in any way. :smile:
In the morning when there is dew on the plants, your bees will collect the water and anything on it.
Jim
I am sure you have looked at the CDMS for 2-4D Bee Toxicity: Unknown I personally have had bee kills where I suspect 2-4D as the culprit. If you allow the spray screen your bees... better yet move them a few days. Is there a residual to the pollen---????? Typical half-life is listed as a few day to a few weeks.
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/mp4JF008.pdf
Quote from: sawdstmakr on July 24, 2018, 10:10:53 PM
In the morning when there is dew on the plants, your bees will collect the water and anything on it.
Jim
Yep.... always late evening spray....
I decided to just not spray at
all, I don't want to take a chance
On hurting my 🐝 s. :grin: Jim
Fader, 2-4D is a plant growth hormone. Does not work well this time of year. Kills because the plant has uncontrollable growth. The problem is 2-4D only works when a plant is growing so this is not a good time of year to spray. In early spring is best time for 2-4D, an amine salt that is a plant growth hormone.
Whatch a plant sprayed with 2-4D, the plant, the top of the plant curls and grows in all directions, uncontrolled growth like a cancer.
Blessings