Do these programs have a direct effect on bees? I know our county health office keeps a list of beekeepers and has no spray areas around them. If you are concerned, you might call and get listed.
wayne
As long as they spray around dusk, it is not too bad...
When I was in the Army in SE Asia it was common to fog for misquitoes at dusk. The oily fog settled onto stagnate water and sufficated the mosquitoe larva yet it had dissapated from folage by morning. Use of insecticides can be very useful as long as it is done prudently.
I call our fogger out here "Chemical Ali". I was stationed on the base in Iraq where he did his chemical experiments so I thought it was appropriate.
Ali fogs about 1x per week here at dusk up and down the road (and last night in the field across the street). My hives are about 400 feet back from the road and he does it at dusk, so I am not too concerned. If my hives were in the front or side yard as the beemasters was, then maybe I would be concerned.
IF they follow the directions on the label and use it at appropriate times, it's not a problem. But they often don't. I would make sure they know you have bees and make sure if they DON'T follow the directions and they spray in the middle of the afternoon, you inform them of it. If they do, also inform the EPA.
could someone explain how this fogging actually looks like? here, we also fight mosquitos in their larvae stage. luckly the area is not to big and we do it on foot. we use some kind of spray that actually isn't pesticide, it's some kind of bacteria and when you spray it across the water it creates a thin film so when larvae comes up for air it gets infected and dies soon after the infection. this bacteria is unfortunatelly VERY sensitive to UV rays so we have to spray somewhere after maybe 3 o'clock. i don't know if they use the same spray, go find out. if so, you really shouldn't be concerned, the bacteria is completely harmless to all other species, the inventor/scientist even drank a whole table spoon of it just to prove it. possibility of mutating so it would harm other animals and be UV rays resistant are....you do the math 8)
Fogging is done from either a hand carried or vehicle mounted machine. It looks like a smoke generator. The "smoke" is the chemical being applied and disapates fairly rapidly. In my observations the "smoke is often disapted by the time the person with a hand applicator has gone 10 yards. Vehicle applicators, being larger take longer to disapte have a further reach, and create a much larger "smoke cloud".
hmmm, still don't know where exactly do they apply it to. do they make this fog above ponds and stuuf like that, or do they just spray all around.
ah well, seems like they use something else, bit more agressive and dangerous. if they don't use masks, it's a very good sing (or they're just ignorant :lol: )
All of the above. The people doing the applications are often kept in the dark as to risk. Fogging near ponds and stagnant water allows an oily film to form on the water surface which kills the misquito larva when they come up for air. On foliage the oily film settles on the leaves and flowers which when the insect comes in contact with kills them.
from what you've described, i think there's no fear for the bees. if the spray doesn0t hurt other wild animals and insects except for mosquitos it can't be harmful for the bees.
ah well, now we can stop reinventing warm water. BTW, why don't you just ask what are they using. or even better, read the label.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, around here they fogged with diesel. This would settle upon any breeding grounds for the blood suckers. (oily film on water.) But I think they banned that. Not sure what is used these days, or if they even fog around here any more, but I never see any alerts to get pets or other critters inside. So what ever it is must not be hazardouse to other critters.
>we use some kind of spray that actually isn't pesticide, it's some kind of bacteria
That would be Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis ). It will not hurt the bees at all and will also kill wax moths.
The local foggers use a high pressure pump to creat a mist. The active chemicals are a Pyritherine (sp?) and an Organo-Phosphate. It kills mosquitos and flies for sure.
They are truck mounted and travel slowly along a route of roads and alleys starting about 2 hours prior to sundown and for about the same after. The mist settles or depending on conditions drifts for a couple minutes before it dissapates.
wayne