Bee freindly bug spray

[labradorfarms]

Ok guys good question. I always plant a huge garden ever summer.. I normally spray it with liquid 7 dust. I mix it strong....
But this year im starting 2 Bee Hives and don't want to kill my bees..... Bugs are not to bad except on my purple hull pea's and some beans. The worms will eat up beans when they start sproting. What can I spray on my Garden that wont kill the Bee's? Or is 7 dust ok if I keet it at standard strength?

I want my Bee/s to do well but also want my Purple Hulls peas to do well to..

[Jim134]

I cannot tell you what the use for a bug spray.  

IMHO
Definitely do not use sevin dust pesticide. Bees will gather it as pollen and it will keep on killing for a long time because it gets into the wax.  

This list may help you out

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,41813.0.html


                  BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)   

[Vance G]

Sevin is the last thing any beekeeper should ever use!  If your 'bugs' are the larvae of moths then BT spray will kill them without harming the bees or you.  Get with your county agent and get his advice on what to use on your pests and how to safeguard your bees.   If you want to make fast friends with him, just refer to him as the local Mr Kimble.   Old people will get it.

[iddee]

Sevin should be totally banned. Being where you are, your ground is likely acid soil. Buy a bag of hydrated lime and keep your veggie leaves white. It will keep the bugs off and raise the PH of the soil as well. Double benefit and bee safe. Grapes, berries, and flowers, too.

[10framer]

Sevin is the last thing any beekeeper should ever use!  If your 'bugs' are the larvae of moths then BT spray will kill them without harming the bees or you.  Get with your county agent and get his advice on what to use on your pests and how to safeguard your bees.   If you want to make fast friends with him, just refer to him as the local Mr Kimble.   Old people will get it.

at least hank came around.  i've been trying to meet the agent in taylor county for over a year now.

[edward]

try Cold water from the garden hose, if you were a bug it would not bee nice if you get sprayed of every day.

soapy water is to 1 part soap, 4-5 parts of water and a dash methylated.

If sprayed on bugs will dry them out

Try using a natural soap, the kind used on old wooden floor boards.

Crush the bugs with your fingers


mvh Edward  :-P

[itsme]

Soapy water has worked for us on most bugs we've had.  If the problem isn't too bad we often just pick the bugs off as edward says.  This is a daily routine for us when the Japanese beetles are bad.  They are easy to pick off into a jar and then we feed them to our chickens.

Diatomaceous earth has worked well for us too, although I think it's not a good thing to get into the flowers if you are trying to be kind to the bees.  So whenever we use that we are careful not to get any into the flowering parts of the plants.

Some things seem to work better for some bugs.  Simply spraying with a garden hose has been effective for us in the short term for aphids on tomatoes.

We have not tried the lime thing.  I'm afraid it might give us a change in ph that we would rather not have in our garden.  Sounds worth trying though.  Makes me think of wood ash.  That might be worth a try too.

Good luck!

[iddee]

If your soil is low PH, it is great. If it's already alkaline, it might not be so good. Here, it is very low, so lime is added to the ground even if not used for bugs.

[jayj200]

Neem oil
I have heard it works good for most, they say it dosen't harm bees