Home Depot plants kill honeybees

[CapnChkn]

So!

Yeah, I know this topic is over a year old now.  I just found this article through Kim Flottum's newsletter, "Catch the Buzz."  It seems that there is Purdy good evidence that Neonics are harming bee colonies in many ways.  In this case, as little as 20 parts per billion can cause the queen's laying ability to drop as much as 33%.  In larger doses, the decrease in egg laying can be as much as 66%.

This is the same stuff you put in between the shoulder blades of your kitty or doggie to dose them for fleas, and the most widely used Neonicotinoid in the world.  Imidacloprid.  The study done by Judy Wu-smart of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is published in Nature Journal's website at the "Scientific Reports" section.

"Sub-lethal effects of dietary neonicotinoid insecticide exposure on honey bee queen fecundity and colony development."  http://www.nature.com/articles/srep32108

"Less well studied are the potential effects of neonicotinoids on queen bees, which may be exposed indirectly through trophallaxis, or food-sharing. To assess effects on queen productivity, small colonies of different sizes (1500, 3000, and 7000 bees) were fed imidacloprid (0, 10, 20, 50, and 100 ppb) in syrup for three weeks. We found adverse effects of imidacloprid on queens (egg-laying and locomotor activity), worker bees (foraging and hygienic activities), and colony development (brood production and pollen stores) in all treated colonies."

[bwallace23350]

Does it hurt bumblebees and other bees. At my parents house they have tones of other bees but no honey bees. I find that odd since they are surrounded by lots of woods and wildlife but in our pasture where I have my bees I know of feral bees but no plants with neonecticides or any such thing are ever planted tehre.

[Dallasbeek]

Does it hurt bumblebees and other bees. At my parents house they have tones of other bees but no honey bees. I find that odd since they are surrounded by lots of woods and wildlife but in our pasture where I have my bees I know of feral bees but no plants with neonecticides or any such thing are ever planted tehre.

Honeybees can travel two miles or more, so do you really know there are no neonics that they are feeding on?  You'd have to be in a very large pesticide-free nature preserve or somehting to know for sure.