Is RoudUp Dangerous for bees?

[jester7891]

I have 2 new hives (2 weeks old) right on the edge of my woods.  There are a lot of sticker bushes and brier bushes pretty close by.  I want to use RoundUp (active glyphosate) to keep the bushes at bay.  These are not flowering plants.  Can the RoundUp hurt the bees?
    As usual, thanks. 
                                Jester

[Bob Delp]

RoundUp deteriorates very rapidly.  Unless they drink it immediately after you spray, it won't hurt them at all.
Bob

[bassman1977]

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=14353.0

[randydrivesabus]

dangerous for bees? maybe. dangerous for man? probably. lets spread more chemicals on our world. anything to make our lives easier.
i have a lot of sticker briar etc all over the place and its amazing what one can do with a saw and a pair of gloves.

[wayseer]

A note from Down under.

Roundup is dangerous.  However, there are times when its use is legitimate.  As Jester has noted, a bit of hard yakka will get rid of most of your problem rather than roundup.

I note you have placed your bees alongside a forest.  I would urge caution here.  Fire is probably the most dangerous thing for beekeepers in Australia.  Bushfires, even small ones, will wipe out an apiary.  Keep away from timber unless you mow a fire break around your hives.  I live in a cane toad area and hives have to be on stands so I give a spray of roundup immediately around the legs of the stands.  (If I had hives on the ground I would not be using roundup at all).  As the bees are about 400 mm above the gound there is not much chance of any damage to the livestock - the rest of the grown is slashed clean.

[Kathyp]

roundup doesn't work that well on bushes.  it's better for grassy stuff.  depending on the type of bush, you want something like crossbow.  you can mix crossbow and roundup and that will kill just about anything.

i use the stuff.  if you can hack them out, great.  if you can't, do what you have to do.  however, most of these sprays work best on shrub and vine type plants when sprayed in the fall.  used in the spring, they will retard growth, but probably not kill.

[dpence]

As mentioned RoundUp is for vegatation not woody type plants.  I try to stay away from applying any kind of chemical around my beeyard.  If brush it a problem...consider goats...LOL.  Just my .02.

David

[Vetch]

While the active ingredient in Roundup seems to be rather benign, the product also contains detergent-like compounds that university studies found were 'extremely lethal' to amphibians. Give the frogs a break ... they are as hard-up as the bees!