Bee Pollen Health

There are two broad categories of pesticides in use today. Contact pesticides are usually sprayed on plants; insects are killed when they come into direct contact with these chemicals by crawling over leaves or flowers. Bees that land on leaves and flowers can be just as susceptible as other, destructive insects. Systemic pesticides, on the other hand, are usually applied to the soil or to plant seeds. These pesticides will then be absorbed by the plants, whose leaves, nectar, and pollen will become toxic to some insects, including bees. Systemic pesticides will also kill soil-dwelling insects such as grubs and mole crickets.

The Internet has various detailed lists of specific pesticides in common use, and their possible danger to bees. Some of the most deadly include Carbaryl (brand name Sevin), Methomyl, Azinphos-methyl, Chlorpyrifos, Diazinon, Dimethoate, Fenthion, Omethoate, Cypermethrin, Clothianidin, and many more. Perhaps the most dangerous pesticide for honey bees is Methyl Parathion. Parathion is microencapsulated in capsules about the size of a pollen granule, and thus are captured by foraging bees along with real pollen granules. The Parathion capsules are stored in the hive along with pollen granules and used as food for bees and their brood. The toxins in this pesticide are slow release, and a hive whose food sources are thus contaminated can be at risk for months.

Also extremely dangerous to bees are various insecticides used to control soybean aphids. These include Orthene, Lorsban, Dimate, Lannate, Cheminova Methyl, Penncap, Tracer, and others.

Different pesticides have different time lengths of residual toxicity, from a few hours to several days; they are largely intended to destroy, “in one fell swoop,” a population of destructive insects or parasites. If you are renting your bees to a farmer who uses pesticides, you should monitor that farmer’s application of the pesticide and ensure that you don’t deliver your bees until the residual toxicity period has elapsed. Or, if you or your neighbors use pesticides in your garden and it’s impossible to prevent your bees from possibly foraging in that garden, be sure to use a pesticide that is safe for bees.

You can take certain steps to protect your bees from pesticides. Locate your colonies away from fields that are routinely treated with pesticides. Hives that are even just a quarter mile away from a treated area are at reduced risk, and keeping bees a mile away from treated areas can significantly reduced bee deaths. Be sure to identify your apiary with signs, and let neighboring farmers know where your hives are, so they won’t unwittingly spray in that area.

 

Discuss methods of pesticide application with your local farmers. Ground equipment is generally safer for applying pesticides than aerial spraying; pesticides applied by spray planes tend to drift over longer distances. Evening and nighttime applications are usually safer, because bees are no longer actively foraging at those times, and twelve hours may pass before the bees again visit sprayed areas, allowing the toxicity levels to diminish or disappear. Ask farmers to give you advance notice before they spray, and ensure that they use pesticides properly, only for plants specified on the label and not in excessive quantities.

Pesticides are critical for farmers, whose livelihoods depend on healthy crops. Organic methods of protecting various crops from destructive insects are available but not always as effective as chemical pesticides, so an outright ban on pesticides is not yet realistic. But if farmers and beekeepers cooperate, it is possible to use pesticides in such a way that they are safe for bees. Farmers often rely on these same bees for pollination of their crops, so it’s in their best interest to use the safest methods available when applying pesticides.