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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] GF 120 for cherry fruit fly and neonicotinoid classofpesticides

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  • From: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] GF 120 for cherry fruit fly and neonicotinoid classofpesticides
  • Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:46:38 -0600

We have about 40 to 60 bee hives each season, depending on how many bees survived the winter. We have been using neonicotinoids for years and our bees are just fine. They have produced anywhere fron 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of honey per season. We have 2 ponds that keep them constantly supplied with water during the season. We feed them when blooms may be scarce. And we have always sprayed at night, when they are in the hive. Our bees are always taken into consideration when choosing spray products and we have no CCD here from spraying anything!

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
Office (815) 648-4467
Mobile (815) 228-2174
Fax (609) 228-2174
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] GF 120 for cherry fruit fly and neonicotinoid classofpesticides


A neonicitiniod has been banned in Germany. They claim it's a culprit in
colony collapse disorder

http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/1303

Some of the beekeepers can correct me, but I thought the latest research was
a viral complex causing the disorder. I think there's a tendency for people
studying this to jump to conclusions. I remember a few years ago some
people were convinced CCD was caused by genetically modified corn. Even on
this list, there was one individual so convinced that GM corn was the
culprit, he flat insulted some folks who didn't accept the GM theory.

There's lots of bees around here. Black bees (don't know what kind they
are) pollinate our sweet corn. There's also a beekeeper close by. So far
he hasn't seen any CCD, but he doesn't move his bees, which may help.

Mark
KS


----- Original Message ----- From: "Ginda Fisher" <>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] GF 120 for cherry fruit fly and neonicotinoid class
ofpesticides



On Feb 11, 2009, at 1:28 PM, Webmail wynne wrote:

> . . .
> I have read that the Germans have done research suggesting the
> neonicotinoid class of pesticides may be/are involved in the decrease
> of bee populations worldwide. In my certified organic field, i have
> eliminated the use of Entrust (spinosad) for codling moth due to its
> widespread
> kill abilities--the few times i have sprayed this material, all
> populations
> of insects (including the beneficials) have been decimated. . .

Thanks, that's very interesting. I've used spinosad in my yard for
the past two years. I sprayed it on the apples and blueberries, and I
hired a tree company to spray my oaks. I live in the middle of a
serious infestation of winter moths, and spinosad appeared less toxic
to me and my pets than the other options that work. (BT is
recommended, but you have to spray it within a one or two day window
of when the eggs hatch to have any effect at all, and even then most
of them survive.) How serious is the infestation? My sister, a
couple miles away, had an apple and a pear tree completely defoliated
- not a single bit of leaf showing. (They resprouted after the winter
moth season ended, and survived, but that can't be good for the
trees.) I had zero apple blossoms (they mostly eat the heart out of
swelling buds, and selectively eat the fruiting buds before the
vegetative buds) and pretty scruffy looking oak leaves the year before
I hired the tree company.

I had a long discussion about bees with the tree company, which claims
to care about such things. They spray twice and the second spray has
been during apple bloom but they both drape the trees with cloth and
avoid spraying in that direction. I never spray anything in bloom, of
course, and with my little hand-sprayer, there's not enough drift to
worry about it getting on the dandelions, etc. (I have flowering
weeds, but not right underneath the apples or especially close to the
blueberries.) But I'm pretty sure there's drift onto flowering weeds
from spraying the oaks.

I haven't seen a honey bee here in more than a decade, so I'm not
concerned about contributing to colony collapse disorder, but I have
noticed a reduction in the number of bumblebees. I have had excellent
pollination both years I used spinosad, despite the decrease in number
of bees I see. And my late season insect population has been okay,
including praying mantises and other rarer bugs. Still, this is an
excellent reason to monitor the situation carefully, and stop spraying
as soon as possible. I understand some winter moth parasite or
disease has been released locally, and there's hope the population
will drop from "infestation" to "nuisance" in a few more years.

Ginda Fisher
eastern Mass., zone 6
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