Insecticides; Carbaryl ?

[squidink]

Hi Peoples,

I have moved 6 bee hives to a 60 acre farm with plenty of room to add to the apiary, the problem is 1 kilometer away is a 40 acre apple farm. They use Carbaryl
How concerned should I be? Is it possible it will wipe out all 6 hives?

Thanks in advance for your help and comments,

Ben

[AllenF]

Carbaryl (1-naphthyl methylcarbamate) is a chemical in the carbamate family used chiefly as an insecticide. It is a white crystalline solid commonly sold under the brand name Sevin, a trademark of the Bayer Company.   Sevin does a good job at killing.   But if they would not use sevin when apples are in bloom.   They would not have any apples.   I would worry about what is under the trees that is blooming when they spray.

[Hemlock]

The orchard shouldn't be spraying anything while the trees are in bloom.  They might apply a Dormant oil before bud break and the bloom and then apply Carbaryl after bloom every few weeks.  If your bees are there ONLY during the bloom you will be fine.

[David McLeod]

Sevin is bad news on bees. As others have said timing is everything that plus drift.

[squidink]

thanks guys,

the apple tree's are in flower at the moment and the orchard have 'renta bee' hives there at present.

My hives are about 1km away and in such a great area I would say spray drift can be ruled out. My concern
is when they do go and spray with Sevin/Carbaryl will my bee's that happen to be in the area or 'flying through' get the chemical
and bring it back to the hive's possibly killing the hive? Or should I worry about other chemicals? They are good people on the apple orchard
and i can get a list of all the chemicals they use/ spray.

cheers ben

[Hemlock]

If the people at the orchard will talk to you that's great.  Continue the dialog.  Ask them to notify you when they are going to spray.  Then you can close off the hives for the day and be in good shape.

Spray days Should Always be on days with no breeze and done in the early morning or late afternoon.  They can continue to spray through the day if the winds never get above 8 to 16 kph. 

The worst Drift i've ever seen was only 20 meters.  At 1 km you'll be fine.

[T Beek]

There's no such thing as a safe incecticide, only the industry myths/lies we're told to believe.

We have a small orchard and we've never sprayed our apples (or bees) with anything other than garlic juice to control aphids on the 'rare' occasion we have an issue. 

Insecticides may seem like an easy merry-go-round but they're really just a well disguised 'trap of doom' so help spread the word before its too late (may already be too late). 

Ban them all, or minimally stay on good terms with the neighbors by providing them some 'insecticide free' honey which can only happen w/ their help.

thomas

[danno]

seven is use on apples for two different things.  One is insects of course and the other is to thin the tree production.  Spraying the tree when the fruit is very small will cause 25 - 30% of the fruit to drop leaving bigger healthier apples.  Both are done after fruit has set so as long as the grower keeps the flowering weeds burned down under the trees they shouldn't be any reason for your bee's to be in the orchard.  As for spray drift you stated you are 1 kilometer away.  Thats 5/8 of a mile!!   Spray drift can be a problem up close say 10 yard not 5/8 of a mile.  You will most likely have some bee's flying through during spraying but not in numbers large enough to cause you problem.  Here in my area of michigan seven is a huge problem only because of how it is used.  Farms around here produce alot of asperigus.  Farmers have to use seven during flowering time of the plants and the bee's gather it as pollen.  This means that it doesn't kill the field bee and she brings it on home.