PESTICIDES AND 

 HONEY BEES 



By L. N. Standifer 1 



Honey bees produce honey and 

 beeswax valued between $130 and 

 $140 million annually. Much of this 

 honey comes from cultivated crops. 

 The annual value of crops benefited 

 by insect pollination, most of which 

 is performed by honey bees, ex- 

 ceeds $10 billion. The farmer and 

 the beekeeper are, therefore, de- 

 pendent upon each other. 



Honey bees may be killed when 

 crops are treated with pesticides. 

 When this occurs, both the farmer 

 and the beekeeper suffer a loss. For 

 this reason, they need to cooperate 

 fully in protecting the bees from 

 pesticide damage. 



Observing the precautions recom- 

 mended in this publication can 

 greatly reduce bee losses from pes- 

 ticide poisoning. 



Precautions for the Farmer 



• Use biological or other non- 

 chemical control methods if at all 

 possible. 



• If chemical control is essential, 

 use the proper dosage of the safest 

 material (on bees) that will give 

 good pest control. 



• If you intend to treat the crop, 

 tell the beekeeper what material 



MRS entomologist and Laboratory 

 Director, Carl Hayden Bee Research 

 Center, Agricultural Research Service, 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tucson, 

 Ariz. 85719. A. Stoner and W. T. Wilson, 

 ARS entomologists, Honey Bee 

 Pesticides/Diseases Research Laboratory, 

 Laramie, Wyo. 82071 (and A. S. Michael 

 and S. E. McGregor, ARS entomologists, 

 now deceased) assisted in manuscript 

 review and preparation. 



will be used and when it will be ap- 

 plied. However, notification of the 

 beekeeper does not relieve the 

 grower of all responsibility for 

 damage incurred. 



• Read the label and follow ap- 

 proved local, State, and Federal 

 recommendations. 



• Remember that the time the 

 pesticide is applied, depending on 

 the blooming period and attractive- 

 ness of the crop, makes a big differ- 

 ence in the damage to the bees; so, 

 treat the field when the plants are 

 least attractive to bees. 



• Do not spray or dust chemicals 

 over colonies, especially in hot 

 weather when the bees cluster out- 

 side the hive. 



• Apply chemicals at night or 

 during early morning hours before 

 bees forage. 



• Do not spray or dust bee-visited 

 plants in bloom, and do not let in- 

 secticides drift to plants in bloom. 



• Remember that treating a non- 

 blooming crop, when weeds and 

 wildflowers are in bloom in the 

 field or close by, can cause bee 

 losses. 



• Make as few treatments as 

 possible, because repeated applica- 

 tions greatly increase the damage to 

 colonies. 



• Do not treat an entire field or 

 area if local spot treatments will 

 control the harmful pests. 



• Sprays do not drift as far as 

 dusts and, consequently, are less 

 likely to harm bees. 



• Granules are usually the safest 

 and least likely to harm bees. 



• Airplane applications are more 

 hazardous to bees than ground- 

 equipment applications. 



