Pesticide letter for neighbors?

[mushgirl]

I have placed my new hive in a residential neighborhood. I'm sure some of the neighbors probably use pesticides on their yards and gardens. Does anyone have a diplomatic sort of letter I could print and hand out to neighbors to encourage them not to spray? I don't want to come off preachy or like I'm telling them what to do with their property, yet would like to at least reach out to them in an intelligent way and let them know what the effect on honeybees and other beneficial insects, not to mention pets and children their spraying has.
Nancy

[Kieck]

Bees forage for miles. The little pesticide used in residential settings likely won't have as much effect on your bees as you imagine.

[mushgirl]

What about something that could be printed in the paper? That would cover miles, not that I hold out a lot of hope that people will actually heed the warning. The city sprays the river bank several times a year, and I'm less than a mile from the river. Are herbicides as harmful to bees as pesitcides?

[Kieck]

Herbicides are far less harmful to bees (and other animals) than are insecticides (obviously).

I keep bees in a heavily agricultural area, with large-scale pesticide applications. I have little problem with pesticides for my bees. I believe the far greater threat to pollinators of all types is in tillage and conversion of land to row crops. The reduction in available forage limits the resources available to pollinators.

Of course, some crops provide excellent sources of pollen and nectar.

While it wouldn't hurt to put out warnings about the dangers of pesticides, I doubt, too, that most people will heed those warnings. Think about it like this: you discover that you have termites eating your house. What do you do? Leave 'em alone? Keep replacing damaged wood as they tunnel through it? Or apply some type of insecticide? The same type of decisions come up for agricultural producers and land managers.

[Gene Weitzel]

The best approach I have found is to inform them of the bees and request that if they need to apply pesticides to try and do it during the cool evening hours (really the best time for the plants as well) when the bees are much less active. You will get no where trying to convince them to abandon all use of pesticides.

[Tim Hall]

I think that's a wise approach, Gene. Baby steps...

[riverrat]

If you give them a letter asking them to stop using pesticides you could end up getting a letter in return asking you to get rid of the bees. I would not worry about the pesticides sprayed on lawns. Its not a big enough area to make a difference.

[HAB]

If I were in a residential setting. I would not advertise that I had Bees. Every time a kid tries to swat a nat, sweat bee, yellowjacket, etc, etc, etc, and gets strung parents will be at your door threatening to sue because it's "YOUR @#$% KILLER BEES" that did it!:confused:

[mushgirl]

You are all right. Better to be quiet about the bees. I've already been there done that with a neighbor who objected to my other location. I had to move them.
Thanks for all the advice.
Nancy

[buckbee]

I keep bees in a heavily agricultural area, with large-scale pesticide applications. I have little problem with pesticides for my bees. I believe the far greater threat to pollinators of all types is in tillage and conversion of land to row crops. The reduction in available forage limits the resources available to pollinators.



You are either a spokesperson for the agri-chem industry, or extremely lucky - much luckier that the Germans, who have had millions of bees killed off by Bayer's pesticides.

See http://www.bayer-kills-bees.com (http://www.bayer-kills-bees.com/)

[Aspera]

I too believe that available apiary sites and land usage is the single biggest threat to beekeeping. beekeepers are constantly overforaging sites, harasses by the intolerant and unable to site hives for more than a few months. Why? Our land is needlessly consumed by low density housing and strip malls. Just look at New Jersey for the future of global overpopulation.

[Focus on Bees]

We have put together a letter for pesticide applicators. I will see if my wife can post it on here.

[Moonshae]

I too believe that available apiary sites and land usage is the single biggest threat to beekeeping. beekeepers are constantly overforaging sites, harasses by the intolerant and unable to site hives for more than a few months. Why? Our land is needlessly consumed by low density housing and strip malls. Just look at New Jersey for the future of global overpopulation.

Yes, although there are quite a number of farms and open space in NJ, something I didn't realize until I moved here. It's not big sky country, but it's not border-to-border strip malls, either.

[dhood]

I think it would be good if there were some way to inform people of the best time, and safest pesticides to use, as (Gene Weitzel) mentioned. But, forget tying to get them to stop using them completely, at least in my neiborhood.

I have my first beeyard setup on my fathers property, near his garden. The neighbors also have gardens and were glad to see them. One mentioned how glad he was because he knew they would pollinate his squash plants. In a few days I stopped by and he had covered them with seven dust (His garden is within 35 ft. from the hives on the property line.). I am glad the plants were not blooming! I dont ever have to use pesticides on the squash and they always do well for me. People just dont know that it will kill the bees for some reason?

[berkshire bee]

It takes some work, but it is worth the effort to try and "educate" people about using pesticides. I started out by writing a guest column in the local newspaper. Then the paper contacted me and wanted to do a story. This year 2 papers have run articles on us about beekeeping. Do presentations at your local libraries and schools. I speak to people about creating little back yard habitats, not only for honeybees, but native pollinators as well.
Encourage people to let some of their lawn grow. There is so much you can do to make people aware. Will it change everyone's minds? No, but you'd be surprised at how many people never really gave much thought to how killing dandelions can affect other critters.

[Ben Brewcat]

I'd definitely take the approach of encouraging people to apply responsibly. Bang for your buck, you'll be well-advised to get on local spray lists with larger applicators like aerial sprayers, county mosquito sprayers, etc.