[Hoot Owl Lane Bees]

I was asked today if the big stores spray there flowers to keep bees away?
I don't know so I checked to see if there were any bee's on flowers at the big grocery/everything store and no bee's on any flowers.:scratch:
I am going to check the Blue and Orange stores tomorrow.
Does any one have any thoughts on this?:scratch:

 

[GaryG74]

I worked for 19 years in retail big box stores, including Garden Center Manager, and we never sprayed the plants at either of the two different chains. That's not to say the sources for the plants didn't spray before delivering to the big box stores.

 

[happyflorencebees]

I frequently see bees on the flowering plants at Home Depot here in Central Texas. I see many more at the local nurseries, though. Not sure if that means anything insidious about big store practices, just what I've noticed.

 

[Mike Gillmore]

The big chain stores are not going to waste money on chemicals for their foliage products which turn over fairly quickly. They only need to keep them alive until they are sold... water.

The absence of bees on plants at the stores would indicates that there is a much more attractive nectar souce elsewhere and that's what the bees are currently focusing on.

 

[KQ6AR]

The nurseries supplying the plants spray them if they need to be. I'd be more concerned with the systemics that some nurseries use on ornamental plants. They stay in the plant a long time.

 

[clyderoad]

The nurseries supplying the plants spray them if they need to be. I'd be more concerned with the systemics that some nurseries use on ornamental plants. They stay in the plant a long time.

100% accurate. Producer applied systemics are the problem with ornamental plants from many large producers, and many smaller ones too. A growing issue in the minds of many in this region.

 

[Andrew Dewey]

A growing issue in the minds of many in this region.

And this region as well. Our state apiarist has had cases of bee poisonings from cumulative over applications of soil drenches. I don't know the details.

 

[Acebird]

My thoughts...
If you don't see bees on the flowering plants don't buy them. These plants are forced to look good for the sale. They will never look as good after you plant them assuming they ever flower again.

 

[wmsuber]

I have never noticed at the stores any bees but on maybe 1 or 2 flowering plants that I have bought over the years. Between plants for our property, house landscaping and my gardens I have probably bought well over a 1000 plants in the last 15 years. The large majority have done extremely well and the flowering types have flowered as expected, with minimal losses. As for as the issue of them having been sprayed, they probably have been, and again I have seen no noticeable effects on my bees. But then, I am within 1/4 mile of a 300 acre organic nursery that sprays insecticides several times a week, and on my other side within 1/3 mile I have several hundred acres of commercial conventional farming of corn and cotton. I figure the store purchased plants are not the biggest danger here to my pollinators.