Seeding Canola

3052 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by TWall, May 18, 2014

Ian

Discussion Starter · May 17, 2014

Started seeding canola today, treated with neonics, just as we have for the last 15-20 years. I'm not even faintly concerned about it harming my hives, just as It had not over the last 15 years.
Yet everyone I talk to on the street tell me it is...

Got to love auto steer, allows me to surf beesource down the field!! Lol

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BernhardHeuvel

· #2 · May 17, 2014

Yeah, right. And everybody else loosing bees to seed treated crops is just plain stupid...

It is not very considerate to make fools of other beekeepers by making fun of their struggle.

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BernhardHeuvel

· #3 · May 17, 2014 (Edited)

So what is the real advantage of neonicotinoid seed coated canola?

As far as I was told by farmers, the stuff protects the young canola plants when sprouting. For four weeks. From insects that eat the canola.

They have to spray twice times again, one time when the blooming starts and another time near the end of the blossoming. This is the standard management here, with canola that wintered. Is it the same with you? Don't you have to spray anyway? Fungicides? What's your management?

To me it looks not very smart to treat against insects that are not there yet. Must cost a fortune to treat without the real need, isn't it? It also doesn't look very smart if it is still necessary to spray two times after that anyway.

I am not stupid and also I am not an alarmist or vegetarian or something. I am grown up country and grow my own food. So what I did is to talk to some local farmers and we have a partnership. I need solutions, solutions for my bees - now. The farmers I work with, my bees pollinate their canola, do not use neonics anymore. They spray the canola after sprouting, with fungicides and pyrethroid insecticides - if necessary. They spray it after winter and near the end of the blossoming. All without neonicotinoids. And hey, I do not suffer severe losses at those fields. I loose bees near neonicotinoid treated fields.

The only advantage I see with neonics is, you make good money with it, because you treat without a proper assessment of the necessity.

I would be interested in your canola management. Do you still spray after the seeding? Fungicides? Growth regulators? What are your pesiticide costs?

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Haraga

· #4 · May 17, 2014

BernhardHeuvel said:
Yeah, right. And everybody else loosing bees to seed treated crops is just plain stupid...

It is not very considerate to make fools of other beekeepers by making fun of their struggle.

My bees are also around the same chemicals and I don't have any problems. I suspect there are other factors involved with the bee loses that we hear of.

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Haraga

· #5 · May 17, 2014

Bernhard, since it is generally dry in my area the crop gets sprayed once with roundup and that's it. I might spray for bugs once every five years.

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Ian

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 17, 2014 (Edited)

BernhardHeuvel said:
Yeah, right. And everybody else loosing bees to seed treated crops is just plain stupid...

Says you ...

In my operation, my choice is using this seed treated canola seed as opposed to blanket spraying of Furadan every spring. This is an either or situation Benard, the no use of chemicals is not in the equation here.

And my canola will grow just as it has over the last 20 with the aid of this seed treatment, and by bees will just fine as they always have been sitting beside that crop

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JRG13

· #7 · May 17, 2014

You can still get Furadan Ian????? I'm jealous. Treating seed is cheap insurance to help guarantee a good crop.

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babybee

· #8 · May 17, 2014

This is the first year I have seen damage from seed treatment dust. Got here earlier than normal with some bees and got in on more planting. Just an air planter issue I believe. Blows the dust for miles in our windy weather. This is in south eastern South Dakota. Granted it's just a few handfuls of bees.

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Keith Jarrett

· #9 · May 17, 2014

BernhardHeuvel said:
Yeah, right. And everybody else loosing bees to seed treated crops is just plain stupid...

It is not very considerate to make fools of other beekeepers by making fun of their struggle.

On those same lines, It's not very considerate to be blaming everything underneath the sun for there problems when alot of us year after year don't have them, it's time to quite crying wolf.

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Ian

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 17, 2014

JRG13 said:
You can still get Furadan Ian????? I'm jealous. Treating seed is cheap insurance to help guarantee a good crop.

Maybe we can't. It's what we use to use when they took Counter off the market and had not replaced it with Helix yet.

Typically I try to convince my brother towards Decision or Maverick.

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Ian

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 17, 2014

Keith Jarrett said:
It's not very considerate to be blaming everything underneath the sun for there problems when alot of us year after year don't have them, it's time to quite crying wolf.

Yes, I agree. If these products do get pulled off the shelf because of speculation both parties loose. The farmer looses because the flea beetles chew off the canola and the beekeeper continues to loose, as it turns out, pesticides are not the only issue. And the country side get doused with chemical anyway in the process.
Be careful what we wish for...

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Keith Jarrett

· #12 · May 18, 2014

Ian, I've been smoked by furadan, luresban.... What we have today is nothing like it use to be. It's harder to keep bees today because of less forage, that's 90 percent of the problem

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Ian

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 18, 2014

Ya when we use to use Furadan, a wind drift 1/4 miles away put me to my knees.
This seed treatment addressed many problems.

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TWall

· #14 · May 18, 2014

My recollection is furadan has an LD50 in the single digits, potentially very dangerous to the applicator. I know they used to use it, off label, in Africa to kill predators eating people.

Neonics don't seem too bad compared to that.

Tom

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