May 7, 2012 – Bee Safe
QUESTION:
I have a potential customer wanting treatment for a broad range of pests. The inevitable wrench, in this case, is that this customer has a beehive from which he likes to collect honey. How do you recommend I go about minimizing my impact on the bees while still maintaining a pest free home and yard? Thanks so much!
ANSWER:
This is an excellent opportunity to employ the full range of IPM steps Tom. We should probably start with the premise that any insecticide is going to be toxic to the bees, and therefore apply insecticides only in ways that ensure the foraging bees will not come into contact with them. Unfortunately this might include avoiding the use of systemic tree care products, as there continues to be some hint that part of the problem with Colony Collapse Disorder may be their exposure to the active ingredient in pollen and nectar of flowers. Until this is (hopefully) disproved once and for all you may want to treat tree and shrub pests in a different manner. In case this is one aspect of your total pest management program you could use insecticides such as Dipel or insecticide soaps for insects such as caterpillars, beetles, aphids and other sucking pests on foliage. You also could offer dormant treatments of trees and shrubs using dormant oils, and this greatly helps reduce the insect populations that will emerge in the spring.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I have a potential customer wanting treatment for a broad range of pests. The inevitable wrench, in this case, is that this customer has a beehive from which he likes to collect honey. How do you recommend I go about minimizing my impact on the bees while still maintaining a pest free home and yard? Thanks so much!
ANSWER:
This is an excellent opportunity to employ the full range of IPM steps Tom. We should probably start with the premise that any insecticide is going to be toxic to the bees, and therefore apply insecticides only in ways that ensure the foraging bees will not come into contact with them. Unfortunately this might include avoiding the use of systemic tree care products, as there continues to be some hint that part of the problem with Colony Collapse Disorder may be their exposure to the active ingredient in pollen and nectar of flowers. Until this is (hopefully) disproved once and for all you may want to treat tree and shrub pests in a different manner. In case this is one aspect of your total pest management program you could use insecticides such as Dipel or insecticide soaps for insects such as caterpillars, beetles, aphids and other sucking pests on foliage. You also could offer dormant treatments of trees and shrubs using dormant oils, and this greatly helps reduce the insect populations that will emerge in the spring.
For all of those crawling pests it should be pretty easy to keep your insecticides in places where the bees are highly unlikely to be, and applying liquid sprays using low pressure and a nozzle large enough to prevent mist would be appropriate. Treatments around the perimeter of the structure, for example, should be a location where no self respecting honeybee would find itself, and there would be no interaction between the bees and the active ingredient. Treatments using granular formulations on the soil would, likewise, put the material where the bees are not going to be foraging. For immediate control of pests on flowers and other landscape plantings you could use the good old "strong jet of water" to dislodge them.
This also cries out for the non-chemical steps of habitat modification and removal of pest habitat. You can do a careful inspection of the property and write down your findings of all those things you find that could contribute to the presence of crawling pests. This might be thick layers of mulch that could be removed and replaced with gravel or left bare, piles of lawn clippings or other yard debris, any boxes and other unnecessary trash on the soil can be removed, and lumber and firewood could be properly stacked above the soil and away from the structure. Everything you can do to expose and dry out the soil makes the property less attractive to pests, and thus minimizes any need to apply pesticides.
For flying pests like mosquitoes the emphasis would be on habitat management, eliminating any possible breeding sources for the larvae. This means emptying standing water where possible. For yellowjackets or flies you also could reduce breeding sources on site, directly treat wasp nests, use bait for yellowjackets, and place baited traps around the property that will draw only these pest insects into them.
This also should be an opportunity to educate this customer. He needs to understand that your goal is NOT to eliminate every last 6-legged critter on the property, and that most of the insects he sees are going to be harmless and beneficial kinds whose presence should be encouraged. He can change outside lights to yellow bulbs to reduce the attraction of nighttime bugs and keep doors and windows closed or screened to minimize incidental entry. The cooperation of the customer is very important in this, so hopefully he is not just dumping this in your lap and telling you he doesn't want to see a single bug any more.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
