Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumBees and Banned Pesticide: Die-Off in Portland, Ore.
More than 400 bees--most of them bumblebees--were found dead in Portland, Ore. in mid-to-late June. The four bee die-offs that occurred in the Portland area that month were among several major bee die-offs to occur in the past two years, as The Oregonian reported.
A state probe by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) recently released results that lethal levels of the pesticide imidacloprid, which the ODA banned in February, as reported by The Oregonian. Imidacloprid is a type of neonicotinoid--a class of systemic insecticides implemented in colony collapse disorder.
All of the bees were found near linden trees--a type of tree often sprayed with chemicals to control aphids, as The Oregonian article noted.
Investigators with the ODA have determined, by interviewing owners and managers of the property on which the bees died, that chemical applications to the trees took place before the ban went into effect, The Oregonian reported.
more
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/15878/20150730/bees-banned-pesticide-die-portland-ore.htm
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Imidacloprid usually comes with a warning not to apply until after flower blooms, because, as a systemic pesticide, it is taken up into the plant, and if applied before the bloom, will show up in the pollen (thus poisoning bees and other pollinators).
Do linden trees in Oregon bloom that early in the season? I've always heard that they bloom in 'early summer'. February (or before) sounds like it's before 'early summer' to me.
Sounds like the people applying the pesticides didn't really know what they were doing if they're spraying systemic poisons on trees at that time of year.
appal_jack
(3,813 posts)Imidacloprid has a residence/activity time of 3-4 years in tree sap. It has been used as a root drench or trunk injection on Hemlocks here in the southern Appalachians to (effectively) combat Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. Once treated, the Hemlock is protected for at least three years. Those same residual activity properties would be likely shorter following a foliar application on linden trees, but an 8 month+ residual activity is not out of the question, especially if the spraying was heavy enough to run-off and be taken up by the roots as well.
Thankfully, the days of needing imidacloprid even to rescue Hemlocks are numbered, thanks to a tiny predatory beetle and the hard work of some diligent entomologists:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article16532009.html
The neonic pesticides have caused more problems than they ever have 'solved' and it's past time for them to be taken off the market entirely.
k&r,
-app