Gardening Articles for week ending 26th May 2012
Written by Wally Richards.
WHERE HAVE ALL THE HONEY BEES GONE?
Where have all the honey bees gone? Reminds me of the song from Peter, Paul and Mary, Where have all the flowers gone? Except in this case its all the honey bees and the next line would be, where have all the people gone, gone to graveyards everyone cause they starved to death.
There are a few things that could upset life on the planet such as the sun not shining or its rays not able to reach the surface of the planet and also if there were no honey bees in the world.
If there were no honey bees, most of the pollination of fruit, vegetables, flowers would be non existent.
Since the spread of the Varroa mite, which has wiped out most if not all the feral honey bees in New Zealand gardeners have been complaining that their fruit trees are no longer producing much because of the lack of pollinators.
I know in my own gardens I am now trilled to see the odd honey bee where one time there were so many of them you took them for granted.
The Varroa mite situation has conveniently concealed a far worst problem facing out vital honey bee populations and that is insecticides which have been linked to the loss of honey bees termed ŒColony Collapse‚.
There has been this phenomenon where bee keepers all over the world have seen their colonies of bees disappear. There has been a number of suggestions about why bees are leaving the hive and not being able to find their way back home such as the use of cell phones interfering with their homing skills.
These possible but unlikely suggestions can hide the real cause.
It would appear that a family of insecticides called Neonicotinoids are the culprit.
Clothianidin, (A member of Neonicotinoids group) is a pesticide manufactured by Bayer and has been clearly linked to die offs honey bees in Germany and France according to Heidi Stevenson on http://www.gaia-health.com.
In North Dakota USA, a lawsuit is pending against Bayer for the loss of their bees in 1995, the result of spraying rapeseed with imidacloprid. (A member of Neonicotinoids group) In 1999, the same product was banned in France for use as a seed dressing for sunflowers when they lost one-third of their hives after widespread spraying. In 2004, it was banned for use on corn. In 2009 France refused to approve Bayer's request to sell clothianidin.
Following France and Germany, in 2010 the Italian Agriculture Ministry suspended the use of neonicotinoids, as a "precautionary measure." The compelling results - restored bee populations - prompted the government to uphold the ban.
On Monday the 7th of May 2012 Sue Kedgley wrote the article ŒIt‚s a folly to wait till the bees die off‚ in section B5 of the Dominion Post. A excellent article and what has prompted me to review this problem of disappearing honey bees. See http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/6870621/Don-t-wait-until-the-bees-are-all-dead
Sue states what is the point of using pesticides that poison bees?
There is a law that says you cannot spray flowering trees with harmful pesticides that will effect and kill bees when in flower and the bees are working the flowers.
This being the law,e why does MAF and ERMA not ban all the insecticides which are of the Neonicotinoids group? Sues answer to this is because MAF no longer has dedicated staff working to protect our bees. MAF is under pressure from the current government to reduce costs so the good staff levels that used to be along with vital projects are cut back.
This is like cutting your nose off to spite your face. If we lose our honey bees we lose millions even billions of income from agriculture and farming each year all for the sake of some chemical companies to make a fast buck at our future expense.
As Sue also points out New Zealand was one of the last countries to ban 245T and we were also about 16 years late in the banning of DDT after most other Western Counties.
I quote Sue here, Œthe response of successive governments to calls to stop using lethal pesticides has been to dither and procrastinate in the face of mounting evidence, and accept industry blandishments that they are safe.‚ I do not understand the lack of Common Sense when it comes to issues such as this or do anonymous donations to election funds mean that Industry has our members of parliament in their pocket? If there was no honey bees then we would not only have a bankrupt country we would be starving to death.
Neonicotinoids are used in agribusiness and home gardens. To help you avoid these products, I have providing their generic names, along with as many brand names as I could find ( not all the brand names are sold in New Zealand)
The neonicotinoids include: acetamiprid, dinotefuran, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam.
Acetamiprid and dinotefuran are manufactured by many companies.
Thiamethoxam is made by Syngenta. Only Bayer makes clothianidin and imidacloprid.
Brand names for imidacloprid include: Kohinor, Admire, Advantage, Gaucho, Merit, Confidor, Hachikusan, Premise, Prothor, and Winner.
Brand names for clothianidin include: Gaucho, Titan, Clutch, Belay, Arena.
Brand names for acetamiprid include: Assail, Intruder, Adjust.
Brand names for thiacloprid include: Calypso.
Brand names for thiamethoxam include: Actara, Cruiser, Helix, Platinum, Centric.
My NovaChem Manual is a bit out of date but the following brand names are in New Zealand and maybe others as well.
These are Adjust, Actara, Confidor, Calypso, Kohinor and Premise.
The one that stands out for the home gardener is Confidor made by Bayer and distributed by Yates for the New Zealand garden market.
I remember Yates saying it was less harmful than other poisons; but now its known to affect bees as well as its target insects.
Gardeners complain about the lack of honey bees and maybe without realising it they are contributing to the problem by spraying their plants with Confidor?
If the government or MAF does not take urgent steps to ban all neonicotinoids in New Zealand to save our bees, then its up to the home gardeners and agriculturists to stop using them and switch to another control that is bee friendly. When the power of everyone works then they will take them off the market.
Sue in her article pointed out another bee aspect which was from strange diseases that have sneaked into NZ. Quoting the deformed wing virus which shrivels the wings of bees so they cant fly. This disease came into NZ a few years ago on imported honey bee semen which MAF approved as been safe.
Now my common sense tells me that if you are importing a foreign semen into NZ to artificially inseminate bees then the prodigy should have a total quarantine for a few generations to ensure there are no adverse side effects. It would be just about as silly as importing Kiwi fruit pollen into New Zealand. Thats right that was approved also and now we have PSA that has cost the country so far 450 million with more than 800 jobs lost each year over the next 4 years. How do you fight stupidity?
News flash: Monsanto's Mon810 corn, genetically engineered to produce a mutant version of the insecticide Bt, has been banned in Poland following protests by beekeepers who showed the corn was killing honeybees. Thank God we don't have GE crops in New Zealand and lets keep it that way.
Problems ring me at 0800 466464 (Palmerston North 3570606)
Email wallyjr@gardenews.co.nz
Web site www.gardenews.co.nz
Garden Pages and News at www.gardenews.co.nz
Shar Pei pages at www.sharpei.co.nz
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