Re: Clopralid (Alligare)
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: Clopralid (Alligare)
  • From: P* <p*@bellsouth.net>
  • Date: Thu, 30 May 2013 17:37:00 -0400
I ask pardon by the OP since I stay off-thread. Maybe Eugene has gotten 
his answer and moved on - I hope so.

One mitigation for bees and sprayed iris patches: Plant an untreated 
clover patch or other bee "juicies" that bloom at the same time as 
irises. Bees will say screw the iris; the good stuff is over yonder.

Dan, your point is well taken and worthy - and very true, chems are 
_part_ of the problem with bees. I like bees so it's worthwhile to raise 
the perspective. Hope I'm correct you meant honey bees since they are 
the focus of the big controversy.

As Linda has noted, honey bees are not the only pollinator. Maybe not 
the best for us. The new world did quite well without them before 
Europeans brought them over. Most of world nature still does. Honey bees 
_suppress_ native solitary bees. High populations suppress highly. Our 
native solitary bees will work crops when it is several degrees colder 
than a honey bee will. That can be critical to crops and native plants 
in a cold spring.

Should we examine if we over rely on honey bees? Are they _part_ of the 
problem with bees? Are they another example of monoculture or invasive 
species? Population crash through disease is one risk of monoculture. 
Disease has not been removed as one _part_ of the problem with honey 
bees. (Periods of unexplained honey bee decline has been recorded before 
"chems" were prevalent.) So should we care if we lose the honey bee or 
go cold-turkey with chems? Yes, very much, we can't loose honey bees or 
chems too rapidly unless we want to see mass starvation. BTW - Honey is 
only a tad more innocent than pure sucrose.

Chems are overused, abused and mishandled. I am not defending them 
categorically or judging them categorically. The issues are too important.

Linda, I too have noticed a decline in the honey bee but a jump in 
native pollinators. Maybe that's a good thing? I get great set on my 
fruit trees every spring even if quite chilly, provided no real hard 
frosts. Fun to watch a bumblebee shake the flower like a bulldog!

Shaub

On 5/29/2013 1:18 PM, Dan Asmus wrote:
> I have to wonder whether all these chemicals are part of the problem bees
> are experiencing...
>
> jus' sayin.
>
>
> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 3:37 PM, Phloid <phloid@bellsouth.net> wrote:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index