What can gardeners do to help the bees? Click on the link for a list of bee-attracting plants! UC ANR published a 1-page article in ipm.ucdavis.edu/PDF/PUBS/retailipmnews.2013.jun.pdf (4-page PDF). USE PLANTS AND PESTICIDES WISELY -- HELP THE BEES When gardeners design or replant a landscape, consider honey bees and other pollinators in your plan. Choose plants honey bees prefer, and try to ensure several bee-friendly plants will be blooming throughout the year. For lists of California native plants bees visit, see beebiology.ucdavis.edu/HONEYBEES/floralvisits.html or the UC Urban Bee Gardens page at cnr.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens. Also, if bees are still visiting certain flowers, delay removing spent flowers until bee visits taper off, even if the results aren’t as aesthetically pleasing. Avoid using insecticides, especially when plants are in bloom. With neonicotinoids, also avoid applying them before plants bloom, because these materials tend to be stable compounds that can remain in the soil and in plants for months. Even when plants aren’t in bloom, use nonchemical management methods or pesticides with little or low toxicity to bees such as soaps, oils, or Bacillus thuringiensis whenever possible, as pesticides may leave toxic residues, or there may be flowering weeds or other blooms nearby. For information about the relative toxicity of pesticides to bees, consult How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides at ipm.ucdavis.edu/PDF/PMG/pnw591.pdf. Toxicity of many landscape and garden pesticides to bees is also listed in the UC IPM landscape and garden pesticide active ingredient database at ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/menu.pesticides.php. —Eric Mussen, Entomology, UC Davis
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 20:34:57 +0000
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