Honeybees, native bee species and other pollinating insects are important pollinators for many Ontario crops. Beneficial insects also play an important role in helping to keep pest populations below threshold. Protecting pollinators and beneficial insects requires careful management of insecticide use.
Follow integrated pest management practices and use insecticides only when necessary. This approach can include implementing cultural methods to discourage pests, correctly identifying the pest problem and understanding the factors that put each field at risk.
- Scout and determine if pests are present at threshold levels or that fields are at high pest risk before making a decision to treat with insecticide seed treatment, soil insecticides or foliar insecticides. Use insecticides only where necessary.
- If insecticide treatment is required, use the lowest effective rate available.
- Select insecticides that are less toxic to bees and other beneficial insects when possible. Reduce risk of drift and time applications wisely.
- Time insecticide applications to minimize bee exposure (e.g., apply post bloom).
- Daytime treatments, when bees are foraging, are most hazardous
- Insecticide applications in the evening are the safest, unless there is evidence of a strong temperature inversion
- Under normal circumstances, spraying after 8 p.m. allows the spray to dry before the bees are exposed to it the next day
- Early morning is the next best time, but complete spraying well before 7 a.m.
- While honeybees and most other pollinating insects do not usually forage at temperatures below 13°C, bumblebees do.
- Do not spray any flowering crop on which bees are foraging.
- To prevent drift toward nearby hives, do not apply insecticides on windy days.
- Take measures to reduce movement of insecticide-contaminated dust emitted from vacuum planters onto flowering plants and trees that are in or adjacent to the target field.
- Bees and other pollinators may be poisoned by visiting flowering weeds (e.g., dandelions) or flowering cover crops (e.g., clover) that have come in contact with an insecticide or dust contaminated with insecticide. Avoid drift to flowering weeds that are adjacent to or within the target field.
- Where possible, mow down flowering cover crops or flowering plants in and bordering target fields prior to the application to help safeguard the bees. Control dandelions and other flowering weeds within fields before spraying or planting seeds treated with an insecticide.
- Refer to the “Field Crop News” blog at fieldcropnews.com for current information on ways to reduce planter dust movement.
- Systemic insecticides may also pose a high risk to bees. Bees can be exposed to insecticide residues in or on flowers, leaves, pollen, nectar and surface water.
- Research indicates that use of vacuum (i.e., negative pressure) planters poses a significant risk of pollinator exposure, to drift of insecticide containing dust exhausted from these planters during planting. Take care to reduce/control insecticide containing dust exhausted from planters.
- Follow the directions provided by planting equipment manufacturers and keep up to date on new use practices.
- Clean and maintain planting equipment regularly, including the fan housing and hoppers of air-assisted planters. For example, vacuum any dust remaining in the fan housing and hopper.
- Use deflector equipment, where appropriate, to direct exhaust to the ground level and thus reduce dust drift onto flowering plants and trees.
Communication and cooperation among producers, custom operators/applicators and beekeepers is important for honey bee protection. Before applying an insecticide (seed treatment, foliar, etc.), provide beekeepers within 5 km of the site advanced notice of the application, to ensure hives can be located strategically, temporarily protected or relocated where feasible. Beekeepers also need to communicate with producers as to where hives are in relation to their fields so producers can properly inform the beekeeper when an application is being made.
Contact information for the local beekeepers’ associations can be found on the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association website at http://www.ontariobee.com/ community/local-beekeepers-associations. Alternatively, there may be “an app for that.” Smartphone apps and websites have been developed to enhance communication. For example, CropLife and the Canadian Honey Council have developed BeeConnected to enable two-way communication on the location of hives and crop protection activities. This app opens up a line of communication between registered beekeepers and registered producers and contractors, through an internal messaging system. For additional information visit www.beeconnected.ca.
Related Information
Additional information and best management practices can be found at Health Canada’s pollinator protection webpage healthcanada.gc.ca/pollinators. Additional IPM information can be found on the OMAFRA website at ontario.ca/crops.
