A Look At Labels- Lots of Labels: How I Would Shop.

First of all, I would like to add a disclaimer that I will always advocate for using no pesticides and chemicals outside at all if possible. The only form of "control" I use in my own yard is ripping out invasive plants that threaten to take out my dear natives ;)  Oh, and I collect a lot of caterpillars and butterfly eggs, but not because I worry about my plants. It's because I like raising butterflies. Having said all of that, I understand that adapting to organic gardening and tolerating pests may be too much for most folks initially; so if you're willing to help the bees, I'm willing to help you ease into this comfortably. If you've got a pest problem that you can't bear, read on.......

How can you BEE a Bee Smart Shopper? 

Soon, Home Depot will stop selling products containing neonics, so you should be able to go to them for your gardening issues and find something there to take care of your problem. (How nice, they are so nearby!) However, neonics aren't the ONLY pesticides that are toxic to bees. They're just the worst of the worst.

Product labels can be confusing, but they should provide all of the information you need to know at a quick glance. There are MANY products at garden centers and it can be overwhelming to know what products are safe for bees and which ones are not. The first thing you should always look at is the Active Ingredient, and/or the word "Systemic." 

But let's take a look at some products and find out how you can tell what is safe and what isn't!

Sevin is a pretty common product that a lot of people ask me about. A look at the Active Ingredient will tell you that it's Carbaryl (1 naphthyl N-methylcarbamate).

I went to GrowSmartGrowSafe.org's product chart and did a search (via the Find option in my browser) for "Carbaryl" on the page. You can also do a search for "Sevin" but I had trouble finding this exact product on the page. But there are several Sevin products containing carbaryl listed:

(You can see that this is not safe for people, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to spray it on vegetables as advertised on the label. Just something to think about!) This is also bad for aquatic life, which we need to be careful about, since we live near Holmes Run.

If you click the blue underlined "carbaryl" link on the page, it will take you to this page:

http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehipm/insctrodntslug.html

where you can find your ingredient and see a few more details (screen caps below): 

Carbaryl is fine for birds, not great for pets, bad for bees.

So even though we aren't looking at one of the specific neonic ingredients (see below image), it's probably still something we should avoid for use on flowering plants where bees might be present. 

Let's check out another product.

Using your newfound knowledge, you know to immediately look for "Active Ingredient(s)" on this label, and it's easy to find. The active ingredients here are mostly Captan, and unfortunately, you can also see Carbaryl is in this product as well. We already know that it's bad for bees, so it would definitely be a bad idea to use this on a tree that is flowering (as the label suggests!). What about Captan?   ...Back to Grow Smart Grow Safe for answers!

And with a click on the ingredients....

The main ingredient shows up as a low toxicity for bees, which is good, but the other ingredients appear to have a high risk. Also? ALL of them show high hazard for humans. I just have to wonder, why would anyone want to spray something with a high risk to people on food plants? The labels mentions fruiting trees and strawberries. I wouldn't want to eat this!

Let's look at a few from Bayer.

The Active Ingredient here is Imidacloprid. That's one of the 8 neonics called out on the graphic above, so we don't need to investigate this product further. NOPE, NOPE, NOPE.

Move along.

Nothing to see here.

I can't promote the use of this at all, ever. If you've got something you really need to take care of, and decide that this is the product you're going to use, please refrain from spraying it on anything that is flowering. Also, most docile native bees nest in the ground, too, so spraying this on your "surfaces" is, unfortunately, going to affect those bees. I don't mean yellowjackets. I mean, tiny harmless beneficial bees that you'd probably never even know were there, since they just pollinate and generally mind their own business.

This one says SYSTEMIC right there at the top. If that wasn't enough, the active ingredient is Imidacloprid. Run! Run away! Far, far away from this product. Bayer is marketing this for use on flowering plants- guess who loves flowers? I feel so sad, thinking about this being sprayed all over beautiful nectar- and pollen-filled flowers, only to poison (or at the very least, sicken) the bees who come to visit. 

Look who's back with another Imidacloprid product!!! Yep. It's Bayer. Again. THIS one is a double whammy, as it also contains Clothianidin, another of the neonics on the graphic shown earlier in this post. Are you noticing a trend? Bayer makes an Insecticidal Soap that doesn't contain neonics and is a little less terrible than their other 3 products that I mentioned here- I believe they call it (and similar products) "Natria." But in general, I stay far away from most things Bayer makes. There are lots of systemics and lots of neonics. I do understand in some cases, as the Emerald Ash Borer featured on the label, neonics are a good defense. But *please* don't use this on flowering shrubs that might attract beneficial pollinators!

Since this one doesn't have one of the obvious 8 ingredients, and doesn't say "systemic"  or "kills for months and months..." anywhere obvious, and contains ingredients we haven't looked at yet, I'll follow my usual protocol for analysis. I couldn't find any info on the Zera-Cypermethrin, but you know what? It doesn't matter. Because Bifenthrin is a high hazard for bees, so we shouldn't use this anyway.

Sure seems like there are a LOT of bad products out there, eh?

There are also a lot of natural-sounding products on the shelves at garden centers. Is this legit or just greenwashing?

Let's find out.

 Aw, geez. This one has a TON of ingredients! That seems scary.... but...

A good sign: The products on GrowSmartGrowSafe in the top part of the table (all highlighted in green, like this) are of lowest toxicity.

If you click on any of the ingredients to find out more, you'll be directed to this message:

I'm really glad to see a product called "EcoSmart" isn't just greenwashing- it really does appear to be a better (safer) option than the others for people AND bees.

Organocide is similar:

"Organocide" has "Natural Oils for Organic Gardening!" 

You can see the active ingredient is Sesame oil.

Same as the product above, these products are on the green highlighted "lowest risk" section of the Grow Smart Grow Safe table.

I feel like we've definitely covered a lot in this post, but if you have questions, I'd be happy to answer them. It might also be fun to go in your basement or shed and check out what products you're already using. Are they safe for people? Your pets? Bees? Birds? The aquatic life in Holmes Run? 

Check these two sites for the products and ingredients.
http://www.growsmartgrowsafe.org/Products.aspx?Category=57695&SearchStr=
http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/health/ehipm/insctrodntslug.html

Where to Purchase Bee Safe Plants?

Relating to my last Halloween post, if you were handing out poisoned candy to Trick-Or-Treaters on Halloween, you'd get into A LOT OF TROUBLE. Right? Plus, it would just be a horrible, deplorable thing to do.

So would you be shocked and horrified if I told you that many nurseries are selling plants that are aimed at attracting bees, that have been treated with systemic Neonicotinoid pesticides that have been proven to be harmful to bees?

This link will take you to the source of a study that, unfortunately, found that to be true:

http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2014-06-new-tests-find-bee-killing-pesticides-in-51-percent-of-bee-friendly-plants

To sum it up, in August of 2013, results of a study were published where plants from large chain "big box" stores such as Lowes, Home Depot, Target, and others, in various cities in the U.S., were tested for pesticides. Neonicotinoid pesticides ("neonics") were found on many of the flowering plants, and bees are attracted to those plants. The study published which kinds of plants were tested, and where the pesticide residue was found (leaves vs. flowers; flowers being more relevant to bees). A larger study was then done and the results were published in June of this year- you can read the whole thing here (this will open a PDF): 

http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/3a/3/4738/GardenersBewareReport_2014.pdf

That's a long article, but in it is sort of some good news for us here in West Alexandria:

Plants were tested from a Home Depot in D.C., which gets their plants from Bell Nursery.

The plants tested from that store had very little or in some cases no pesticide residues on the flowers of plants. Yay! (A very easy-to-read chart can be viewed on page 29 of the PDF file linked above, with the locations [VA should be the same as DC] and flowers tested, and results.) While sadly that isn't consistent with all Home Depots across the country, it does mean that at all of the Home Depots in Virginia (and most of the Mid Atlantic) the plants should be (relatively...) safe for bees.

Little Megachile on coreopsis at Home Depot in Alexandria

Another thing that we can be happy about is that Home Depot has promised to label all nursery plants that have been treated with neonics by the end of this year, and they've also promised to stop selling the chemicals on their shelves soon, too.

So where can you get plants for bees and butterflies that you know are safe and pesticide free?

Nature by Design in Alexandria

Behnke Nurseries in Maryland, which is a little far away, but if you find yourself near one, it's worth a visit! Here's why. (They never apply neonics to plants and no longer sell products containing neonics in the store.)

You can also shop at the local native plant sales in the Spring and Fall. I'll post about them when they're coming up, as they are all done for this year.

For now, Home Depot (and BJ's) now seem like a safe bet as well, as the plants that have been treated will be labeled. That is great, since they have some really good deals on plants and their garden center is always buzzing with many different bees!

But what about the other nurseries?

I wish I had an answer. 

I've written to both Greenstreet Gardens and Merrifield nurseries. Merrifield eventually did respond to my emails, Greenstreet did not.

EDIT- On November 19, I received an email from Merrifield stating that the use of neonic pesticides depends on the individual supplier of the plants. If you're shopping there, inquire about the individual plants- or, perhaps, an employee can tell you the supplier names who don't use neonics and how to find them at the nursery.

I received a similar response from Greenstreet in the Spring, when I asked in person. I was told that the plants with the Greenstreet containers would not have neonics applied, but that plants from other suppliers "might."

I was also told that in general, perennial plants do not usually have a need for a neonic pesticide (but obviously the study linked above found neonics on perennials), and that the main type of plant you need to be careful of are shrubs. I'm guessing that's because perennials, for the most part, die back every winter, but shrubs don't.

Systemics persist in the plant, which is why they're so dangerous. They can last for YEARS. I think the time on perennials is cut much shorter when they die back each year.

Food (for bees) for thought!