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!

Hap-Bee Halloween!

Today is October 30, and All Hallow's Eve is almost upon us!

Did you know that without bees and pollinators, this fabulous day would be a lot less festive?
But bees and other pollinators are summer things- they visit the blooming flowers and hang out in the garden on warm sunny days. What could they possibly have to do with Halloween?

Let me explain.

Simply put, without bees, we wouldn't have any pumpkins.
You read that right: NO BEES = NO PUMPKINS :(
No pumpkin pie. No carved pumpkins. No roasted delicious pumpkin seeds. Even many of the "Pumpkin Spice" flavorings come from plants that require pollination! (Examples here & here!) What would Halloween be without pumpkins?

In the summer, pumpkin vines have big, gorgeous yellow flowers. The flowers are either male or female. For the plant to produce a pumpkin, the female flowers must receive pollen from a male flower. That's where bees come in!

For most pollination, you may be thinking of honeybees. Honeybees, as well as many other bees, will visit the flowers of pumpkin plants and can provide pollination. But the shining stars of our pumpkin pollination are Squash Bees! If you're like most people, you've never heard of a squash bee, and unless you're personally trying to grow some kind of squash, you had no reason to think about these bees and they wouldn't be living on your property. They are specialists on squash flowers (that's: Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, Pumpkins, and other squashes and gourds) and these bees don't eat anything else. So if you're not growing those plants, no squash bees for you!

Squash bees, courtesy of Nancy Adamson and the Xerces Society. How CUTE are these little bees?
They look very similar to honeybees and are almost the same shape and size.  

These special squash bees have evolved alongside the squash plants, which means they're perfectly adapted to the pollination needs of these plants. The flowers open earlier than other flowers and- not by coincidence!- the squash bees are also wide awake bright and early, before most other bees! The female bee forages on nectar and collects pollen to create a food supply for her young- who won't be born until next year. By midday, when honeybees and bumble bees and other bees are well into their foraging time, the squash flowers have already closed, and the squash bees have retired back into their underground nests.

Squash bees nest in the ground at the base of squash plants, but unlike other so-called "ground bees" (more on those in another post, as most of the time those are yellow jackets and not bees at all), squash bees are solitary. This means you're not going to end up with a HUGE aggressive nest of bees by the end of the summer. The bees' life cycle coincides with that of the squash plants. The bees emerge in summer, and lay eggs and leave a food supply for their young in the ground. Those bees will emerge the following season; thus, no huge build up of a giant nest of bees.

In the solitary bee world, the female bee assumes all roles of a "hive." She forages for food for herself. She is a worker bee. She creates the nest. She lays the eggs. At the end of the season, she dies. The male bees live the party life- all they do is eat and mate. Because these bees just live for one season, a large population doesn't build up over the summer time.

Beneficial ground bees like these are a prime example of why we need to be careful about what chemical products we're using on our property. Most sprays, granules, and drip treatments will soak into the ground, where these bees are nesting.

You can learn more about squash bees and pollination by visiting these sites:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov08/bees1108.htm
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=16595

And let us not forget the significance of bats!

We often see bats represented in a scary way on Halloween. Bats are important pollinators of many fruit and cacti in the tropics. Here in Virginia, we don't have bats that pollinate our crops- instead, we have carnivorous bats that eat insects and provide essential pest control in our neighborhoods and to our farmers. If we lost our bats, we would definitely notice a huge increase in mosquitoes and other pests.

Let's hear it for our Bats and our Bees this Halloween!!

So... About those wasps...

THE HORROR.

I'll be mentioning solitary wasps a few times on this site, so I wanted to provide a little bit of information here.

First of all, in the photo above, you can see that is a very tiny little wasp (a member of Chrysididae, I believe?) crawling around on my finger. Can they sting? Technically, yes- the females can, anyway. Do they sting all of the time? Certainly not (and this one did not sting me).

These are cuckoo wasps, which means they build their nests in the nests of other insects. Some will lay an egg next to the other insect's egg, and when the wasp baby hatches, it will eat the other insect and/or the other insect's food supply. Some of those insects are pests, so you want parasitic wasps like these around to keep those pests in check. Parasitic wasps are one of the main predators of the invasive stink bugs!

Oh the humanity! WHAT IS IT DOING!?

Here's another solitary wasp mama. She has paralyzed this small caterpillar (both she and the caterpillar were just a little over an inch long) and will carry it to her nesting site, where she will leave it for her young to eat. I haven't actually witnessed this happen very often, so even though I do love caterpillars, I was SO excited to spot this wasp and realize what she was doing. I only had my cell phone with me, but I was able to get this picture before she flew off with the caterpillar. Since this was just a cell phone, I had no macro lens or special zoom or other features- in other words, I was all up in this wasp's business. She didn't become aggressive or try to scare me away- she was definitely more worried about me than I was about her, and made a hasty getaway with her to-go meal.

Here is one more I'll leave in this post. This is another solitary cavity-nesting wasp who didn't mind me getting a close up to her (or him) while she was hanging out on a redbud leaf. Look at those gorgeous blue wings!

Most of the times if you're oberving wasps feeding on flowers (or sometimes even when they're hunting), they're busy doing what they need to do and aren't going to become aggressive and go after you. In general, the only wasps who are aggressive are social wasps who live in big nests/colonies and feel a need to defend their family. How can you tell, just by looking, which wasps are solitary (and thus, more docile and friendly) and which aren't? Unless you know a lot about bugs, unfortunately you probably can't tell just from looking.

Some are more obvious: Yellow Jackets and Bald Faced Hornets. You don't want to mess around with those.

But this post is mainly to point out that not all wasps are "bad guys" or scary- some are, frankly, quite beautiful! And almost all of them are great pest control and beneficial pollinators! Please keep in mind that when you see a wasp, it's not always out to "get you" ;)

Enjoy your day!

-Samantha

Intro...

10/06/2014
Brand new page (and project!!) here!

Have you heard of "Bee Safe Neighborhoods"? It's a really great project where 75 contiguous (or, almost contiguous) homes pledge not to use neonicotinoid/systemic pesticides on their property. The organization's main focus is on the Honey Bee, but since some Bumble Bees are definitely in a state of decline (and possibly other native bees, too), I plan to focus on all bees and other pollinators as well. After all... we know that generally, butterfly gardening = bee gardening, right? So I want to do this in my neighborhood, and if we succeed, we'll be the 2nd Bee Safe Neighborhood in Virginia!

I'm hoping that by starting to organize this in the late fall, I can collect pledges throughout the winter and get people excited about their new neonic-free gardens next spring!

So if you're in Alexandria (specifically Alexandria West and even MORE specifically along Latham St. or Taney Rd., or that general vicinity!) and would like to talk to me more about this, please contact me at PollinatorPlates@gmail.com . 

If we can get a bunch of houses on the south side of Taney to pledge to stop using pesticides- or even just certain kinds of pesticides- imagine how beneficial it would be to Holmes Run and the wildlife in Holmes Run Park. I feel this is especially important for my neighborhood since we are on the edge of a park and I hope folks will be enthusiastic to sign the pledge and commit to a safer yard for our pollinators and other wildlife.

Target area

Here are some of my ideas:

- On Halloween: Dress in my bee outfit and hand out honey sticks and coloring book pages for neighborhood kids and a postcard or flier with info for adults.

- Folks who sign the pledge get a "Protect Pollinators" magnet from me!

- Bee themed garden party on my street's cul-de-sac when all 75 pledges are met.

- Encourage folks to stop by my "hell strip" garden during the spring/summer/fall to check out all of the nectaring bees!

- Hazardous Waste collection day(s) to collect pesticides that people may already have bought, but have pledged to no longer use. I will offer to come pick them up, or leave a bin outside of my house for a day or two to collect the bottles. What can I do with these pesticides after they're collected? I'm not sure what's safe to do with them or how to dispose of them, or if there is anyone who could use them in an enclosed environment, such as a greenhouse, where bees aren't visiting and the soil/runoff won't contaminate local waterways- if so, I could donate them. Someone please help if you have a suggestion! :)

- I am sure one of the first questions I'll get is, "What can I use instead?" If you have that same question, here is a perfect website to check out! 

http://www.growsmartgrowsafe.org/Products.aspx?Category=57695&SearchStr=
I'll definitely add this website to all of the info I'm handing out and make a QR code for it, too, which I may put on CUTE signs in a few places in the neighborhood for quick reference ;)

That's all for now, friends. Not quite as huge of an undertaking as the license plates, and hopefully this won't take as long! :) However, convincing people to part from their beloved and easy-to-find chemicals won't be easy.

I know, I know---- maybe it isn't neonics and other pesticides that are the problem. But you know what? The way I see it.... would it really be such a bad thing to use less chemicals even if they aren't the one and only single problem? Lawns are where the most chemicals are applied nowadays. LAWNS. How about we save those chemicals for big ag, whose job it is to increase yield and feed people, and us homeowners focus on feeding safe nectar and pollen to the little tiny guys and call it squah'!