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Bees

Jemima3Jemima3 Posts: 5
in Wildlife gardening

Please can we highlight that bulbs are produced with chemicals and pesticides which means they are poisonous to bees.  Because they are early flowering the bees are looking to them for food when they first wake up.  I can't believe all the articles on Spring bulbs don't mention this.  Buy organic!

Posts

  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,754

    Hi Jemima, and welcome to the forum image

    In principle, hear hear.  But I can't see a way for the pesticide to get from the outside of the scale leaves (which is where it's applied) to the nectar and pollen (which is where it would have to be for the bees to get at it.

    Unless someone can educate me....

  • Jemima3Jemima3 Posts: 5

    Hi Steve, if you put 'bees poisoned bulbs' the Telegraph gives a full explanatio.

  • Jemima3Jemima3 Posts: 5

    Sorry I meant put that into a search engine.

  • Jemima3Jemima3 Posts: 5

    Hi Steve, if you put 'bees poisoned bulbs' the Telegraph gives a full explanatio.

  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,754

    Fair enough.  I consider myself educated.  Neonicotinoids are indeed the devil's work and should be banned.

    It still doesn't explain the mechanism of transport across the dead outer scale leaves into the living tissue.....image  Maybe the stuff is injected into the bulbs, but that would be massively labour-intensive and hence expensive.

  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,754

    That makes sense - thanks.   I'll check next time.  image

  • B3B3 Posts: 9,040

    Whatever they put on bulbs, particularly hyacinths, is an irritant. I never touch them without gloves

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,754

    I wonder if that acts as a natural fungicide/insecticide?

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