The April 30th Orchard Monitor newsletter put out by the WVU Extension Service addresses Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder which is getting attention just about everywhere these days. WVU is participating in the Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group. WVU seems to be focusing on chemical contamination of beehives as a contributing factor. The neonicotinoid class of insecticides has come under suspicion. Trade names are Actara, Assail, Calypso, Clutch, and Provado. This is now the most widely used class of insecticides in the US and they are used in agriculture, lawn care, golf courses, and buildings. These are highly effective insecticides, almost too effective. WV is the first state to recommend that growers refrain from using neonicitinoids until honey bees are removed from the orchard in order to protect these pollinators. Continue to monitor http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/index.html for emerging Colony Collapse Disorder info. Increasing the understanding of honey bee issues by fruit growers is critically important. Hampshire County is also progressive in this area by opening up the March, April, May, and June Fruit Grower meetings to local beekeepers. We do not and will not used any of these toxic insecticides on our own farm. We use horticultural oils, dormant and all season, and we will be using Surround, which is a clay particle spray film . We also do not use chemical fertilizers which can also be harmful but instead use foliar sprays such as Neptune's Harvest. Herbicides, such as Round up are OK to use as they break down/decompose almost immediately and do not remain concentrated in either soil or plants.
