Perhaps she was connecting the name "Bayer" with the aspirin. Not many outside of gardening circles know Bayer is involved with many other products and is heavily into the manufacturing of pesticides. I saw that 60 Minutes piece also. The inference was the Bayer product mentioned, not Messinger or either the Bayer 3-in-1 or Advanced Disease Control. Mentioned was an agricultural insecticide manufactured by them, and sprayed on large scale food crops, which has been shown to cause memory loss, failure to feed, immune deficencies, and a long list of other symptoms in bees resulting in their being affected more by diseases that have always been around but is now causing them to lose their way home and not eating. The fact the beekeepers are not finding dead bees in or around the hives suggest they are disappearing while collecting honey and away from the hive. It was further suggested the over use of insecticides by homeowners and golf courses was a contributing factor. A picture of a bag of lawn grub control was shown when this was said. With bees responsible for 50% of the pollination of our food supplies it's time we take some responsibility and not run for the insecticides as soon as we see a bug and a hole in a leaf or or flower bud. While insecticides kill when sprayed directly on the bees, there is also a residule effect that occurs by exposure to treated plants. The systemic products can have trace amounts in flower nectar and pollen, while others can be absorbed by contact with treated plant surfaces. A video of a bee removing pollen from it's body with rapid movements of it legs showed it can spread contact insecticides into it's body. It was also stated that once an bee hive has been infected and is empty, other bees will not eat any honey that may be in that hive, suggesting the residue is in the honey which can cause death of bee grubs futher adding to the problem. While possibly not the only causal agent, I sure don't want to take the chance and and add to the problem. I'm considering asking a bee keeper if they'd like to place a hive in my insecticide free yard. While I'm not immune to bee stings, the bees don't bother you if you don't appear to be a threat. Don't swat at them or wear perfumes. I just ignore them and they leave me alone.

There are directions for spray intervals based on disease and type of plant on the label. Here is a pdf to help out. I try to spray every other week the entire season, but sometimes do not get to it until the 3rd week. Here is a link that might be useful: Bayer Directions for use

Usually skip this subject since I've no experience with sprays besides some traditionals like sulfur & copper used many moons ago on fruit trees. Given my ignorance & the range of opinions, hesitant to even stick a toe in these waters, but (here we go) feel the need to share some thoughts. We all acknowledge we can't grow some roses as perennials in the open garden due to intrinsic climate & site unsuitability, available space & individual practical considerations at any given time. We intentionally eliminate some roses from consideration for not meeting our bloom & growth preferences. Of those we do select, some will self-eliminate despite our care or be rejected down the road for not living up to expectations or no longer appealing as our tastes change. The most critical of my criteria for choosing any rose is its reputation for health & vitality in conditions similar to my own. Gardening more than 50 years in typically humid & fungal prone locations zoomed this to the top of the list long ago. Heavy physical reactions to all the "-cides" except elemental since childhood prohibits their use, as does my philosophical worldview. So I garden the old-fashioned way, pre sophisticated chemical compounds, by necessity. From my point of view, the health potential of any plant is expressed by positive response to its environment - nature vs. nurture - and the availability of the elements & conditions it needs to thrive tilt the odds to favor this expression. We all know moving a shaded rose into more sunlight often "cures" its blackspot outbreak, athough fungal exposure hasn't changed, and that roses sometimes outgrow these outbreaks with maturity. Believe boosting the plant's immune system by helping nature provide those essentials allows it to function optimally on its own, so concentrate my efforts on these aspects. (Same principles as human health. Incidentally, fortify my immune function with the internal products of plants' immune systems - essential oils - borrowing from the plants as it were, the core of traditional botanical medicine.) When we first came to this garden 16 years ago, it had been installed & maintained by a college groundskeeper for 7 years on heavy-duty chemical prevention principles. Extensive shrubbery had been maintained with yearly chunky woodchips atop that of prior applications - 6" worth suffocating the soil without deteriorating though covered in sour-smelling fungus. Couldn't find a worm wherever I dug outside the woods & not a bug, good or bad, in evidence besides mosquitos, flies & chiggers. The few roses were dwindling away under this treatment, bare shadows of their potential. Reversed that trend with organic husbandry & the worms returned. Fed the beneficial microorganisms that fed the worms that till & aerate the soil & the soil web reestablished itself to create an environment in which suitable plants can thrive. For years now, the gardens have welcomed a wide variety of inhabitants that appear to have found an interwoven balance with which I'd be loath to meddle. Beneficials & birds keep the ruffians in check most seasons with an assist from the hose. One year the garden club girls (one fellow joined as I was leaving) spent an entire initial meeting exclaiming about decimation the Japanese beetles wrought over the Summer. Apparently no one believed my surprise & report that only a few spotted here that season not far from their gardens, or they might have wondered what could be different here... Many roses brought in over the years, some with blackspot or mildew from travel stress, so likely a mix of farflung varieties present. Most got over it, as have those which arrived this humid rainy season, including a spotted Buff Beauty bought locally. Fungals show up here & there in small bouts with minor fleeting consequence (knock on wood). Still not brave enough to intentionally choose roses not known for their good health, some of those with mixed reviews doing well. Those among the dear departed were dispatched by deer, storms, cold, neglect & seeming suicide. Shovel pruned 2 for RRD. In my book, really not a bad record for all the years & varieties attempted. Saved a lot of bucks & effort counted up over time, alternately spent on new plants & garden stuff. But then, an admittedly lazy gardener relying on simple methods to support health, the weather gods (as do we all) & beneficial energies... Longwinded way of saying it can be done - growing roses naturally in the humid fungus-ridden Southeast - by way of encouragement to those considering a change of method & solidarity with those already doing it, too. This post was edited by vasue on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 21:37

I've been using this stuff for a long time. I haven't grown a 2nd nose or 30 toes yet. I have bee's, frogs, butterfly's and humming birds in my garden all the time. The last time I looked in the mirror I really didn't look like a rat or mouse. I wear long sleeve shirt, long pants and eye protection. Clean everything up with a lot of water and take a shower after spraying. You have to look at it like this. ANY man made chemical is going to have some adverse effect on something living sometime. Do you use deodorant?