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Concern about bee die off and plants from big box stores!

10 years ago

Below is an excerpt from an article I just read which I thought should be of concern to all gardeners given the dire situation about bee die off. I think it's very important to know how our actions affect the environment. Link to full article is below.

Diane

Excerpt from article:
Tests Tie Bee Die-Offs to Pretreated Plants Sold at Garden Centers

Now, a first-of-its-kind pilot study2, released by Friends of the Earth and its allies, reveals that many homeowners unwittingly contribute to the problem by purchasing so-called "bee friendly" garden plants sold at Home Depot, Lowe's, and other garden centers i.e. plants that attract bees that have been pre-treated with pesticides that could in fact be lethal to the bees.

As it turns out, more than half of the plants tested were found to have these toxic pesticide residues. Contaminated plants included tomatoes, squash, salvia and flowers that would be attractive to pollinators. As reported by Friends of the Earth3:

"The pilot study, co-authored by the Pesticide Research Institute, found that 7 of 13 samples of garden plants purchased at top retailers in Washington D.C., the San Francisco Bay Area and Minneapolis contain neurotoxic pesticides known as neonicotinoids that studies show could harm or kill bees and other pollinators...

'Our investigation is the first to show that so called "bee-friendly" garden plants contain pesticides that can poison bees, with no warning to gardeners,' said Lisa Archer, director of the Food and Technology Program at Friends of the Earth. 'Bees are essential to our food system and they are dying at alarming rates. Neonic pesticides are a key part of the problem we can start to fix right now in our own backyards.'"

Here is a link that might be useful: full article about bee die off

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Comments (7)

porkpal zone 9 Tx
10 years ago
That is scary! Is there anything that can be done to these pre-treated plants to make them safe?
fogrose
Original Author
10 years ago
I really don't know the answer to that. I plan on not buying any plants from Lowe's or Home Depot til they change their policy.

Below is a link to a petition I signed to the CEOs of both companies calling for them to stop selling treated plants like companies in the UK that have stopped selling them.

Diane

Here is a link that might be useful: Petition to Lowe's and Home Depot
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Hey SPF, I was there today and did the same thing you did. The reason HD doesn't do it is that they don't OWN the plants, they RENT the space on consignment so they couldn't care less if the plants die or not, or get sold. Lowe's, on the other hand, owns the stuff and wants to make what they can on it.... I still have an HRC in a bucket for you but I don't see where the maters are growing...I have five of them that are 75 days old and only 8" tall! Thought I'd wait a few more weeks to see if they are worth messing with or not. Tom
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Brocks! We're heading down there and to Dearborn Farms tomorrow. To be honest, I shop all over. We bought 12 boxed roses at Dearborn Farms last spring, but I got some really nice potted roses in Lowe's (Woodbridge, Jersey City, and Old Bridge) and Wal-Mart (Secaucus, Cinnamonson, and Old Bridge) -- all of them did really well, and have leafed out like crazy this spring. Like you, I've been buying Superthrive at Wal-mart (it's not out yet, and I don't have all that much left right now -- and not every store had it, either) as well as fish emulsion. We got some great annuals there to fill in the gaps in the plants we bought in Van Wingerden's and Gro-Rite up in Lincoln Park. I get potting soil for my containers and garden soil to beef up the beds in Lowe's, and I get mulch there, too. I get pots and little plastic garden fencing in Wal-Mart. Home Depot was disappointing last year, especially since we'd gotten some wonderful roses there in the past (in Clifton and Woodbridge). But Clifton's garden center has gone -way- downhill, and Woodbridge isn't what is used to be. But none of them compare to Hoverman's, now sadly closed.
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Robert, I was new to gardening when we lived in Decatur, so I'm afraid I don't have notes to refer back to for specific varieties. That said, I do remember that we had amazing luck with asparagus, which grew so well that it spoiled us for the future - we have not had anywhere near the results here in Indiana and my husband and I still talk about we wish we'd thought to dig some of those plants and bring them with us when we moved. It was probably the soil rather than the variety (or those specific plants), but we just can't seem to get it established here. For tomatoes, they were just hybrids from the big box store ... I'm guessing Early Girl and Better Boy. We got dozens (like 50) from each plant and I remember being completely overwhelmed and having no idea what to do with them all, LOL. We also grew three different types of corn and got what I now know to be a good harvest, but since I was new to gardening, I was all, "OMG, there are little worms in the corn!!" and my husband kept explaining this was common and nothing to freak out about. ;) There was more -- beans, lettuce, peppers, etc. -- but again, just varieties that were available at the local stores. I was more focused on my flower garden at the time and the veggies just seemed to happen without a ton of effort. I had no idea how lucky I was, LOL. Kathy
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Ahhh! The eggs in one basket syndrome strikes again. Again, we wouldn't have this 30 years ago with thousands of little mom and pop hardware stores selling a few plants from a bunch of different suppliers. Now Walmart nurtures/persuades some big conglomerate to grow six zillion plants and supply the whole chain as well as other chains because they can do it for less. And Bingo... Now was that worth the few pennys saved Walmart? Good luck selling them next year!
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floridarosez9 Morgan
10 years ago
Well, I already start most of my things from seed. I guess it will be everything from seed now.

I also signed the petition. Now, if there was just a petition to stop fracking.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
10 years ago
Thank you Diane, for that information, and for the petition, which of course I signed. I'm really glad that I patronize our small local nursery which is struggling and so hopefully haven't contributed to that problem. It's just another example of big business not giving a d..n about what they hurt as long as it's expedient for them.

floridarose, I've already signed dozens of petitions to stop fracking and I don't think it's made the slightest difference. Once your name goes on an eco-friendly list you'll be signing petitions to save manatees, drinking water, Arctic wildlife and everything else you can think of. I don't want to think about how much money I've contributed because of the impassioned pleas that I get in my e-mail every day, but on the other hand I'm not sure I can think of a better way to spend it.

Ingrid
kittymoonbeam
10 years ago
I was asking about a cure for my neighbors tree on the fruit & orchard forum. The suggestion was a Bayer systemic that is banned in France and elsewhere because it caused large scale colony collapse. When I went to my pal at the local farmers market to see if he thought it could be used safely, he said all the large CA grape and tomato producers were using it and probably it was being used widely by other growers. We are eating that stuff even if we aren't using it ourselves and the bees and earthworms get the worst of it.
nastarana
10 years ago
It can seem that petitions don't make a durn bit of difference.

In this case, the big box marketplace is pretty well saturated, so CEOs might, might be inclined to listen to customers.
fogrose
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks to everyone that signed.

I still believe petitions can make a difference, especially when boycotts hurt companies in their pocketbooks.

kittymoonbeam, i would NEVER eat grapes and tomatoes that were not grown organically.

Diane

Diane

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