Tom,

Do you companion plant?

Tom, I've been spraying spino since the first day I could buy it.
Seems that it has something that acts like a repellent for a day or two, then the bees come right back.
I've not found a dead bee yet.

You talking bumble or honey bee? just curious
Corrie

Tom - I sprayed Friday and today I have butterflies, bees and bumblebees.

Bee on a basil plant

Bumblebee on a star fruit

I hope that you can see them, is kind of windy outside, butterflies are on my zinnias and marigolds.

Silvia

We were gone overnight since yesterday morning. I just went down to check out the garden, one bumble bee on the zinnias and it was barely moving, I'm sure it was dying. Some frits and I did see honey bees before we left because the were working only the pentas, porter weed and zinnias, not the veggies but remember what I said about the bumble bees, they were working the tomato blooms really hard....

Come on Cleveland, your my long shot!

Tom

Tom, I think you will see your bees. I have loads of bees everywhere. They work the tomatoes and zucchinis as well as the surrounding flowers every day. I think I have more bees in my yard this year than any year.

Anna

Still no bumble bees here, they were the only ones working the mater blooms and they are the only ones gone from my VERY SMALL garden! RIP :-(

Tom,

After this last cold snap, I've noticed a drop off in bees. Perhaps it's not the Spinosad but rather the lack of host plants and weather changes. I am currently seeing a ton of activity on my dombeya but only at high noon. No bumbles, just honeys.
Cassia alata and my other big bee attractors are going down for the year so I haven't seen the bees like I did in summer. Perhaps they sense that it's time to rest & it just happened to coincide with your spraying of Spinosad.

Hi Brenda,

On Wednesday of last week I had two dozen BB's in the veggie garden, I sprayed Thursday night, then when I checked Saturday morning NADA during a spell when we were actually warming up. Finally today I have a few BB's again, but I honestly believe they're new arrivals, especially after seeing only ONE BB day before yesterday that I'm certain was dying. If folks want to believe that spinosad isn't harmful to bees so be it, my garden is small and I don't have a plethora of things for the bees to feed off of, I know what I saw and I can read the label. Seeing honey bees and Frits because they didn't work the tomatoes, and not seeing BB's who were heavily working the tomato blooms is proof enough for me.

Tom

I dont think it was the spray. My bees have fallen off in my yard and I have NOT sprayed at all (but need to!). I have seen lots of bees 'walking' and not flying, as in, looking like they are in the "death-walk".

I think the cold snap slows them down a bit. I picked one up in a leaf and put it in the sun. It sat there for a bit and warmed up - then flew off after about 10 min.

In the past when I have sprayed, my bees were back the next day.

My cukes are looking like something is eating the leaves so I need to starting spraying quick.

Can anyone tell me why Spinosad is better/stronger than BT? Is it more harmful to beneficials?