Spraying Regulations For Bees’ Protection

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28372, 3 September 1957, Page 18

Spraying Regulations For Bees’ Protection

Between September 1 and March 31, farmers may not spray or dust with insecticides toxic to bees any cruciferous crops such as rape, swedes, turnips, or choumoellier, or leguminous crops like clover or lucerns, while they are in flower, unless they have a permit from the Department of Agriculture. The Apiaries Protection Regulations, 1957, which came into force on Sunday, also apply to the treatment of flowering plants of a different species which may appear in a crop. The objective of the new regulations is to give protection to honey bees, particularly against those insecticides which may be carried back to a hive and result in the poisoning of the brood. The Fields Superintendent of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch (Mr A. R. Dingwall) said that the new regulations would apply in the main to leguminous and cruciferous seed crops, but there could be instances where it might be wished to treat flowering plants in a forage crop. Aphids would be the most likely cause of spraying in cruciferous crops, but if these crops were sprayed in the autumn or early spring there was not likely to be much worry from them in the flowering stage. In some years there could be a late infestation. Location Description

Farmers seeking a permit to spray or dust crops while the regulations are in force should apply to their nearest office of the Department of Agriculture, preferably in person, as the speed with which their applications can be dealt with may depend materially on how exactly they can describe the location of the crop which they wish to treat. On the application form the section number, block number and survey district are requested. If this information is readily available and can be translated to a map, it can easily be compared with the location of registered or commercial apiaries, of which the department also has a map record, and it can then be readily decided whether it is safe to issue a permit without an inspection of the crop.

Inspections Likely Because apiaries are fairly thickly spread throughout the district. Mr Dingwall said it was likely that it would be necessary to make inspections in many cases. Where these are necessary the crops will be inspected by field officers of the department. Authority to issue permits has been delegated by the Director-General of Agriculture to Fields Superintendents, who will have to weigh up the harm that would be involved to bees on the one hand by spraying or dusting, and the loss that would be involved in not treating the crop. Valid for Six Days

Where permits are issued they will be valid for only six days from the date of issue. The regulations provide that where there are apiaries in the locality beekeepers should be given 72 hours’ notice so that they can remove

their hives or take other action to protect them. As a result spraying cannot start for 96 hours after the issue of a permit except with the approval of the local apiary instructor. In such cases farmers may only have about two days in which to do their spraying. It is generally considered that most insecticides can be safely used outside a two miles’ radius of apiaries, but in the case of some insecticides, Mr Dingwall said that their use would have to be closely considered even where hives were located outside this range.

The responsibility lies on the grower of the crop and the person applying the spray or dust to decide whether the crop comes within the regulations and whether the material being used is toxic to bees.

Where spraying was being done by contractors, Mr Dingwall said it would obviously be to the advantage of contractors to see that farmers placed their applications so that the work could be coordinated.

The department, he said, would do everything possible to expedite investigations leading up to the issue of permits.