Protect the bees in your garden or allotment

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Protect the bees in your garden or allotment.

While many gardeners, and a few allotment holders, keep bees themselves it is really other peoples' bees with which I am concerned. Nonetheless, I would point out en passant that bees produce a far greater financial return per unit area (and per unit effort!) than any fruit or vegetable crop - quite apart from their importance as pollinators which is usually substantially underestimated.

Remember, too, that bees are by no means the only beneficial insects that can very easily be harmed by thoughtless gardeners.

As summer approaches and we reach for our sprays all insects, pests and benefactors alike, are at risk. However, a few simple precautions should help to minimise the damage to bees and other beneficial insects.

1. Avoid spraying plants in flower - these are most likely to be visited by bees and other beneficial insects such as hoverflies.

2. Spray late in the day when many insects, including bees, are less active and many flowers are closed.

3. Some modern sprays are selective in their effect - choose a pesticide that is less harmful to bees, hoverflies, lacewings, ladybirds and other beneficial insects.

4. Do not apply sprays except to those parts of the crop where pests or diseases are actually present.

5. Spray when there is no wind to carry the spray around and do not use aerosols whose ultra fine spray will drift a long distance even when there is no wind.

6. Read the instructions. Never use too concentrated a spray this is merely wasteful.

7. Never use so much spray that is is dripping off the plant not only is this wasteful but it contaminates the soil. A fine spray adheres better to plants and pests than a coarse one.

8. Inspect crops regularly for signs of pests and disease and spray as soon as the symptoms appear - less spray will be needed than when the trouble has become established.

9. Remember that many pesticides which are acceptable to organic growers are just as lethal to beneficial insects as they are to pests. (Derris is a very well known example).

10. Bear in mind that prevention is always better than cure. Grow resistant cultivars or use physical barriers against pests. Who has seen butterflies fly through fruit netting spread over brassicas?

After you have been spraying never wash out your spray, or bottles or jars, down sinks or drains. Dilute the chemical and spray it onto bare soil or paths.

This article originally appeared in the Members Bulletin, the journal of the National Vegetable Society, which is sent quarterly to members. You can Join the National Vegetable Society here

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