# Where to buy non-neonicotinoid plants in Texas?



## Murfdawg (May 4, 2014)

I'm a backyard beekeeper in the Missouri City suburb of Houston and I want to plant a couple fruit trees and bee friendly garden. I've read that Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart plants are high in neonicotinoid pesticides so I'll avoid them. Is anyone familiar with Houston Garden Center or can you make a recommendation of where I should buy my plants? I'd prefer local recommendations so we can see what we're buying before we buy but I'm not opposed to ordering online either if that's what's best for my bees and other pollinators. I appreciate everyone's input. Thank you!


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## Native Bee (Feb 28, 2014)

I would think that as long as it's not a GMO crop with the pesticide gene within the actual plant that anything they spray on them would be gone in a season or two. Anyone here know any specifics? I've always heard to just pluck off all of the flowers that are on the plants when you get them and then the new ones will be alright but I'd rather be safe than sorry. 

You could try buying some seeds of some wildflowers or other bee friendly plants, just make sure they're organic.


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## B-Rant (Nov 8, 2012)

Murf, I'm in Cypress. Find a good family-owned plant center. On the NW side, we have Plants for All Seasons and The Arbor Gate, both great. They'll listen to your questions and help you find just what you're looking for.


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## beegeorge (Apr 19, 2012)

Neonicitinoids are insectidices that are in the seeds of annual crops such as sunflower, corn, soybeans, etc.

fruit trees would NOT have this issue, no matter WHERE they come from~~


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## Murfdawg (May 4, 2014)

Thanks B-Rant. I just checked both their websites and they look great. It's a bit of a drive from Mo-City but I have a friend in Spring so this would be a good excuse to visit and plan the garden. Thank you for the recommendations!

Native, I think for the flowers I'm going to take your advice and start with seeds. It'll probably be more for for the kids anyway. Thank you.


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## Murfdawg (May 4, 2014)

I didn't realize that. So no fruit trees have neonicotinoid pesticides? That is very good to know. Thank you!


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## beegeorge (Apr 19, 2012)

I recommend you read about Neonicinitoids and how they are used - it will explain a lot.

just google it


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## Murfdawg (May 4, 2014)

Well all googling it did was lead me here seeking advice from others that care about bees. I found multiple sources saying to stay away from Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart. I'd normally go to the big box places to save money. I have a little understanding of what they are and how they are used, but as far as how to know what is safe to buy and what to trust??? I have absolutely no idea.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Yes fruit trees might have neonics on them - heck you (and every other homeowner on your block) can trot right down to the Big Box stores and buy gallons of neonics to spray around on your home gardens, landscaping and lawns. My neighbor, for example, who claims to just _love_ my bees pours tons of the stuff around on the ground below her saucer magnolia tree to attempt to kill the aphids that feed on the leaves and excrete honeydew, which in turn during our humid northen Augusts grows unsightly mildew. 

Your dog or cat may be have been treated (by you!) with neonics if you're using one of the products similar to Frontline for fleas and ticks.

In short, there are tons of neonics all around. The major risk to bees comes, however, from the seed application of neonics to field crops like corn and cotton. During the planting there is (still) some dust getting out and on to weeds at the edges of the fields. Weeds that very well might be blooming with bees foraging on them during the planting operation. That's where the biggest risk from neonics comes from.

Neonics are systemic pesticides (but by no means the only systemic plant protection chemical), which means they are absorbed by the plant and translocated within the plant to all parts of it - so it is possible that bees visiting crop plants that were previously treated to control soil worms may have some small amount of neonics in their pollen, or nectar, months later. But that risk is low, in my opinion. Not that it is impossible, just that the level of neonic is likely to be very low by that point and thus not dangerous to the bees.

So in answer to your underlying question: what if fruit trees during their commercial production phase were treated with neonics - does that make them potentially dangerous to the bees, or your family, a couple of years later when they start to bloom and bear? No, unless you continue to treat them with neonics that you use as part of your own spraying program. (Read the labels, and learn to recognize the chemical names of the actcive ingredients that are neonics.) No matter where you buy your fruit trees (big box store or Mom and Pop corner nursery) they are likely all from the same source, so the risk is the same no matter where you purchase them. Almost no general nurseries graft their own fruit these days. That is highly specialized work and fruit tree production is not something that's done locally.

Now for your vegetable plants: there (because of the very short crop cycle from transplant to table) if neonics worry you, I would hunt for a local nursery that is growing their own and buy from them. They can tell you if neonics were used. Look for a place with a fairly large production greenhouse. I would recommend buyng locally produced transplants anyway, because it is a good thing all by itself. Locally raised plants frustrate the national dispersion of plant diseases.

Growing fruits and vegetables is my trade. The whole hysteria over neonics and bees is quite overblown, IMO. Not that I use them in my fields. But they replace come other really nasty pesticides that might be far worse to use.

Hope I have set your mind at ease.

(BTW, at this time, as far as I know, there no vegetables grown from seeds available to the general public that are GMO, so no worries there. )

ETA: Regarding fruit trees I wouldn't buy from either the Big Box stores or a local general nursery. In each case you not are buying the best quality trees, and they've been growing in pots getting who-knows-what poor care. I would serach for regional nurseries that specialize in fruit tree production and sell dormant bare root trees. If you were in the north I could make several suggestions, but since you are in TX, I have nothing to offer. Your local Cooperative Extension Fruit specialist may be able to help. Or try Googling. You're lookiing for smallish operatons specializing in regionally-adapted cultivars. A resource to find these might be an enquiry on the website of the North American Fruit Explorers Assoc. Those folks are as keen on fruit trees and we are about bees, and they know their stuff!

Enj.


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## Murfdawg (May 4, 2014)

Enj, THANK YOU!! Your explanation and tips are very informative and helpful and extremely appreciated!


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