# 2016 almond fungicide issues



## babybee (Mar 23, 2012)

We got nailed hard in the almonds this past season. We have all talked on this in threads back in March. Well we finally got the pesticide test back on the few frames we sent in with Megan from bee informed partnership. Two fungicides came in at alarming levels. Iprodione @ 17500 ppb in sample 1and 3210 ppb in sample 2. Also, Tebuconazole @ 12100 ppb in sample 1 and 8050 ppb in sample 2. Since my results are confidential I figured I would tell everyone for myself. It would be nice to get the labels changed, since it hurts the bees and particularly the brood so badly. Also I wonder about the lasting effects in the beehives themselves. 

Andy Strehlow


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## JSL (Sep 22, 2007)

Andy,

Thanks for sharing. I remember you posting about this earlier in the year. Did Megan give any insight as to the significance of the levels found? This is not my area, but from what I have read those are significant levels. Also, how do those two interact with each other and perhaps your mite or nosema treatments? 

Reed Johnson at Ohio State has done some research in this area and may have some additional insight.


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## babybee (Mar 23, 2012)

She said they were the highest numbers ever tested.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

babybee said:


> It would be nice to get the labels changed, since it hurts the bees and particularly the brood so badly. Also I wonder about the lasting effects in the beehives themselves.
> 
> Andy Strehlow


Good point and good question as well. I did a bit of quick googling and haven't found where either product is labeled for use in almonds. I also found this interesting tidbit showing Prosaro (tebuconazole is a primary ingredient) isn't even registered in California. 
https://www.cropscience.bayer.us/products/fungicides/prosaro/label-msds


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## jkola404 (Jan 8, 2008)

jim lyon said:


> Good point and good question as well. I did a bit of quick googling and haven't found where either product is labeled for use in almonds. I also found this interesting tidbit showing Prosaro (tebuconazole is a primary ingredient) isn't even registered in California.
> https://www.cropscience.bayer.us/products/fungicides/prosaro/label-msds



Both Products are labeled for almonds. 

http://www.willowoodusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Teb-45DF-PIB.pdf
http://www.fmccrop.com/Portals/_default/fmc_pdf/rovral_label_4-17-07.pdf


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

jkola404 said:


> Both Products are labeled for almonds.
> 
> http://www.willowoodusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Teb-45DF-PIB.pdf
> http://www.fmccrop.com/Portals/_default/fmc_pdf/rovral_label_4-17-07.pdf



I stand corrected. Apparently these ingredients are included in a number of products which may or may not be labeled for almonds. Along with the link previously posted I had also found this for Iprodione
http://betterplants.basf.us/reference/past-basf-products-labels/iprodione-pro-se-fungicide.pdf
In any case, many beekeepers (myself included) who have placed bees in the almonds have experienced varying degrees of hive damage from what most presume to be fungicides. Last year is the worst I have seen, though, ours recovered pretty quickly. Andy is quite right, though. This needs to be an issue going forward as we don't know the long term effects on hives. For all the hand wringing there is in the country over neonicitinoids here are products that have a very real and measurable harmful effect on hives and there just dosent seem to be much of an outcry.


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## JSL (Sep 22, 2007)

jim lyon said:


> For all the hand wringing there is in the country over neonicitinoids here are products that have a very real and measurable harmful effect on hives and there just dosent seem to be much of an outcry.


It has been a couple few years since Reed Johnson published some of his earlier work, but I am thinking, he or perhaps someone else showed an interaction between some neonics and fungicides, making it a double whammy.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

That may well be true Joe but in the case of Almond pollination (where neonics are no longer even allowed) beekeepers are seeing this kind of acute damage to their hives pretty regularly. Sometimes the damage is subtle and you just see a hint of it here and there and sometimes its pretty substantial where you can tell by the amount of dead brood that the hive had been quite large not long ago but few bees and little healthy brood remains.


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## JSL (Sep 22, 2007)

Jim I understand and was thinking outside of almonds. Perhaps I shouldn't assume but Andy did you pull the pollen frames in Texas after almonds? The fungicides, insecticides and herbicides seem hard enough on their own, but it is the combined interactions and synergistic effects that make them worse.


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

For those of you that experienced severe problems in almonds; what did you do about it?
Did you talk with your grower or broker?
What did they have to say?
Did they give you assurances that there would be better care taken in some way this year?


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## RAK (May 2, 2010)

Ive never been hit knock on wood. My bees go in strong and are fed pollen sub beginning of bloom so maybe i dont notice the damage with the amount of brood I have. The spray guys dont spray by the bees in my orchards.


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## babybee (Mar 23, 2012)

These were huge bees when sent to the almonds. Off of a good honey crop in south dakota, taken to east Texas. 5 or so pounds of sub feed in the winter. Sent to almonds starting around the 20th of Jan. Lots of brood, big clusters. The bees started to come back to Texas in the first 10 days of March. We always switch our cell builders to California hives to get the jasmine pollen out. We noticed right away these issues, much worse than normal for bees hatching dead with tougues out. Not molting properly ect. We got in touch with bip. Megan came out to take samples. She said she could take pollen samples, but was concerned about the new Texas pollen coming in. I said "no problem we received 3 loads last night, so lets check them." So we looked at those bees and pulled 2 frames of the chemical tests. So the frames taken for these tests only had almond pollen. 

Now as far as how these fungicides act in synergy with miticides, I have no idea. We treated our bees with chemicals we have used for years, and hadn't treated since the fall. 

As far as conversations with growers, I personally never have talked to the growers, only the beekeeper/brokers. Obviously, I can't send bees back to those growers so generally my bees walking will do the talking. If at some point in time all of the bees come back like these vs healthy, then we may make the choice to stay in TX and sell bees and get ready sooner for honey production. There was a huge delay in the growth of my bees and can't quantify how much honey we didn't make because of the fungicides.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Scarey stuff guys, keep us in the loop please.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Thank you for the huge fungicide clue. We also occasionally see in S.E.Wisconsin, during a good summer flow, dead hatching brood with their tongues sticky out. We do not go to almonds, and are sedentary.

Crazy Roland


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## babybee (Mar 23, 2012)

Yes, more fungicides are being used in the current ag practices. I had an eastern South Dakota farmer tell me after they started using fungicides on their wheat that they doubled their yields.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I worked part time making nucs for a local commercial outfit. Huge problem with dead and dying brood a month after return from pollination. I took it to be massive chalkbrood infection. Then I heard all the commercial folks had chalkbrood problems. Sounds like the fungicide problem.


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