Neonics' notoriety

Evidence keeps piling up against widespread use of neonicotinoid insecticides. Reacting to a critical review by its scientific branch, the European Union recently banned the use of the chemicals except in closed greenhouses.

Neonics harm bumblebees

Some of the bad news:
•    Populations not just of honeybees, but also bumblebees and solitary bees, important pollinators, are declining in many countries where neonics are widely used. If they don’t die, exposed bees have fewer queens and may be neurologically impaired, losing their navigational ability.
•    Neonics are found in water, soil, and wildflowers near fields of treated crops. Insects can contact the pesticides without visiting the crop plants.
•    Three out of four honey samples from around the world and 86 percent in North America contained neonicotinoids.
•    Neonics have been found in food, and claims that they’re harmless to vertebrates are losing conviction; for example, exposed sparrows lost weight and got lost during migration.

This swallowtail caterpillar's food could be contaminated

As with climate change, the science is complicated, and the pesticide industry is still saying there isn’t enough evidence that neonics are causing the bee die-off. An alarm sounded when a German study showed a 75 percent decrease in flying insects over a 25-year period, but this wasn’t attributed to neonics alone. Analysts opined that habitat loss and widespread use of pesticides were both major determinants. In the US, it’s thought that neonics may weaken insects’ immune systems, making them susceptible to epidemics caused by fungi and mites.

Honeybee on a black-eyed Susan

    What’s to be done? New systemic pesticides are already being introduced, but that hardly seems like a solution. Farmers in the UK objected to the European Union’s ban, saying the pests they needed chemicals for are still around. I hope farmers will transition toward methods that minimize pesticides and preserve insect habitat.

    On my tiny scale, I’m still trying to keep neonics out of my garden but recognize that I’m not fully succeeding. I bought only untreated seed this year—treated seed is the way neonics are often introduced into the commercial growing process, and they persist in tissues as the plants grow. My favorite garden center promises that they don’t use pesticides, but does that mean their plants are neonic free throughout the life cycle? In today’s nursery trade, seedlings change hands repeatedly.

I can't be certain this 5-year-old caryopteris is neonic-free

    I’ve fallen back on reproducing my own plants by spreading seed or making cuttings or divisions.  I got a new generation of purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) by cutting off the flower heads of some organically grown plants in fall and scattering them in an area where I wanted more plants. Two years later, many new coneflowers are blooming.

Purple coneflowers are popular with bees

    To make my new bed, I dug out and transplanted wedges or whole offspring from existing perennials: variegated iris (Iris pallida), columbines (Aquilegia spp), dwarf goat’s beard (Aruncus aethusifolium), and goldenrod (Solidago spp). I’m growing some new bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) from cuttings.

This hoverfly is another hardworking pollinator at risk

    Making new stock from my yard’s plants would exclude pesticides if I’m right that the plants started out untreated, but if not, I’m just perpetuating contamination.