APIS Volume 10, Number 5, May 1992
In this issue
- African Bees and Informing the Public
- More On Using Soaps and Oils For Bee Control
- Air Pollution and Citrus Nectar
AFRICAN BEES-INFORMING THE PUBLIC
The merry month of May is a time of transition from spring to summer. It brings to mind the poem:
A swarm in May is worth a bale of hay.
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm in July isn't worth a fly.
The above lines were written by a midwestern beekeeper. Here in the south, the events described occur earlier. Over the last two years, the month of May has also meant something else. It's the time when African bees get noticed by the mass media. According to official APHIS reports, three stinging incidents occurred in March. A goat, a sheep and two dogs were stung to death. They were tied and so they couldn't escape. In conjunction with these incidents, two people were taken to the hospital for treatment and were released. On April 13, the 60-year-old postmistress of Sebastian, Texas was stung over 400 times while using a weed eater. She survived. Her daughter was also stung some 40 times when she tried to give aid.
The press reported the first fatality in northern Tamaulipas, Mexico in April. And in early May, an Associated Press report said that the bees have reached San Antonio. Expect to see a good amount of attention in the mass media on this event. San Antonio is the first large metropolitan area in the U.S. the bees will invade. What will happen is anybody's guess at this time, but reports from officials emphasize that people will have to learn to live with this insect in the environment.
Echoing that statement is an article authored by Dr. Mark Winston, The Sciences, March/April 1992. The title is "Honey, They're Here-Learning to Cope with Africanized Bees." Dr. Winston calls the bee the "pop insect of the twentieth century" which has become part of our collective consciousness. As examples of its notoriety, he recalls the 1978 movie, The Swarm, which many in the bee industry feared, but fortunately "was a flop and closed within days of its opening." He also says a more benign presentation was the famous skit on "Saturday Night Live," with John Belushi dressed like a bee saying "Your pollen or your wife!" He hopes the scare stories have run their course and concludes that "frightening the public is easy, informing more difficult; and it is information, not horror, that is needed now. For the Africanized bee is here to stay, and we are left with only one option: learning to live with it."
Informing the public about the bee continues to be the focus of both the USDA and Texas Cooperative Extension Service. USDA News, an internal information publication by USDA, recently carried a story on what is being called "the bee box." This show-and-tell kit is designed to teach school children about honey bees in general and African bees in particular. It comes packaged in a blue cardboard box that looks like a bee trap and contains four 15minute lesson plans, cartoons and handouts. Also included are photos of honey bee- related scenes, African and European bees encased in resin, a color slide set with scripts and audio cassettes in Spanish and English, and scratch and sniff pheromones. Cable News Network did a story on the box's inauguration when it was presented to a third-grade class in Weslaco, Texas. Because funds are low and "the bee box" is so popular, the Texas Extension Service is now selling them for $50.00 each. To order, send a FAX to 409/845-2414 or mail a check to Agricultural Communications Dept., 201 Reed McDonald Bldg., Texas A & M, College Station, TX 77843-2112, ph 409/845-6800.
The Texas-USDA Extension efforts also resulted in four 30-second Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in Spanish and English. These have been distributed to many television stations in the Rio Grande Valley. The quality of the programming is so good, the PSAs were awarded the grand prize in the Television Spots Division of the Audiovisual Communications category from the Council on Agricultural Science and Education District IV Series.
The Florida Division of Plant Industry (DPI) has also begun a campaign to inform the public about the African bee under the leadership of Ms. Phyllis Habeck and Ms. Maeve McConnell. A module for grades 1-6 in the public schools has been written and is now being published. It will be available to teachers who are enrolled in the "Ag in the Classroom" program. The Escarosa Beekeepers Association has graciously agreed to help fund production of the slides to accompany the module. A training program for teachers in this program is scheduled for July 6-8, 1992 on the University of Florida Campus. An article in the May 1 Florida Market Bulletin quoting Agriculture Commissioner Crawford stated that "Ag in the Classroom" is ploughing new ground in Florida agricultural educational efforts.
A journalism student, Christopher Harig, is also actively writing articles for Florida agriculturally oriented magazines under the auspices of DPI. One was recently published in Citrus and Vegetable Magazine entitled: "Beekeepers Humming Along, Prepare of African's Arrival." Another has been accepted by Florida Living and is to be published in August. One will be proposed to Horse Breeding.
The results of informing the public and educating children about African bees are mixed and not a panacea. Dave Mayes in the Dept. of Agricultural Communications, Texas A & M, tells me that response to the African bee situation and press coverage cannot be predicted. The Texas Public Health Commission has declared that the bee is not a major health hazard. Fire departments in Houston and Del Rio are training personnel to handle bee problems; the one in McAllen has taken an "it's not our problem" approach. The Houston Fire Department has embarked on an ambitious, proactive program even before the bees arrive. These efforts are described in a recent Houston public television program. I am also informed that a fire department in a small Texas valley community quickly used up its surplus money responding to a large number of bee calls.
Fire departments and other public agencies are more involved than they might like to be because pest control companies have shown themselves to be not interested in routine bee calls. The profit margin is low and the liability risks high. Paradoxically, the Texas Legislature recently passed a law stating that only registered pest control operators could legally kill bees. This effectively eliminated a pool of persons who might assist individuals and governments in this area, beekeepers themselves.
The view that informing the public about the African bee serves no good purpose, in reality making the situation worse by sensitizing the press and public, has its supporters. On the other hand, withholding information and/or purposefully playing down the potential problems associated with the bee can come back to haunt. To see this double-edged sword more closely, one only has to carefully examine the role of mass information dissemination in the recent Los Angeles riots.
Walking the fine line between information, as noted by Dr. Winston above, and what is called "infotainment," is an art. Given the media's interest in the African bee, as evidenced in Texas and also true in Florida where a press release on trap lines set up by the Division of Plant Industry drew a huge response, the impact of a few misplaced words could be telling. For more on misinformation and this bee, see April 1991 APIS
MORE ON SOAP AND OIL FOR INSECT CONTROL
In the November 1989 issue of this newsletter, I wrote about "stopping bees" using soapy water as described the California's Extension Apiculturist, Dr. Eric Mussen. This recipe (a cup of detergent per gallon of water as spray) has also been described in some detail by others. The August, 1989 issue of leanings in Bee Culture discussed the subject in the article "To Kill a Honey Bee." At the 1990 American Bee Research Conference it was suggested that because detergents were polluting substances, the amount could be reduced to some extent by substituting more benign vegetable oil.
There have been several questions in the extension and regulatory community concerning the recommendation and use of soaps, detergents, and vegetable oils to kill various insects, including African bees. The situation has been clarified recently by Drs. J. Capinera and O. Nesheim here at the University of Florida.
According to these authors, "Federal and state pesticide laws do not permit persons who have a financial interest in such materials to make pesticidal claims in connection with their sale or distribution unless the material is registered as a pesticide. Examples of persons having such an interest are employees of the manufacturer of such products, employees of wholesale or retail establishments where such materials are sold, and pesticide applicators who make pest control claims for trade name materials in connection with pest control services they are selling to a customer. Persons making pest control claims for a material in connection with its sale can be charged with the sale and distribution of an unregistered pesticide.
"Persons who use products not registered with EPA for any use not specifically recommended on the product label are responsible for any plant damage or chemical residues that may result. However, a person at his/her own discretion can use soaps, detergents, and vegetable oils for pest control purposes. It is also not illegal to recommend (or suggest) the use of these materials which have been used for many years by gardeners and others for pest control. Popular literature contains many references to their use and effectiveness.
"Evaluations of soaps and oils for pest control have been published; the effectiveness of these materials is less consistent than with chemical pesticides. The research base is also considerably weaker. Therefore, soaps are more properly discussed as options, rather than specifically "recommended." Results of soap and oil as pesticides have been mixed. Plant varieties also differ in their susceptibility to burning induced by soaps and oils, and environmental conditions, as well as micronutrients, fertilizers, and other additives may affect this tendency. The higher the rate of application, the more likely burning and stunting will occur.
"Finally, when discussing soaps, detergents, and vegetable oils for pest control purposes, it is best to avoid recommending a brand name. However, there are some registered products available that contain these materials, such as the Safer (R) and Mycogen Soap (R)."
AIR POLLUTION AND CITRUS NECTAR
The citrus flow seems to be different every year. Some honey out of the groves this season is reported to be very low moisture (15%) for Florida and almost water white in color. The spotty production has few causes to correlate with. There have been many changes in the groves in the last five years. After the disastrous freezes of the mid 1980s, diverse citrus varieties are now growing in different soil conditions than in the past. Now another possible change is suggested. According to an article in the March 1992 Florida Grower and Rancher, a concern of citrus growers in northern Manatee and southern Hillsborough Counties is damage to trees by air pollution.
The article concludes, "Leaves begin to curl, so they increase irrigation. No change. They decrease irrigation. Still no change. Leaf yellowing indicates a nutritional problem and they apply more fertilizer. No change. They order a leaf tissue analysis, and the report states the nutritional levels are normal. They spray for one pest after another and still the grove 'looks wrong.'" Two growers who can be contacted for information on the subject are Blake Whisenant, ph. 813/776-1110, and Mike Houghtaling, ph. 813/645-3256. If a grove "looks wrong" for citrus production, there's a good chance this will affect nectar secretion as well.
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~entweb/apis/apis.htm
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
©1992 M.T. Sanford "All Rights Reserved
