Are bees damaged by measures to protect the hop plants?

It is not possible to produce hops without using plant pesticides. Already in spring, German hop growers have to face pests which populate the hop plants and the fresh shoots. The pests are able to cause serious damage.

After testing many pesticides, only one product has turned out to have the quality to fight against these pests: Actara^Ò with Thiamethoxam. Thiamethoxam is a neonicotinoid and is, even in very small quantities, extremely dangerous for bees.

In order to check the effect, apiary scientists placed 16 bee colonies into and in the direct surroundings of hop gardens and tested all influences by using scientific methods. It was proved that measures to protect the hop plants will in no way damage the bees.

The complete test report is available at www.LfL.bayern.de/publikationen/publiste.php?was=schriftenreihe.