Abstract Bee poisoning from pesticides used in agriculture, forestry, urban environments, and public health is a serious problem affecting many bee colonies worldwide. A bee repellent adjuvant would be useful in reducing the bee injury when pesticides are applied to bloom. Applications of methyl salicylate to blooming apples did not appear to repel foraging honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) or reduce fruit set. Applications of methyl salicylate at the highest rate reduced honey bee foraging on blooming dandelions for 4 h or less, and probably not long enough to reduce bee kills.
Keywords honey bee; repellent
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 1997, Vol. 25: 291-294
0114-0671/97/2503-0291 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1997
Short communication
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (250K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)