Mosquito control activities around honeybees 

Measures mosquito control applicators can take to protect honeybees and other pollinators and reduce the affects of pesticides on chemically sensitive individuals

• Concentrate on mosquito larvae control as the centerpiece of a control program.  Larvacides are generally safe for pollinators and pesticide sensitive individuals and is much more efficient and cost effective than adulticiding.  For example, an acre of mosquito‑breeding water can be treated with less than 1 pound of larvicide.  Untreated, adult mosquitoes emerging from these water could easily disperse over 1 square mile, require approximately 60 pounds of a synthetic pyrethroid adulticide and, in the process, obtain less efficient results.

•  Modification of flood irrigation practices and ditch maintenance will reduce potential breeding habitat and resting sites that will in turn reduce mosquito populations.

• In drought years, pollinators will be concentrated in the same areas where blooming flowers and mosquitoes are found.  Bees can easily forage 3 – 5 miles from their hives.

• If adulticides must be used, use chemicals that are less toxic to pollinators such as Bio Mist 3, a pyrethroid insecticide.

• The use of Ultra Low Volume (ULV) applied malathion is highly toxic to pollinators such as honeybees, can potentially mar automobile paint finishes, and should be used only as a last resort, emergency treatment.  Pre-dawn or early evening applications will lessen bee kills.

•  Communication between beekeepers, pesticide applicators, and planning agencies (e.g., County Cooperative Extension Service offices, and local county health depts., etc.) to notify beekeepers in advance of an application of mosquito adulticides will reduce accidental bee kills.