Neonics and their nasty replacements present in garden center plants and nursery stock: a conversation with Sharon Selvaggio of Xerces
This was a bombshell of an interview for us. We were horrified and brought to tears by what we learned from Sharon in this conversation. Please please please download the two excellent guidelines for consumers and retailers about what to ask suppliers about the persistent systemic insecticides that may be present in your nursery bought plants- ESPECIALLY if you buy from big box stores. Buying Bee Safe Plants Offering Bee Safe Plants: Guide for Nurseries You can also learn so much from Xerces webinars on these topics: Buying Bee Safe Plants Webinar Sharon's top notch webinar about pesticides, which will teach you so much can be found here: Pesticides and Pollinators - Sharon's excellent webinar You think you are buying plants to help the pollinators- when in fact you are luring them to a potentially toxic plant that will kill them or prevent them from multiplying. Yes, it is horrific... we all have to put pressure on the nursery industry- retail and wholesale to come clean about what they are doing. The essential references mentioned in the conversation: Understanding Neonicotinoids All the other systemic insecticides the nursery and ag industries are using And lastly, but by no means least- a timeline of the regulation (lack thereof) in Canada by the good folks at Edmonton Chapter of the Council of Canadians and Mark Stumpf-Allen of Alberta Organic Master Gardeners Neonicotenoid Timeline Canada Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum, and the challenging job of audio editing done by the uber-talented Laura Eccleston.