Bonnie is so bonny: No Neonics! When you go to a nursery to buy plants, do you ever imagine what goes into the effort of getting those plants on the shelves? Last March, I found out when I visited a Bonnie Plants regional nursery.
On a cold, grey, snow-threatening day, my brother and sister-in-law were showing my son, Walker, and I around Abingdon, Virginia. I spotted what looked like a big greenhouse on a hill. I wondered what might be growing inside, so we drove up. A man loading a truck turned out to be the station manager, Wesley Pennington, and he welcomed me to take a look around. Inside were thousands of seedlings in numerous buildings originally owned by a flower grower before it was sold to Bonnie Plants.
There have been many articles linking the use of neonicotinoids – a class of insecticide – with bee colony collapse disorder (CCD). A Google search of CCD revealed about 511,000 results. Early in 2014, I was receiving an email a day about some of the large box stores, like Lowes and Home Depot, carrying nursery plants that had been tainted with neonicotinoids. (Too many people had trouble pronouncing the word, so they shortened it to neonics.) An unsuspecting buyer could be planting these seedlings into their food gardens. These emails were calls to action to pressure the box stores to stop carrying nursery plants that had been treated with pesticides containing neonicotinoids.
In case you are not aware, our hard-working honey bees are in serious decline. “The list of crops that simply won’t grow without honey bees is a long one: Apples, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, pumpkins, carrots, avocados, almonds … and it goes on. Without bees to pollinate many of our favorite fruits and vegetables, the United States could lose $15 billion worth of crops — not to mention what it would do to your diet,” according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) article, “Vanishing Bees.”
Think of the irony, a grower uses an insecticide on her garden or farm, which kills off the bees she depends on to pollinate the crops.
The plight of the honeybee foremost in my mind, I asked Mr. Pennington about Bonnie Plants. He assured me they do not use neonicotinoids in their nurseries. Bonnie is so Bonny: no neonics! Bonnie Plants “Our Roots Run Deep” has been around since 1918.
They have several nurseries spread around the country to supply different regions. However, according to Mother Earth News, “Unless you’re buying certified organic transplants this spring, you may be introducing persistent neonicotinoid insecticides into your garden — and thus into your food,” so it pays to inquire.
While much of the country is still deep in winter and gardeners are merely dreaming of their spring and summer gardens, plant nurseries are in full operation, in fact, this facility operates during six months of the year, and closes when all the seedlings are shipped out in spring. That’s when Mr. Pennington packs up his young family heads South.
Have you visited or worked in a nursery? Are you amazed by the sheer number of plants? I am. Especially when you consider there are many companies producing seedlings for sale. Do you ask your nursery for plants that haven’t been treated with neonicotinoids?
In fact, Home Depot felt the heat of consumer pressure, and decided to ban or demand labeling, according to Environmental Leader. “Home Depot to Require Neonicotinoids Labeling,” July 1, 2014. In Canada, beekeepers are taking legal action. “Canadian beekeepers sue Bayer and Syngenta over neonicotinoid pesticides. We can make a difference! Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this post, please let me know and share with a friend. Thanks for your support! ~ Kaye
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