Bees, boll weevils subject of conference

Daily Dunklin Democrat

KENNETT, Mo. -- Cotton growers trying to eradicate boll weevils and watermelon growers who need bees can co-exist, watermelon growers were told at their annual meeting in Kennett Friday, but they have to work together.

"Communication is very, very important," Dr. Michael Milam, Extension agronomist and count program director, told the crowd at the American Legion building. "When you are putting out anything that will affect bees, the aerial applicator you use needs to be aware of the situation. You need to communicate with him, the cotton farmer needs to communicate with the watermelon farmers and so forth."

Dewey Wayne King, who heads the Southeast Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation program in Missouri, said one of the challenges he found when he got here last year was seedless watermelons and the number of bees needed to pollinate them.

"Malathion, the only material we use, is highly toxic to bees," he said. "We have developed policies in the past to co-exist with the beekeepers."

He said his policy for treating around bee yards is not treat with a mile of that area until late in the afternoon, preferably after 5 p.m. King said he'd seen successful results with that approach.

Still, mistakes will still happen, as Neal Bergman of Delta Bee Co. pointed out.

"I did have some losses last year," he said. "I did suffer one small loss, and the eradication people took care of that loss."

Milam said protecting the bees has been the goal ever since talk of a boll weevil eradication program in Missouri began.

"This can work," he said. "It has worked in other areas of the country."