Garden enthusiasts are being cautioned against the use of weedkillers following a stark warning from an expert. The sight of weeds sprouting between paving slabs or overtaking lawns can be disheartening, especially when you’ve put effort into maintaining your garden.
In such situations, it’s tempting to opt for a quick solution, with numerous products promising instant weed eradication readily available at garden centers and online. However, many may not be aware that chemical weedkillers have been associated with harm to bees and other crucial pollinators like wasps, flies, and butterflies.
This is concerning given the essential role pollinators play in our food chain. Without them, our ability to grow food could be severely compromised.
Pesticide Action Network Europe has highlighted several ways in which glyphosate weedkillers could potentially harm bees. They suggest that these weedkillers disrupt the gut microbiome in bee colonies, increasing their susceptibility to disease and other detrimental effects.
Additionally, they can interfere with the larvae cycle of bees, damage their nervous systems, and even prove directly toxic if ingested.
But it’s not just bees that are at risk. Other key pollinators like flies, wasps, and butterflies can also be affected similarly, as well as broader wildlife including birds and fish.
Pesticide Action Network Europe outlines numerous ways glyphosate-based herbicides pose potential dangers to bee populations. The organization states these chemicals disrupt the digestive microbiome within bee colonies, leaving them more susceptible to illness and additional harmful impacts.
The threat extends beyond bees to encompass all crucial pollinators including flies, wasps and butterflies, which face similar risks, along with broader wildlife such as birds and fish.
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The network cautions: “Glyphosate has direct and indirect effects on the environment. Indirect impacts on birds and other animals occur due to the wiping out of weeds and wild flowers, destroying habitats and food supplies. Glyphosate is water soluble and has had significant effects on species that underpin the entire aquatic food chain with amphibians being particularly vulnerable.
“It upsets the balance of microbial communities in soil, increasing the numbers of some microorganisms and decreasing others, impacting soil fertility. It has caused an upsurge in some crop diseases in no-till agriculture by stimulating the growth of a number of fungal pathogens. It also binds micro-nutrients in the soil causing deficiencies in plants.
“Glyphosate has also been found to have adverse effects on earthworms, beneficial insects and bees.”
Research carried out by the British Ecological Society in 2021 revealed glyphosate herbicides had eliminated up to 94% of bees exposed to the chemicals. Consequently, numerous manufacturers now provide non-glyphosate alternatives which are claimed to be less harmful to flying insects, though some gardeners remain skeptical about using any chemicals whatsoever.
This perspective is supported by the Royal Horticultural Society, which outlines how weedkillers should only be utilized as a final option.
It states: “There are concerns that weedkillers pose a risk to human health, and research is ongoing into the long-term effects of exposure to these chemicals.
“Weedkillers can harm or kill garden wildlife, including invertebrates present on plants when they are treated, and those, like bees and other pollinators, that feed on treated plants. The loss of vegetation, flower resources and habitat cover through the use of weedkiller can also impact negatively on wildlife.”
It continued: “The RHS believes that avoiding pests, diseases and weeds by good practice in cultivation methods, cultivar selection, garden hygiene and encouraging or introducing natural enemies, should be the first line of control. If chemical controls are used, they should be used only in a minimal and highly targeted manner.”
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