Providing Monitor Hives for Applicators
There are three main types of applicators you will meet, as you take on the effort to stop pesticide misuse. First there is the guy who really does care about the environment, and will work with you to make sure he is in compliance. All you have to do with him, is help him to monitor. These guys are too few and far-between. May their numbers increase!
Then there is the guy who will be pleasant and lie to your face. I've had orchard growers tell me they never use Penncap M, then two weeks later, be out spraying this material -- while clover is in full bloom in the orchard floor -- a clearcut violation. This guy only wants to get rid of you; he has no conscience, and views the death of your livestock as a public relations problem.
The third guy will cuss you out, make threats to put you out of business, and generally try to make your life as miserable as possible. He is telling you plainly that he has no intentions of obeying the law.
For the second two types, go to the Neighborhood Watch section. You are not going to educate, convince or argue them into compliance; they are going to continue to violate until they have to pay the consequences.
For the first type, you can help him with one or two monitor hives. You might even consider it a good investment, and provide them for free.
Monitor hives need to be made up just like pollination hives. They should be queenright, preferably with young queens, disease and parasite free, not honey bound, and with plenty of open brood, so they have an incentive to carry pollen. Hives should be on pallets or other appropriate stands, should have shade, at least for part of the day, and should have ventilation in hot weather. The easiest way to provide some ventilation is to set the top super on so that it is offset 3/4 of an inch.
They should be placed near a cotton field, where it is convenient for the applicator to drive up to view the entrance from a closed vehicle. Show the applicator how to recognize cotton pollen in the pellets on the bees' hind legs. You might also want to show him the type of entrance activity that occurs when bees have stopped foraging, and gone to carrying water.