☠️ Pesticide Risk Mitigation and Pollinator-Safe Practices

About this simulation

A tractor-mounted boom sprayer moves across a flowering field next to a hive. Droplets fall and drift downwind before settling as residue on flowers and soil. Foraging bees fly out from the hive, land on flowers, and pick up whatever residue is present — this simulation turns that invisible chain of exposure into something you can watch and control.

How it works

• Wind speed — faster wind carries fine droplets further off-target before they land, pushing residue past the intended spray block and toward the buffer zone or hive.
• No-spray buffer zone — a protective strip left unsprayed around flowering margins and the hive. A wider buffer absorbs more drift before it reaches bee habitat; too narrow a buffer gets breached under windy conditions.
• Pesticide class — systemic neonicotinoids move into nectar and pollen and break down slowly, so residue lingers and toxicity compounds over repeated visits. Contact / short-residual products degrade faster in sunlight and mainly matter while droplets are still wet. IPM avoids spraying at all when thresholds aren't met.
• Spray timing — most foragers are active at midday and inactive at night, so applying pesticide after bees stop flying (dusk/night) cuts direct contact sharply — but cool, still night air can trap fine droplets near the ground (a temperature inversion) and carry them further before they finally settle, so drift risk to the next day's forage isn't fully eliminated.

Controls

• Wind speed — how far droplets drift downwind of the boom before landing (0–8 m/s).
• No-spray buffer zone — width of the unsprayed strip protecting the hive edge (0–15 m).
• Pesticide class — switches residue potency, persistence and exposure pathway.
• Spray timing — changes how many bees are foraging and the inversion drift multiplier.
• ↺ Reset field — clears accumulated residue and exposure. Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom.

Did you know?

Many pollinator-protection labels legally require applicators to avoid spraying bee-attractive blooming crops while bees are actively foraging, and to maintain buffer distances from hives — rules this simulation lets you stress-test by combining timing, wind and buffer width.