So am I the only one that finds Lowes rather disengenuous? They market plants for pollinators, but sell plants from nurseries using neonics. They put the following on their own website for humminbirds:

http://www.lowes.com/projects/...

?..BUT...is that in keeping with their own plant stock? Sure doesn't seem like it.

I say this because they had clearly taken enough heat over neonics that they felt the need to phase them out. So, they did a press release in 2015 stating they would phase them out...IN 2019!!!...and only as long as a suitable substitute manifest.

Lowes could easily be my favorite box store...not just for hardware but garden as well. Their employees, at least in my area stores, are clearly head and shoulders above their competitors, and terrifically helpful and informed in general. However, their neonic "policy", if you can call it that, seems inneffective at best and a major deterrent. I'd write that last part more pointed and less carefully worded but I think y'all get the thrust.

I hate to single them out but as they are head and shoulders above the competition, I guess I just expect more.

Troubling for anyone else?

Absolutely troubling! I'm with you about liking the store but "phasing out" neonics like that, well, why bother? You could start a petition on Change.org that Lowe's MUST get more serious about being environmentally responsible and not just give lip service. They need to walk the walk.

Vote with your wallet...

It's not just Lowe's. This spring I bought an Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) from Home Depot. When I went to plant it out, I found a tag pushed down in the one gallon pot advising that the plant had been treated with neonics. NOT what I wanted for a larval host plant, so I took it back. I spoke with the manager and explained that this was a dangerous practice for the monarch butterflies. He did not seem overly concerned. I'm sure that as soon as I left, that plant went back on the shelf to be sold to the next unsuspecting customer.
I will no longer buy plants at 'big box' stores.

Sigh... #7...
http://www.lowes.com/projects/...

While I stopped using them myself at home because fresh doses of pesticide are the problem.....

I don't know that it's a bigger problem if the nurseries use systemics in order to get a nice plant to us. Pesticides do not last forever, they may last 30 days at most (especially if it rains, will break down quicker), so by the time you have your plant in the ground and then blooming, it's probably gone/broken down. I've actually never worried about that, or had an issue in the past. My thought was always- I do not want to buy a plant that is infested with bugs, so there's got to be a moderate solution along the way.

But I agree with Deb, if you're not comfortable with it, vote with your wallet. I think it's good that plants need to be marked as being treated, which gives us a choice.

Imidacloprid pesticides residues can last for up to a year, which makes it especially dangerous.

According to this article the neonicotinoids can last 6 years in plants, 7 years in water and 2 years in soil, yikes!
http://www.beyondtoxics.org/wo...

Once again, I'm coming late to the party, but THANK YOU!! I have a $75 credit from Lowe's that I was keeping to buy plants, but NOW...I don't know who to trust anymore, you do your due diligence, you put effort into buying food and choosing plants that people used to put into doing things like buying cars and applying for mortgages, and you still get it up the wazoo.

Actually, I was just doing a little looking around at Jung's because they have a 10% off sale online this weekend, and I happened to check the reviews for a grape tomato seed and there's one with one star from someone 7 years ago that says, I won't be using these seeds, they were treated with such and such a chemical and that was not stated in the catalogue...and the official response from the company was, well, the only vendor we could get the seeds from only had treated ones, and by that time, the catalogue had already been printed and mailed, so... Who do you trust?