I will experiment the screened bottoms next summer. I was planning to try
using tobacco smoke in my smoker to artificially provocate the mite fall. In
Ontario tobacco smoke has been used in conjunction with a sticky board as a
sampling method. This method has been discarted because it was not sensitive
enough to show early infestations. Nevertheless I think tobacco could be of
some help. Has anybody used tobacco smoke aganist varroa? What is the best
type of tobacco for this purpose?

I also suspect that any treatment used in conjunction with screened bottoms
could gain some efficiency by eliminating the varroas that are momentarily
weakened but not killed.

It could also slow down the development of resistance to acaricides since
more of these tougher varroas would be eliminated.

Jean-Pierre Chapleau
1282, rang 8
Saint-Adrien, Québec
J0A 1C0
(819) 828-3396, fax: (819) 828-0357