>>> The whole point is that oxalic treatment is not very effective until
there is little or no brood and, by delaying treatment until then, the
young bees that we need to overwinter will have been infested with
varroa. <<<

> I agree,.  I 'm told that it is most effective with little or no
> brood present, meaning late fall treatments.  In my mind late fall
> treatment of severe infected colonies are a complete waste of time,
> money and effort.

While these opinions may accurately reflect some situations, is it possible
that everyone is missing the point?  Even after sitting through so many
'IPM' talks that I could spit, we are still thinking and talking in
absolutes and speculating and acting on theory or speculation, not
observation.

There are some key assumptions in the above dialogue that may or may not
apply in all cases.  Apparently these assumptions do not apply in large
parts of Europe from what I hear.  In my case, I never had enough mites in
the fall to do serious damage.

Others may be overrun.  I don't know.  I've practised IPM since before there
was IPM, and have *never* seen high varroa levels, no matter how carefully I
looked, even with minimal treatment.  Why, I don't know, but I know.

The 'M' in 'IPM' stands for 'Management'.

Each time is the first time.  Every case is, to some varying degree,
different.  We can hardly decide that something will not work, and discard
it summarily on the basis of speculation, when we know that others are using
it with success.

We need a full toolbox of methods and treatments, and we have to use them in
response to *what we observe* at a particular moment of time in some
particular circumstance, not what we think we will observe, what others have
observed, what we saw last year...

We cannot just adopt some formula and blindly follow it.  That has not
worked and never will.  Somehow, though people keep trying to reduce things
to a ritual.

From the time we get up in the morning to when we go to bed, we react to
what we observe, even when walking familiar paths, like from the bedroom to
the kitchen.  Maybe a door is closed.  Maybe a toy is in the way.  Maybe the
furniture has been moved.  Maybe we have to walk around someone.  The path
is safe and familiar, yet we cannot just walk blindly with assurance of
arriving unscathed.  We have to observe and respond appropriately.

Why, then, do we try to substitute rules for observation and reason when we
work with our bees?  Observing and responding appropriately, drawing on a
fully equipped toolbox of ideas, methods, and products is necessarily behind
all successful beekeeping.
--

Someone asked about my use of a single Apistan strip in spring, suggesting
that I might be ignoring the label, and also fostering resistance.  Well,
this made me chuckle, since it sees that many do not know that the labels on
Apistan varies considerably from country to country, or even exactly what
their own label actually stipulates.

People also don't know what to do if the label says a strip for every five
frames, and there are six frames of bees.  Cut a piece off a strip and stick
it in?  I know some people who would do that.  Or maybe there are seven?

"Wait, perhaps that is 6-1/2?  It looked like 10 yesterday afternoon when it
was warm and I was feeding, and it was 15 when I was telling my friends
about my hive at the meeting last week"

(But the bee inspector called it four, with terminal AFB, and said to burn
it)...

Of course we are guessing, since 'a frame of bees' is an inexact measure and
varies with the observer, the flow and the weather conditions.  Should we
then use two strips, and risk an overdose?  Of course this is silly; the
recommendations are necessarily an approximation and require some judgement
on the part of users.

The safest and most logical assumption would be to round off to the nearest
integer.  If the label calls for a strip for five frames of bees, then 3
frames get a strip, as do 7, but if there are 8, then time for a second
strip?  What about two frames of bees?  Zero?   The label does not say, and
that is where that rare commodity, common sense, could come in very handy.

Furthermore, anyone with much insight will realize that the numbers behind
assessing the potential for the development of resistance are somewhat
imprecise and speculative, seeing as many factors are not known and that the
product will be used a wide range of conditions.  The best that can be
accomplished is an educated guess at the probabilities, and that is what
makes up the label recommendations.

The window between overdose and underdose may be wide or it may be narrow.
The method and timing of application and the environmental conditions during
the period of treatment are immensely important factors in determining this,
but there is no way they can all be known or stipulated on the label.  A
recommendation that should be safe under all conditions is used, but odds
are that is suboptimal in most situations.

As it happens, the single strip has proven pretty much exactly correct --
according to the label -- for the median cluster size in my spring colonies.
Not only that, but my method ensures that the falling mites, many of which
are merely stunned, fall far below the cluster into a cold and unoccupied
portion of the hive, so that even the partially resistant ones should
(hopefully) have no second chance, as they do in the fall when the cluster
reaches to, and covers, the hive floor.

The early spring method I have used for the past few years has been
developed for our conditions through careful observation by expert
beekeepers and also meets the label specs.  It also results in levels of
mites far below those experienced by those beekeepers who slavishly follow
the rules what they have heard recommended by people who have never had to
buy a strip with their own money.
---

Each, any and all of the many approved and soon-to-be-approved control
methods have their place, and can result in a cost-effective and sufficient
control of varroa when used by beekeepers who know their enemy, and who take
the time and effort to observe before selecting a weapon.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/
Today: MYIE2, the disappering browser.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::