John wrote:
        The significance of a counted drop is for integrated pest management
practices. One of the underlying principles of IPM is that a certain amount
of infestation by a pest is normal.

Reply:
        Trouble is, what is the number? Is it 20 per day? Twenty
mites from a strong hive is different from 20 from a nuc, obviously.
Depends on the time of year, too. Varroa is essentially a fatal
disease, and all the hives seem to have it.
        Researchers are scrambling to find non-chemical alternatives,
but most of these aren't really working yet. I wouldn't play with
this one any more than I would play with AFB. Let the researchers
play with it.
        In terms of integrated pest management, I would suggest
developing a plan to create enough nucs so that any hive that has
excessive mites in the fall can get a nuc with a new queen. You
remove the hive's queen and introduce the nuc over newspaper. (This
would be in addition to strips.)
         The population of mites has to be knocked down. I don't
think it can be eliminated by any known method. The worst part is
that the population skyrockets during the honey flow. If researchers
could find a non-toxic treatment that could be applied during the
flow, maybe pesticides could be eliminated.

PB
Peter Borst

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