>
> Dr Everett Deitrick, of of the founding fathers of the American IPM
> program, described it as follows:
> http://www.dietrick.org/articles/five_features.html


Thank you for the above link, Metro!

Dr. Deitrick exactly describes IPM for bee parasites!

However, there is one huge caveat.  Most of us are in the middle of the
evolutionary process of Apis mellifera adapting to parasitism by Varroa
destructor.

During this process, varroa has the upper hand in a naive host.  Without
intervention with miticides, most beekeepers would have quickly gone out of
business.

 However, some beekeepers on this List currently run bees that would no
longer be considered to be genetically naive, and successfully manage
colonies without resorting to miticides.  I highly commend those beekeepers
as being innovators!

Others of us are still selecting for bee stocks that are both productive
and parasite resistant.  We practice IPM, using breeding, biotechnical
methods, and as a last resort, naturally derived miticides or mite
disruptors.

Unfortunately, the bulk of colonies in this country are still largely
completely dependent upon prophylactic or reactive treatment with synthetic
miticides.

However, despite strong feelings by some, the process is indeed slowly
working.  Beekeepers worldwide are moving from the last group to the IPM
group.  And some of the IPM group are able to move to the treatment-free
group.

The bottom line is that most colonies are managed by those who depend upon
colony productivity and survival in order to pay the mortgage.  It is only
by modeling economically successful practices that any major shift will
take place.  And no change ever takes place until it becomes too painful
(in this case economically) to continue with what you are currently
comfortable with (e.g., twice yearly synthetic miticide treatment).

I assure you that those of us who are making good money with bees using
sustainable methods and willing to share information are in demand as
speakers worldwide!

-
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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