I think any contribution to clarify the issue is quite welcome. However, I
wonder whether the two beekeepers who criticized the use of tartaric acid
ever tried it to confirm if it indeed causes what an isolated researcher
stated. Unfortunately it is plenty of pseudoscientists out there writing
and confussing the mind of beekeepers. 
 
Most dysentery problems are due to poor quality sugar. The whiter the sugar
the most refined it is, when you buy cheap sugar you are probably not
getting any bargain but lots of trouble instead.
When you prepare syrup from cheap unrefined sugar you put into risk the
health of your bees. Some beekeepers purchase broken sacks of sugar or
swept sugar from broken bags. No doubt this dirty sugar carries bacteria or
any other stuff that might be harmful for bees.
 
When I suggested the use of tartaric acid it was entirely based not only on
my own successful personal experience of the past seven years running a
queen breeding business but also on the success of more than half of
Argentine beekeepers who regularly use sugar syrup made up of sucrose +
tartaric acid without any bee loses, without decreasing the longevity of
bees and without causing disentery. Moreover, all of my baby nucs are fed
this syrup all year around (because of our mild winters I am able to
overwinter about 80% of my queen yard).
 
Notwithstanding it is true that bees do have enzymes that allow them to
invert sucrose into glucose and fructose, this process represents and
energy expense that could be saved through the use of tartaric acid.
 
Some important matters -often ignored when using chemical products- is the
certificate of  quality, origin, date of manufacuting, expiration date and
product specification. No one serious can make a wide generalization
without making reference to what kind of tartaric acid was used to make the
syrup. Perhaps the British researcher did have problems, but how many
different suppliers did he try? Did he check the quality of the products he
was using? Maybe this questions sound obvious and silly but not for me
since before running my queen operation I worked for about four years at
the
Purchasing Dept. of a multinational company where this questions were
always made before placing a purchase order.
 
 
Go ahead and feed sugar syrup + tartaric acid. You'll be amazed at the
reaction of your bees. I would never endorse the use of anything without
previously testing it.
 
Merry Christmas for everybody!
 
Martin Braunstein
Malka Cabania Apicola
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
 
----------
> From: Richard Bonney <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: WINTER FEEDING
> Date: miércoles 24 de diciembre de 1997 6:16
> 
> The following is excerpted from an article on sugar in "Bee Culture"
> from February 1997.  The researcher mentioned is Leslie Bailey from
> England. If anyone is interested in a citation I can track it down.
> 
> Using Cream of Tartar.
> 
>         A part of the normal process when bees convert nectar to honey in
the
> hive involves the chemical inversion of sugar. Simply stated, sucrose is
> converted to glucose and fructose.
>         When we feed bees sugar syrup, they make a similar inversion. The
> standard feed, granulated sugar, is sucrose. The bees convert this to
> glucose and fructose before storing it.
>         It has long been the practice of many beekeepers to add tartaric
acid
> to sugar syrup to aid in the inversion process, and instructions for
> making syrup often call for tartaric acid, either as such, or in the
> form of cream of tartar. The acid also prevents crystallization of the
> syrup later.
>         Many years ago a researcher found that if no natural nectar was
coming
> in, feeding syrup containing cream of tartar (or vinegar) caused
> dysentery, shortening the lives of the bees to one third that of bees
> fed plain sugar syrup. This finding was written up at the time but does
> not seem to have become part of the common knowledge of beekeepers.
> Tartaric acid is still occasionally recommended, without any
> qualification as to the possible ill effects. Use it judiciously if at
> all.
> 
> Dick Bonney
> [log in to unmask]