> >I am speaking to the lethal mixes of neonicotinoids and fungicides. Done!
>> I have two slides from a presentation at the NABC that addresses exactly
>> that!
>>
>
This is getting tedious!  I'm wasting a Sunday morning.  The two slides that
you showed do not have any neonics on them!

>
> >There were also reference in two talks to sub-lethal effects of
> imidacloprid and how tiny amounts appear to increase the potency of nosema
> in bees.  Ah Ha!
>

Yes, that's what I thought at first, since this is a subject that I've been
following closely.  Unfortunately, the researcher used freshly-emerged bees
that had not ever received a probiotic inoculum from nurse bees, and that
were inoculated with 200,000 spores!  So I'm not sure how applicable the
results would be in the field.

>
> >The Movento presentation (which I dismiss as otherwise superficial and
> flawed) had one slide that was a stopper.  The sprayed hives showed
> significantly higher varroa and nosema (respectively) by October.
>

Allen, I thought that we were going to table the presentation until we had
all the data!  I'd hardly call the slide a *stopper*!
When you say "by October," you imply that there was a trend.  The trend for
most of the season was for the Movento hives to have *lower* nosema and
varroa counts.  The sprayed colonies appeared to be healthier throughout the
season.

The higher mite levels in Oct. could be easily explained by the higher
amount of brood and bees in the Movento hives.  Bob Harrison has often
explained how stronger colonies will have higher mite levels in fall.  Ditto
with nosema--longer-lived foragers will have higher counts.

Allen, there are confounding factors in this trial--such as the fact that
the beekeeper was allowed to restock queenless colonies with fresh nucs, and
continued to run them in the trial.  As far as I'm concerned, any subsequent
data from those colonies should have been discarded.

Can we please wait until we have all the data before we discuss this
further?

Randy Oliver

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