several Charles Linder followed > by my comments...

If you read ABJ in the last year I would bet I can find a dozen references to "full sun and strong hives will solve the problem"

>I would first suggest that if you come here to my house about any spring time you can witness this directly.  This is not to say full sunshine or a hard surface will 'solve' the problem but the use of that word really suggest you need to clarify your own expectation.  imho once any of these problems arrives the idea is to control the problem since solving the problem is likely undoable.  Both of these partial remedies work here so you might want to ask where are all of these hive beetles coming from.. Basic decision making (Drucker) would suggest to me that setting goals that are ambitious but undoable only leads to frustration and no positive end results. 

I mentioned last week they stay local if possible,  to put that in context  if you have a pallet with say 1 weak 2 normal and one strong hive,  they usually will destroy all 4 of those before moving 20 feet to another pallet.  Prefering to stay local and take down that strong hive as opposed to moving 20 feet for an easier target.  I find that peculiar,  but pretty consistant.

>certainly moving dead outs or problem hives from a yard is important no matter what the malady but I don't see this happening here.  Basically the hive beetle seems pretty clever is picking out weak or low population hives.  The hive beetles basic physical structure suggest it ain't so much a good flyer but I have no doubt that the same physical shape allows it to take advantage of the wind.  Basically if you wind direction is fairly constant you can get a good idea of which direction they are coming from.

It seems the Hobby people get hit the hardest,  a few hives here and there,  they don’t check as often as a rule,  and are caught unaware.  MO and SC  have been hit hard this year.  I suspect that migratory beeks are staying one step ahead for the most part,  but I also suspect that the beetle bombs left put the mite bombs to shame.  I think when a migratory guy leaves a yard with light infestation,  local feral hives get wiped.  No proof,  just strong suspicion.

>I have heard reports that folks down on the Mississippi delta have severe problems with shb. Personally I have seen quite the opposite here...that is large migratory operation moves in (typically in the late fall), smallish hive then become weakened from robbing behavior and very quickly the shb moves in to finish the hive off.  Do any of the varroa treatments show any positive results when it comes to the small hive beetle?


Gene in Central Texas....

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