Well certainly Charles soil is a variable as is soil ph and soil friability when it comes to the extent of problem any beekeeper will have with shb.  At least one person has reported to me that they have had luck controlling shb by spreading wood ash around their hives.  Some of the soil here (called gumbo) gets as hard as a brick when dry and certainly this would be a problem for any burrowing insect.  Furthermore fire ants (once thought the death blow to beekeeping here in Texas) is now our friend when it comes to the shb.

The one key variable I forgot in my prior comments is with respect to the kinds of things grown around the hives location.  Certainly based on a small sample size > I have found that hives placed around any quantity of watermelons, squash or cantaloupe (I would guess this list could be expanded) will have significant problems with shb.

Gene in central Texas....  

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