> The important thing, to me, is to monitor mite levels by whatever method > works consistently for you. The mites will let you know if you are successful. Agreed. No one method is ideal for everyone, or under all conditions. I like the drops because they are non-invasive, non-destructive and give a good indication of the progress of an infestation without killing bees. Jean-Pierre Chapleau did an excellent investigation of using drops in conjunction with formic acid for varroa control. (With all the focus on one proprietary formic product on this list lately, I hope that non-US readers will remember that the original, cheapest and most flexible way of applying formic outside the US is not by using a proprietary product, but by simply obtaining formic and pads and making an appropriate treatment from them. Mitegone Bill assures us that doing so is legal in the US also, but with the patchwork of regulations in the US, it is hard to say. State and local bee authorities should know what the rules are and how assiduously they are enforced ). Drops do require extra equipment, though, and are no faster than washes or rolls unless the hives are full of honey and the brood is under four full supers and an excluder. Once the hive is set up for drops, though, counts can be quite quick unless -- as in my case -- accurate counts are sought for study purposes. For most beekeepers, a quick scan of a set of boards from a yard -- under proper lighting and with magnification or without -- will tell all that needs to be known. I did some washes yesterday to compare to drops and sugar rolls and when I was done, I counted the plies of dead bees. To test only three hives, I killed almost 1,000 bees. That screams against my nature and my purpose in keeping bees, so I am biased against doing more than the minimum number of such tests and mostly use them for calibrating other monitoring methods In that regard, I am still unsure of the sugar roll. Maybe I am not doing them properly yet. In spite of what Gary said at a New York meeting, I am not getting similar results to what washes turn up. No matter what method is used, there are subtle tricks that need to be learned and maybe I am not there yet. If I even got a constant percentage of what washes reveal from sugar rolls, I would find them acceptable, but so far, I am not finding a constant ratio. No matter what method is used to monitor, there is potential for large errors if that method is not used properly or consistently. Moreover the results from different operators may not be comparable due to differences in application of the instructions. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm