In message <[log in to unmask]>, Bob Harrison
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>In my opinion A. cerana might be a better solution than A. melifera on 4.9mm
>foundation do to the fact of no step down process and varroa can't reproduce
>in worker cells of A cerana. My understanding is in Asia A. cerana hosts
>both varroa and Tropilaelaps clarae without need for chemical treatments and
>has for many many years.
The main problem with this would seem to be that without the agreement
of every beekeeper in the countries/continents into which a.c. is
introduced you will be foisting all the concomitant problems on everyone
else. In this case, tropilaeleps clareae has been suggested as a
potentially worse problem than varroa destructor. There may be others
no-one has thought of. Now to get 2 or more beekeepers to agree on
anything is little short of a miracle! We have problems because of
mixing *races* of A.m. in one locality and I cannot imagine a whole
country agreeing to standardise on one race only. They have tried and
failed, even in Germany where A.m.carnica was to be the standard.
--
James Kilty