I usually stay out of these types of discussions, because they become very
much like religious discussions or political discussions where no one
convinces the other side and most participants go away mad.  So I will say my
"piece" and quit.

I have never met or talked to Dr. Pedro Rodrigeous, but I have been told that
he is a
dentist, and not a scientist.

If FGMO worked on either varroa mites or tracheal mites, much less both of
them,
pray tell why was it not endorsed by Beltsville Bee Lab, ARS, AAPA, or any of
those
Extension Service scientists or university bee researchers?  Without giving
any names, I know of scientists at both Beltsville and ARS who used FGMO and
concluded
that it did not work reliably or at all in some cases, and they discontinued
their
salaried research on it.

I know local beekeepers that became all enamored with using FGMO because it
eliminated the use of "chemicals", and I laughed because, isn't FGMO a
chemical or
combination of many chemicals?  These local beekeepers expounded the success
of
FGMO at the end of one year of use, some spoke highly of its use at the end
of the
second year, and nothing was heard later; because all their bees died mostly
during the second year and none made it through the third year.  Some of
these beekeepers
bought new packages of bees, but some gave up beekeeping.

I think if FGMO worked well on the control of varroa mites, 90% of American
beekeepers would say THANK GOD, and gladly use it; and the founder of this
procedure would surely get some massive award and honor from every known bee
association.  He would be as famous as Langstroth.

I am an OLD, retired research scientist, and have talked with bee researchers
of
every area, federal government scientists, state government scientists,
university
bee scientists, and professional apiculturists and not one of those that I
have talked with had anything favorable to say about FGMO, and simply
dismissed it as a
usable agent for the control of varroa mites.

My only reason for writing at all is that I hate to see the spread of the use
of FGMO
by NON-scientists arousing much favorable attention to the new beeHAVERS of
today and having their bees die of varroa infestation, and then they give up
beekeeping in favor of catching butterflies or raising pigeons or something
that can fly.

This is my 70th year of beekeeping in Maryland and having 60-135 colonies for
most of those years, but now only 20 because I am stroke disabled and have to
work my
colonies off the back of a golf cart since I have difficulty walking.
However, starting back in 1985, I treat all colonies with menthol on August
15th when it hot
but I don't treat for Varroa until October 1st when I add Apistan strips to
the brood
area of my colonies and POSITIVELY REMOVE THOSE STRIPS before December 1st to
prevent resistance development.  I make no other treatments, and sticky board
tests on April 1st and July 1st always indicate a low margin of varroa mites.
 I know of
no colony in these past 18 years that I have lost to mites; and, as a
scientist, I am sure that my DATES of INSTALLATION of both the menthol and
the fresh Apistan strips are the key to success.  I have observed people
delaying the installation of
menthol until mid September or October because they were trying to get a crop
of late summer honey like goldenrod, but their bees died in January of
TRACHEAL MITE
infestation; and then, these beekeepers told the whole world that menthol did
not work.  Of course it didn't work when installed in mid September or early
October
because it was not hot enough for the menthol to sublime at 84° day after day
into a gas for the bees to breathe and kill the tracheal mites in the trachea
of the bees.  The solution to that problem is: SAVE YOUR BEES rather than
being greedy and trying to get a bigger crop of honey.

       The great majority of beekeepers seem to fail to understand the fact
that
the varroa mite egg is ONLY laid in a cell with a honey bee LARVA just before
that cell is capped and the mite eggs hatch and feed off of that honey bee
larva until
the damaged honey bee emerges as an adult along with 2-3 new varroa mites.  In
failing to understand this fact, they seem to treat with Apistan or CheckMite
at
any time convenient to THEM or even 2-3 times during a year rather than
treating
when you will get the highest percentage kill of varroa mites!  That time is
when
there is very little honey bee LARVA or NO larva present in the hive.  In
Maryland,
queens have greatly reduced their laying by October 1st and essentially
stopped
laying by November 15th.  Hence, I install my Apistan strips on October 1st
and POSITIVELY REMOVE them between November 15th and December 1st.  There are
always 2-3 afternoons near the end of November that the temperature goes above
50° that it is easy to pop a hive open and remove the strips. Surely, I am
not going
to leave the strips in the hive until spring, and make the mites RESISTANT to
Apistan, which is a thing that too many people do because it is INCONVENIENT
for
them to take an afternoon off from work in November and remove the strips,
but
they can take the whole day off to eat Thanksgiving turkey.

I didn't plan on saying as much as I have, so I will quit; but I don't
believe that
FGMO is an effective agent for control of varroa or tracheal mites.

George Imirie
Certified EAS Master Beekeeper
Author of George's PINK PAGES