As you did not seem to get any replies from your compatriots, I thought I
might be able to pass on some information which is universal.

>Does anyone in the north have experience dealing with SHB? I have heard
>they aren't much of a problem in the hives here in the north, but can be
>devastating to supers of honey left in the hot room too long.

Dr. Jamie Ellis told us that the SHB can lay eggs that hatch at about 24
hours and so within a couple of days you can get a large number of SHB
larvae ruining your stored honey.  Best to extract as soon as possible.  If
this is not possible, the options are to store in a cold room or you might
like to look up some research on humidity within your storage area.  There
is research by either Jeff Pettis or Mike Hood, from memory, on this
humidity bit and it showed that under 50% the eggs will not hatch.

>What about the supers in my storage barn? I store my honey combs wet, with
>no PDB.  I have very little wax moth problems there as it remains cool
>enough most of the year. Most years only brood combs need a little extra
>protection...in August and September.

From all accounts, the storage is the worst.  With combs with some pollen
in, they are very attractive to the SHB.  Here in Australia, most beekeepers
are going towards refrigerated shipping containers that they store the comb
in and run the unit at minus temperatures.  This also fixes wax moth.  There
is research being conducted in Australia at the present time on the question
of temperature and time relationship to kill all stages of SHB.  When it is
published, I will post it.  Again the humidity way could be a possibility
but I would check it out very carefully.

>What about my brood combs and combs of honey stored in the same building as
>the supers. These have PDB.

Again, research is being done in Australia looking at PDB from a dose rate.
There is antecdotal evidence that PDB will kill SHB.  Also there is
anecdotal evidence that phospine gas will also kill SHB and this is also
being researched.  However for the long term I would be wondering if these
two methods will remain legal.  The refrigerated shipping container or cold
room would be the best long term solution IMHO.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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