Hello Medhat & All,

Mr. Harrison Said: 

Reports have been coming in of beekeepers fogging sheep dip into the hive
using your method. 


Would you let us know: What is sheep dip? 

I have always made a practice of leaving brand names off bee-L to keep those beekeepers which would be foolish enough to try and use such methods from getting the information and also those beekeepers telling other beekeepers they learned of the method from a post on BEE-L by Bob Harrison.
 
"Sheep dip" is beekeeper slang for three common liquid chemicals used in agriculture which use the three chemicals registered in the U.S. in the two current available strips (Apistan & checkmite) and the one pulled from use because of hive killings in Florida.

According to Jeff Pettis of the Beltsville bee lab the misuse of the Checkmite illegal formula created the "super varroa" and is the most serious reason for wax contamination of brood comb. All those reading this post which have used the illegal formula you need to replace your comb.

All those which used the other two illegal formulas you helped create the "super varroa" by under dosing  or overdosing in some cases and most likely have got serious brood wax contamination problems.

Now those of you which used Apistan & checkmite according to label are not out of the woods. Jeff is also recommending you replace your combs also but in a rotation over say the next five years.

In all fairness to Jeff and the bee labs they only got the mass spec machines recently so were unaware of the serious wax contamination caused by chemical strip use until the Florida problem of a few years ago.

Jeff will show slides *I have been told* at the ABF convention this week and I imagine he showed slides of wax contamination at the AHPA convention last week. A friend saw the brood wax contamination slides at the Georgia beekeepers meeting in 2004 when Jeff was a speaker and said the room got real silent when the slides were shown! 

 Blanket treating for varroa has help put us in the situation we find ourselves in. Tens of thousands of dollars have been wasted by commercial beekeepers on chemicals they may have not needed only because they did not test first. The first rule of IPM is test and treat as needed!

Tens of thousands of dollars are wasted every year by growers using the highest dose possible ( got to kill all possible pests) and doing needless damage to the workers and environment spraying for every pest known to man.

This spring soybean growers in areas which have not even got "soybean rust" will start blanket spraying this spring to the delight of chemical companies. Ads are already running on agriculture programs. Beekeepers are afraid of bee kills in areas of soybeans sprayed for soybean rust!

Got to get back to the shop now as we are completing frames & foundation for the spring cull  for the third year in a row!

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
 

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