Joe said:
> With so many experts over the years stating that 'breeding of Varroa
> tolerant bees is considered to be the only long-term solution of the
> Varroa problem.'  I also fail to see why we are still discussing other
> alternatives.

I think if you look at ticks ( these blood suckers are similar to varroa) on
cats and dogs you will see researchers are not trying to *breed* a tick
tolerant dog or cat. Could one even be bred?

With proper treatment ticks on dogs & cats can be controlled with chemical
treatments.

True breeding a varroa tolerant bee is the *best* solution but certainly not
the only solution.
Meanwhile many of us will do the nations pollination and control varroa in
our bees. When a varroa tolerant bee is bred which will work for commercial
beekeepers like the bees we now use we will switch.

The road to breeding for a varroa tolerant bee has been filled with failure
but we are making steps in the right direction.

One has to remain optimistic the bee commercial beekeepers need can be bred
but also realize might not happen.

Also most crops which depend on bees for pollination will produce some fruit
but it is generally agreed trying to raise bee pollinated fruit without the
help of bees is not profitable from a business standpoint.

bob

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