On Aug 31, 2013, at 2:17 PM, randy oliver <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

amitraz, and considering it has been used for 30 years, I would steer clear of it.

The above certainly seems like an oxymoron.  And this is something that surprises me about amitraz--I thought that it would be completely useless by now.

Right, bad wording. I should have said it was used thirty years ago, and then in the nineties, and now in the teens. From my understanding of miticide resistance, it takes about 5 years for a mite population to become resistant, and about 5 more years to revert to a susceptible population. So, you could go with apistan, checkmite, and amitraz, on a 15 year rotation (this is just an example, not a recommendation). We don't know if mites won't develop resistance to formic, there's no proof they won't.

I think it's quite clear that mite resistant bees are the only way to end this mess. The question is: what is the cost? My observation with the strain of mite resistant bees I am using now is they built up very fast, they are still raising sheets of brood, they are very excitable. The next test is if they can make a decent honey crop, compared to run of the mill bees.

Pete

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html