"Tobacco isn't challenging to grow in the garden."

It seems amazing to me that any bee keeper would use or advocate use of nicotine to control mites, or for any other purpose in bee hives.  After all, the whole honey bee industry is up in arms over the evil use of neo nicotine products which are claimed by many bee keepers to be killing our honey bees.  As nearly as I can tell fighting the use of neonics is the primary current reason for existence of the American Bee Federation today.  Neo nics are all simply chemically modified nicotine.  In fact nicotine has been widely used as an insecticide for several hundred years.  Such uses were banned in Europe in 2009 and in the US in 2014.  Nicotine use as a miticide is illegal under US law.  It could easy enough kill a colony of bees.  It really is a very effective non selective insecticide.  It is also much more toxic to humans than neonics. Worse yet it is about as addictive as heroin.

We have safe and effective ways to kill mites.  Why use illegal and dangerous kitchen brews?  If your hives are dying today it is your fault for not controlling mites with the legal methods.  Last winter I lost one hive out of 19.  I have found when I controlled mites hive deaths were 10% or less and when I did a crappy job hive deaths were high, up to 35% (except the years I tried the foolish treatment free experiments when one year I hit 70%).  I use only EPA registered methods unless you count treating nucs with oxalic vapor during a nectar flow when I harvest no honey from nucs as illegal.

Dick

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