>Historically, in TN we have seen tracheal mites surge on a 3 to 4 year
cycle.

I find this very interesting!
The commercial beekeepers that I know don't use formic acid with regularity
or at all.  So we can't attribute their lack of tracheal mite issues to
formic.  Dr. Mussen some years ago (if memory serves) published a study
that found that amitraz was ineffective at controlling TM.  Perhaps we need
to revisit that research to confirm.

But then again, there are plenty of beekeepers who don't use amitraz, yet
don't report tracheal mite issues.

Perhaps TM is susceptible to a wide range of miticides???

Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
530 277 4450
ScientificBeekeeping.com

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