In a message dated 6/7/98 12:42:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
 
<< I was at the farm and garden today and noticed a product.  The material was
 sold under the name: Kelthane Spray and contained 1-1-bis (chlorophenyl)
 2,2,2-trichloroethane.  The product claimed to be a miticide.  The label
 said it was specific for mites and would not hurt honey bees.
 
 Could this product be used in hives to kill mites where I just want to raise
 queens and am not collecting honey?  I am also thinking that it might be
 used to save some wild hives in trees that are near my home.
 
 I don't want to get flamed about chemicals in honey so I am only posing the
 question for use in queen breeding operations.  Under strict understanding
 that the honey would not be collected or the comb put into any hives that
 might be used for honey production. >>
 
    Thousands of possible miticides have been tried; I am confident that
Kelthane is among them. If it had shown promise, I'm sure we'd have heard
about it by now.
 
    Beside the problem of toxicity to humans, there is also the question of
effectiveness, dosage, and many other aspects as well.   Many of the miticides
that used to be commonly used in orchards have lost their effectiveness, due
to build up of mite resistance.  I've been away from active apple growing for
a while, but, if my memory serves, Kelthane is one of those which had become
ineffective and not much used anymore. (BTW, it stinks to high heaven!)
 
   The dosage question is also important. Kelthane, at the label dosage, is
not supposed to hurt honeybees. It is likely to be highly toxic at higher
dosages. But how do you translate that to a totally different situation,
within beehives?  That is a problem for trained researchers, not amateurs.
 
    So far Apistan (fluvalenate) is the only legal product we have in the US.
Why do you reject it?
 
    In the long run, we are at greater risk for having only one product. The
key method of preventing mite resistance is to use alternate products with
different modes of operation to kill the mites. This is why fruit growers
usually switch off between two or more miticides.
 
   But with the fruit, there are several registered products. With the bees,
we have only one. I don't know how much the individual beekeeper can do about
this, except to push for registration of additional products, as quickly as
safe and possible.
 
[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
 
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm