Barry Birkey wrote:
"I also find it interesting that many are jumping right in line for their
SMR
queens without 'critical analysis'"

I'm jot jumping on Barry, as others have also questioned whether SMR is a
real phenomenon or yet another hope that may end up falling apart under
scrutiny.

I have been following John Harbo's work since the mid-90s, because what he
was doing/proposing/speculating/INVESTIGATING back then seemed to me to be
quite plausible.  It was an acceptable (to me) hypothesis that varroa
resistance could be out there and that selective breeding could bring the
resistance to the forefront.  Harbo feels he has done this IN HIS AREA
(Louisiana) and now he's anxious to test what has worked in his area in
other geographies.  Tom Glenn (in Northern California) claims that queens
he's breeding and Instrumentally Inseminating in Northern California are
also exhibiting the SMR trait.  I don't know if Tom has collected empirical
data to the extent that John has and actually I would be doubtful he has,
given that he has only recently gotten involved in the SMR project.  I would
consider Tom's testimony to be more anecdotal than empirical, although he
keeps close ties with the research community and I'm sure he's been
following Harbo's work quite closely.  Regardless, what Tom is doing is
taking the next step in John's work, which is getting the SMR trait
massively distributed to see if what has been exhibited in La. holds up in
vastly different geographical areas.

Barry wonders why so many are anxious to jump on the SMR band wagon
unquestioningly, while the very same folks are so skeptical of 4.9 cell
size.  My guess is the KISS principle.  Requeening with a line of bees that
may prove to be up to 100% resistant to Varroa d. is far simpler than
retrogressing an entire operation to 4.9 cells.  I'm willing to jump right
in to the SMR experiment.  $50 and I'm in.  I can do that.  Retrogressing my
entire operation?  I'll wait until enough people have done that and found it
to be the solution to the problem before I make the investment.

And I'm not throwing stones at 4.9!  I hope it's a solution and await the
results of those doing the work.  I'm left wondering how much testimony it
will take to convince me.

> Who knows. Lots of speculation but until many give it a try, we won't
know.
That's exactly what's going on.  MANY are giving it a try to see if the
claims hold up.

> Too bad we can't have more of these beekeepers willing to try other
methods that are working
> on a much larger scale.
Too bad 4.9 requires so much work to get there.

Aaron Morris - thinking perhaps I'm being fat and lazy.

PS: An amusing aside is the there is an effort to get people pronouncing SMR
as SMaRt.  I wonder if that will be successful or if SMR will forever be
pronounced SMuR.