I suppose I owe you an apology, Martin.  For some reason my mail reader
suppresses your posts because it finds them to have a header problem and
only gives them to me when I think to re-load new mail -- and then only
then under a heading 'Bad Message'.  For that reason, I have been
responding usually to other people's quotes of what you are saying rather
than to you, and only read your posts later.  I know my responses seem
a little out of touch with the flow of conversation for that reason.
Anyhow...
 
What I find curious about this whole question about tartaric acid is that
no one has shown here that using it does in fact result in any
actual practical improvement over not using it.
 
I *know* what the old books say, but has anyone shown in side by side
controlled tests that the bees actually do any better with tartaric
acid added?  If so, I want to hear it.
 
I know that the first year I used HFCS, I got about twice my normal crop,
but it turned out that everyone did -- it was just one of those fantastic
years that comes along every twenty years or so, but my tendancy was to
(wrongly?) attribute it to the powers of HFCS.
 
As for the energy that bees use converting sucrose syrup -- which is
central to the rationale behind the 'need' for helping them with
tartaric --  has anyone shown sucrose intake to be hard under bees in
*normal* conditions?
 
I know everyone *feels* that it is -- but don't bees normally go looking
for sucrose in flowers, and do quite nicely processing amounts as high as
30 pounds a day?  In fact, doesn't every beekeeper know that there is
nothing better for a hive of bees than a good long heavy honey flow?
(Assuming it is accompanied by some respectable pollen intake).
 
And as far as the question of sugar syrup crystalizing in the combs, I
have never seen this.  It just does not happen around here if the sugar is
fed during normal flying weather when the hive is capable of dealing with
the syrup and converting it into good stores and capping them.
 
As one astute writer pointed out here, what works in one area may not work
in another.  After having an episode that broke a lot of beekeepers and
killed a lot of bees -- and is likely still in court -- here in Western
Canada a while back, an episode where subsequent research pointed pH to be
a major villain in syrup inverted with the use of too much buffering acid,
I am pretty gun shy about acid additives and cavalier promotion of their
use.
 
When I see a study that shows tartaric acid 1.) does not shorten the
lives of bees and 2.) does some objective, measurable good, I'll jump
right on the bandwagon.
 
> In spite of my three years working in the US, there are still some
> idiomatic expressions that I can't quite understand. Could you please
> clarify what you meant by KNOCK YOURSELF OUT.
 
Well, I suppose it might mean different things in different areas, and I'm
sure it means something different in all caps (which I did not use) but
to my understanding and in my intent, it means "Suit yourself.  If you are
that 'gung ho', throw all caution to the winds and go right ahead.  But
don't say I didn't warn you."
 
Keep in mind, though -- as I indicated above -- it was not meant to be
directed to you.  You seem to know what you are doing.  It was directed
instead to the innocent and impressionable bystander who is looking for
excitement and might think tartaric acid is a great idea since, after all,
ordinary sugar in water is sooooo boring and predictably beneficial.
 
Regards,
 
Allen