> If beekeepers want to chant "the label is the law" in regard to
> pesticide use by growers, they should not consider "getting creative"
> themselves.  The chant is a good one, and the moral high ground
> behind it has yet to have been questioned.

Although I would agree with regard to off-label use, the use of less of a
chemical or less often use than "recommended" (by state ag agents, many of
whom are funded by these same chemical companies -- I expect our university
to stop using current foot ball players to name roads any day now, switching
to major corporate sponsors instead) isn't really quite the same.

Example: the recommendation to spray your fruit trees every two weeks, with
or without pests seen (usually necessitating also using an herbicide to
prevent clover growth underneath, as well, to avoid killing bees foraging
there).  Instead, a single application, as needed, can be just as effective.
>
> In studies, it is quite common to do a "24 hour" Apistan test as
> a "standard" way of estimating mite populations.  In some cases,
> this is done as often as weekly.  As a result, there should be a
> good data set to prove that these "24 hour tests" were never
> effective in themselves at controlling varroa.  If they were
> effective, the act of counting mites in control (untreated) colonies
> would eliminate so many mites that one's control colonies would no
> longer be "controls".

Do you have any references we could look at for that?  Perhaps they were
effective as a control (but who would want to do this every week?) and were
a good measure of reinfestation, rather than continuing infestation.

> And I'm not going to even try to think about how many 48-hour uses
> of any one miticide strip would equal one "use" of a strip, but
> I don't think anyone could resist trying to use them in more than
> one hive for this sort of "short-term use".

Generally, the 42 day time period of use is due to a combination of wear off
of the pesticide and propolis build up reducing the application surface.
So, if you used two days at a time, I would think the resuses would be less
than 21, perhaps needing 3 or 4 days per mini-application as it neared the
end of its useful life.

---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::