Hello All


Hugo Thone wrote as follows:

>It was not before last year that more beekeepers moved to formic acid.
>Recently oxalic acid is considered to be the silver bullet.

But surely Hugo this is exactly the problem. The Apistan solution is purely
a short term solution until resistance occurs. Then you must move up the
'chemical' ladder or 'resort' to IPM.

My question is simply 'Why not use IPM in the first instance and avoid the
hive pollution caused by Apistan, and avoid Coumaphos entirely?' It would
seem to me that when resistance to Coumaphos appears, you can try going back
to Apistan but now you are alternating between the frying pan and the fire.
Of course I realise that large commercial beekeepers cannot by and large use
IPM and still show a profit. But that is another question.

If you visit the Danish Beekeeping site you will find detailed information
on using 'non chemical' treatments.

Sincerely
Tom Barrett
Dublin
Ireland