Hi all

Peter Borst posted:
"Although reproduction of Varroa is affected by the space
between the developing bee and cell wall, reducing cell
sizes as a mite control method will probably fail to be
effective since the bees are likely to respond by rearing
correspondingly smaller bees" (from "Reproduction of Varroa
destructor in South African honey bees: does cell space
influence Varroa male survivorship?" by Stephen J. MARTIN,
Per KRYGER)

Reply:
While reproduction of varroa is probably effected by the
space to a lesser degree, the rest of the above statement
is supposition. Further to give sound bites instead of
trying to use a wholebee concept for looking at the whole
picture for what is happening is in my mind wrong.

Other things to be taken into consideration for control
are:

1.Size of cell
2.Length of time of emergence (overall)
3.Size of pond of royal jelly
4.Amount of JGH available for first blood meal (trigger for
varroa reproduction)
5.the quality of propolis shellacing the inside of the
broodcell (and elsewhere in the colony).
6.Time of year and where in picture to a flow
7.Overall strength of the colony concerning division of
labor.

Regards,

Dee A. Lusby




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