On Wed, 22 Jan 1997, Dr. Pedro Rodriguez wrote:
> > His procedure calls for a very little smear of FGMO on the wax paper
> > strips.  He cautioned that too much FGMO will be detrimental to the
> > bees as well as the mites.  His hypothesis regarding how the FGMO is
> > effective is that the FGMO gets into the spiracles of the mites (both
> > tracheal and varroa), thereby suffocating them.  The spiracles of the
> > mites are much smaller than those of the bees, which is why a small
> > quantity of FGMO is recommended - copious amounts of FGMO would also
> > clog up the bees' spiracles.
 
        When I mentioned the grease patty idea to my wife, she wasn't
suprised by it. As a kid, she raised rabbits and they used to smear
Vaseiline in the rabbits ears to kill the mites. One wonders why FGMO
works over the Crisco patties other than the FGMO might be smaller in size
thana huge glob of vegetable oil and better suited to get into the mites?
 
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