--- On Mon, 3/9/09, Bill T <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
... like my area, the ones who did not treat
> or manage for
> Varroa are long gone and those who do show up and try to be
> "organic", lose
> their bees fairly quickly, as was the case with my closest
> beekeeping
> neighbor.

I agree with your statement, for the reason that “all beekeeping is local.”
Here, in my locality, it is rather easy to keep bees without treatments.  When new-bees in my area come to me to learn, I get them started on a beekeeping system that does not include treatments.   IMO, The key indicator for whether or not one can go no treatments in how strong the feral population is OR how resistant commercial population of bees may be.  All the reasons for success without treatments are perhaps yet to be understood completely, and I don’t care if it is from escaped Russian bees, or non virulent mites, all I care about is that the bees are doing well.  If your area is still lacking ferals, or resistant strains of commercial bees, yes, IMO organic beekeepers as well as commercial beekeepers will both find difficulties.

Best Wishes,
Joe


      

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