Hello Ted & All,

Bob Harrison said:
>"If a huge amount of virus contamination is on the comb then the next swarm
will crash earlier  than the normal four months of intense brood rearing."

I actually have been saying the above for around four years on BEE-L. Many
might remember a long time ago I mistakenly said virus spores which caused
a stir as virus do not have spores.

I based my statement above on two experiences. One the crash of 1000 of
hives in Florida trying to use PMS comb again.

and

On a couple thousand boxes of PMS comb in Missouri which *seem* to show PMS
signs before what is assumed to be varroa treatment threshold.

A third experiment will be done this year by placing 200 package bees on old
PMS comb.( these are not my bees). We are hoping to control varroa at a high
enough level that PMS will not be an issue.

At the ABF convention in Austin, Texas Diana Cox Foster gave two
presentations on new virus research done at Penn State. I also spoke at
length with her about her research.

She told us the information I posted earlier .

 She said PMS comb needs replaced and the boxes power washed
OR
varroa needs to be controlled at a level virus issues do not come into play
( or at least the above is my understanding after attending both
presentations and personal conversation).
Dr. Brenda Ball & Dr. Norman Carrick ( U.K.) have said
1. bees can easily control varroa without virus.

2. If you can control varroa at a high level then virus issues are not a
problem.

Also Dr. Shiminuki said PMS is a late stage varroa infestation issue.

However as I told Dr. Delaplane last year we are seeing virus issues today
in hives which do not carry a high varroa load so the symptoms are changing.

I firmly believe if you control varroa you will not have virus issues.

Replacing virus contamination comb in my opinion reduces the need for such a
high varroa control. My comb which had PMS contamination was replaced a few
years ago and I have not seen PMS IN MY HIVES since. Plenty in other
beekeepers hives.

In fact in my leave alone *survivor* hives they might crash from varroa but
I see no PMS signs. I will also say the Russian/Russian bee seems to
tolerate varroa loads which would kill most races and not display PMS. I
wonder if varroa survival with the Russians has something to do with being
able to tolerate virus associated with varroa ( PMS>)

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

" What we don't know is so vast it makes what we do know seem absurd"




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