Sheppard & Strange wrote in 2001:

> For Georgia and South Carolina, Delaplane and Hood (1997) recommended August treatment and set ether roll recommendations at 15 V. destructor for a 300-bee ether roll. However, this threshold is much higher than Ellis and Baxendale (1996) recommended for Nebraska (six or more mites).

> Ellis and Baxendale (1996) recommended treatment if any mites were detected in spring ether rolls, but in this study no increased mortality was observed in colonies with less than three mites per ether roll.

They concluded:

> Treatment thresholds [are] recommended for ether roll and 48-h sticky board sampling methods in April (three and 24 mites, respectively) and August (14 and 46 mites, respectively) and for ether rolls in October (three mites) in cold climates.

I think this may be too high. I start to worry when they go over 10 per alcohol wash in summer. Each person must work out thresholds for their location.

PLB

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