Aaron:
     I returned last night from ABF, but most people are still there as
the banquet is tonight. About 600 attended the conference, and I would
say the focus was on the hive beetles and how disasterous they are
proving to be. An expert on pheremones has been hired already to find an
attractant for a trap.  I believe he is working out of Gainesville.
Thousands and thousands of hives in Florida have already been destroyed.
There was a valiant attempt to try and find something that the beetles
liked better than bees, wax and honey.  They found they had a
predilection for canteloupes, but when the canteloupes were put in yards
where there were still plenty of  active hives - the beetles ignored the
cantelouopes. As for the potential northern range of the beetles which I
am sure all you non-Floridians are interested in, no one can even hazard
a guess.  They froze larvae at 5 below zero for 10 days and it came out
crawling!
   The news on the varroa which seemed lost in the hive beetle storm is
fairly good.  The Russian queens are proving to be quite resistance and
will be released to field conditions with 3 beekeepers this summer.
Parent stock if all goes well be released to breeders next spring.
Coumaphos emergency approval has gone through but only on a non-food
basis, which means that no residues will be allowed in wax and honey.
The first time any are found, it will be pulled.  The whole emphasis of
the researchers seems to have dramatically shifted away from chemicals
and none of them seem to be to happy with coumaphos.They are emphasizing
IPM methods - now - combined with formic acid  and essential oils .  It
was ironic to me to get back and read the mail on the BEE-L list about
bottom mount varroa screens because that is one of the approaches
Beltsville  is using.  There is  also info that pollen traps are removing
quite a few mites.  The feeling is that if you can get 10 % natural fall
of varroa with a screen  and 80 % + with formic  or essential oils and
use a resistant queen,  you may not need the chemicals like fluvalinate -
anyway that was good to hear.  I also heard second hand, from Nasr of
Guelph, what I had heard rumors of before - that the Argentinians got
results of  85% varroa kill with formic gell with one treatment and 95%
with two treatments. That was good to hear, but, all in all, the bad
news  of the beetle far outweighed the good news, but maybe that is
because I've got 600 colonies sitting only about 20 miles from where the
major coastal outbreaks have been.  I wonder if the blueberry growers
and cranberry growers who are so dependent on Florida bees have any idea
how terrible this thing.  Is there anyway to invest in Cranberry juice
futures!!!!
Regards Bob StevensAaron Morris wrote:
 
> Haven't heard any news from ABF, did anyone make it?  Updates anyone?
> Inquiring minds want to know!
>
> Aaron Morris