Bill said:

> So if we use a statistical threshold mite count...

Ha!  What "statistics"?

If there was any statistical support for any of the
wide range of different "thresholds" being tossed around
and repeated in somber tones as if they had meaning, they 
would be more useful.

There isn't, so they aren't.

The reason is simple.  In the context of a pest/host
ratio, counting only pests, no matter how accurately,
is MEANINGLESS without a count of hosts.

So, "X Divided By Ummm, I Dunno" is not a ratio.
It is a guess.
It is not just "wrong", it is pure surrealism.
It certainly is not science at all.

Since it is hard to count bees in a hive with any
accuracy due to the fact that they keep moving
around so much while you count, the only way to 
resolve the issue is to talk about the pest 
population DELTA (the slope of the curve of
points from several pest population counts).

But don't freak - you don't need to do any 
calculus at all, you just need a sheet of
graph paper or a spreadsheet program.

And yeah, doing mite counts is a pain in the posterior,
but no one ever said it would be easy or painless to be
a beekeeper.  

The Price Of Honey Is Eternal Vigilance.

******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at:          *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm  *
******************************************************