--- On Thu, 9/16/10, deknow commented on the speculation about acidity of sucrose syrup as a contributing factor in bee health.
That's an interesting hypothesis and one that should be fairly easy to test. Many beekeepers I know add vinegar to their syrup to inhibit spoilage. My personal dosage is the highly precise "splash" per 5 gal pail so I can't really estimate the pH I've achieved in the past but there are probably enough hobbyists using that practice to at least get anecdotal evidence about the practice.
My own observations comparing the years I've added vinegar to the years I've forgotten are that the bees take more syrup and take it longer into the winter with vinegar added and seem to come out of the winter stronger. Can't comment on whether the improvement is the result of mold inhibition, the smell making the syrup more findable or a direct effect of pH.
Mike Rossander
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