I've been putting in hours and hours on the math and plotting out ways to account for where those mites could come from within the hive.  The problem is, in every simulation that I can come up with, based upon research findings, the varroa reproductive rate drops off substantially later in the season.

And we appreciate your diligence!  I don't doubt for a second there may be some immigration,  but there would also be emigration at the same time.  Based on our conversation that mites don’t move much,  one would have to assume that that train would run both ways.   


Keep in mind the numbers you usually talk about make pretty good sense,  my frustration is that this is note what the general public is following understanding or accepting.  What I see is the people hear you and Dennis,  and are actually using it as the reason their hives failed,  without knowing or understanding at all what was going on in their own hives!  They may or may not even ever treat,  but its always the neighbors fault for letting that hive crash.

That’s where the mite bomb line is being taken.  You guys may not see it,   but in the GP its now the excuse in general.  IMO in the end its kind of a moot point. How fast and why they rise is a small detail certainly valuable in some aspects, but not worth loseing sleep over for me.  Mites bad!  Kill them.



I've already posted how to answer whether immigration is indeed the cause.
No one has yet responded with being willing to run the experiment along with me.

I vaguely recall a discussion on that while I was traveling.  It seemed to me the thought I had was could we get a clean package from AUS in that time frame?  (more accurately mite free)  but I was on the phone and hate trying to type a reply on the phone.

Could you repost,  or advise what topic it was posted under???


Charles

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