<For any European beekeepers on the list, do you have significant nosema 
problems and how do you deal with them?



This is a question I have been thinking for 2 years. I work as an advicer 
for beekeeping. Reading Bee-L I have wondered what can I say if nosema 
starts to come up more often here in Finland. We have had nosema ceranae for 
many years, but it is still not spread to most of the colonies. My own bees 
for example had spring 2008 mixed infection of n. apis and ceranae. But 
numbers are low and we haven’t seen extensive losses expect for just some 
individual beekeepers.

Fumidil was used 10 – 15 years back, but then it was not recommended because 
of possible residues. When the product was pulled out of EU market because 
it did not have official mrl (minimum residue level) values our beekeepers 
reacted because they did not use it here. Some use acetic acid fumigation, 
but maybe less than 10 – 20 % of them. That I recommend if problems are 
seen.

I believe that one important reason for few problems is that comb rotation 
is a norm here. Almost all beekeepers melt all black combs and replace with 
foundations. Only light brown and those not used for brood at all are left 
for next year.

We have had annual surveys about winter mortality for more than 20 years.. 
They have not changed much in last 4 years, about 10 - 15 %.. Now we have 
started more detailed studies of winter losses, that also include bee 
samples and nosema tests. It will be interesting to see in future the 
differences in bee losses with apiarys with n. ceranae and n. apis.

Ari Seppälä

Finland

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