>   Randy has been trying in my opinion to point to spore loads as
the way to  decide on a course of management.

Hi Bob,
Higes in Spain feels that N ceranae (the bee is cerana) spores at any
level require treatment.

Eischen's data indicate that colonies with low spore counts went into
almonds stronger with protein feed and no fumagillin--but this was not
a strong finding, and needs replication.

What I'm finding in my small operation is a black/white situation most
of the time--either zero to virtually no spores, or plenty of spores.
There is very little middle ground.

In my operation, that means that the decision was easy, and no
counting was involved.  The threshold was essentially whether spores
were present.

Re sterilization, my next article covers that, and is in press.  My
web tech was going to get it posted this weekend, but it looks like
it's not up yet.  I'll post when it is.

Randy Oliver

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