"Glenn Hile"   " In 2001 there was a thread concerning using powder sugar
dusting for Varoa
> control.  Has anyone continued the practice and have any longer term
> studies to report?  Opinions?"

Sugar dusting is generally only as a suppressive measure, not a control on
its own.  Sugar dusting will increase the drop of live mites, but those are
only removed from the colony if the hive has a mesh floor. It works as a
control only in the right hive AND if the colony has been  manipulated into
a suitable condition.

You might like to re-visit my post of 10 Sep, headed  'Broodless period &
varooa'  - or perhaps not. It explained how non-chemical methods (such as
sugar dusting) can be fully effective for control of varooa if the colony
has been split into a broodless swarm and a queenless brood nest.  All
varooa in the swarm are 'in the open' and exposed to measures such as sugar
dusting - and three weeks later, so are all the mites in the original brood,
now fully emerged.  But u need a suitable hive in which to acheive this
split at the peak of the annual brood cycle,  or the method involves
excessive labour.

Robin Dartington.

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