Max wrote "I agree that the most practical way to determine whether a varroa treatment is necessary or not is to monitor the colony closely, checking mite fall; it makes no commercial or practical sense to treat a hive if there are no or very few mites in it." I respectfully disagree. If you have an apiary of 10 hives, and 2 show lots of Varroa, and 8 show little, I would treat the whole apiary. Treating only the two typically would require more treatments in the long run. I realize I've only got 100 hives, but still, using the same agricultural practices that I used on larger commerical table grape and mellon farms, specifically methodical, systematic and thourogh treatments, I'm in to my third year with one November aplication of Check-mite, and my drone larvae are spotless. To treat just one hive or two will just result in reinfecting the hives you treat now a few months after treatment. Regards Tim :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::