James J. Grefig wrote:

>But here is something to consider. My daughter keeps bees in an area
>of New York State where the mites are resistant to fluvalinate. In my
>area (lower Hudson Valley) fluvalinate still works. While I would not
>do what I'm proposing, why not transport my mites to her area and let
>them interbreed? If we have bred resistance into the mites in some
>areas why not breed susceptibility to fluvalinate into resistant
>mite populations?
>
Simple answer is that if you have mites, no matter resistant or not, you
will have to treat or you will eventually lose your hives. You cannot
afford to start a mite breeding program of a couple of years to get to
the state you envision. By then, you will have dead mites and bees.

If you mix the mites/bees and treat, you kill off the mites you brought
in and the resistant ones are still there, so nothing has changed.

It has been shown that if you treat with another, different method for a
couple of years, Apistan works again. So something like an
Oxalic/Formic/thymol/etc then Apistan rotation will accomplish what you
are looking for.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine