Hervé Logé wrote:
>>>Not to criticize Zach, but I disagree, as would
>>>every legitimate IPM education and extension
>>>professional one could find.
>>
>>I appreciated Zach's post because he took the risk
>>to
>>propose clear and easy to use criteria as a first
>>raw
>>evaluation of the situation in spite of the numerous
>>factors and considerations on varroas population
>>estimation, in spite of the risk to be submitted to
>>endless (but not useless) discussions about those
>>factors effects.

A "first raw evaluation" is not IPM. IPM is a long term pest management
strategy that has many, not just one, data points. It requires a process
of monitoring the pest so when the "economic threshold" is reached,
treatment can begin. It is designed to stop the broad-based application
of pesticide as well as be economical for the farmer/beekeeper. It also
can be used to time the pesticide application to match the pests
development cycle better, based on things like degree days. It does
involve more labor, since you are checking more often and keeping more
records.

Even the mite drop method recognizes that the economic threshold is
different depending on season, location and even the beekeeper! The mite
drop will tell you that you have mites and how many on the sticky board.
How many per bee is a function of many variables and means popping the
lid of the colony and observing. A specific mite drop with a small
colony is quite different than the same mite drop on a large colony.

Over time, which is its key, the mite drop method will show trends.
Which is also a part of IPM.

If you only have one mite reading, you should not use mite drop but a
more direct and quantifiable measure, such as an ether roll. Then you
have a fairly good count of the number of bees and the number of mites.
It actually takes less time than the mite drop method, since there is
only one trip to the colony.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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