Greg Hershner wrote:

 > This spring I bought 10 nucs from a local producer.  I was impressed
 > by his thriving bees.   Regarding these supercharged Nucs....this
 > unnamed producer was willing to reveal his secret for healthy bees.
 > It was recommended to him by his local inspector who also uses it for
 > his bees.  The product is a miticide called Taktic-- generically
 > Amitraz.
 >
 > Questions:
 >
 > 1.    Have I just violated list decorum by writing these words?  If
 > so please accept my apologies and I'll keep quiet!  If not.....


No, but you reminded me what the miticide was that I referred to in my
post. It was Amitraz (Miticure, I think it was called). It is good for
both Tracheal and Varroa and was registered in the US but since no one
makes it it is not available. I do not know how long a registration
lasts, so it may have lapsed.

Did a search of the archives and found the following, which is
illuminating in view of the comments about cumophose. This was back in
1990 and is from the April issue of APIS.

http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9004&L=bee-l&P=R460

Not much changes.

Quote
  It is becoming increasingly more costly and difficult to get a
pesticide registered. This is certainly true for Nor-Am Chemical
Company's product, Miticure (R), which contains the active ingredient
amitraz. Originally, the product was scheduled to undergo the review
process by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last February.
Now, however, the Agency indicates this will not occur until June.
Unfortunately, this means that the product may not be available in the
fall, when it will be most needed to reduce tracheal and Varroa
populations in beehives.

Nor-Am has recently written a letter to beekeeping industry leaders
about the situation. The company urges that political action be taken to
speed up the process. It suggests that beekeeping associations and
individuals contact EPA regarding the situation and request the Agency
to expedite registration of this material. The need is certainly there.
An alternative chemical to fluvalinate will reduce the possibility of
Varroa mites becoming resistant to the only currently registered
material, Apistan (R). In addition, Miticure (R) is expected to provide
protection against tracheal mites as well.
Unquote

It did work great then and I see no reason why it still should work.
There is a lot of info in the archives about how to use it illegally.

Bill Truesdell (Archives are the criminal's friend.)
Bath, Maine

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