I was just paging through the digital edition of Bee Culture (March 2013).
 Buddy Marterre's article entitled "Why Treat for Mites?" has got me all worked
up.

He gets some things right, particularly the point that if you do not know why
you are treating then maybe you ought not be doing it.  I would encourage folks
who do not know why they are treating to dig in and figure it out or give up
beekeeping.  It's all about monitoring and knowing when a treatment is required.

He seems to assume that colonies that over-winter without treatment are
perfectly healthy.  I believe this may be a poor assumption.

The thing that really burns my britches is that he drops the amphropomorphic
bomb on the readers.  "How many of you would put no-pest strips in your baby's
bassinnette?"  Well Buddy...If there were disease ridden vampire whores in the
bassinnette that experts say will significantly affect the health of the baby
(for the rest of its life) then yes.  I'm going shopping for a pesticide labeled
for disease ridden vampire whores in bassinnettes.  This is of course assuming
the infestation level is above the economic threshold of disease ridden vampire
whores in bassinnettes.

Lewis

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