This exchange on tartaric acid has a key element that new beekeepers should
take into account when you read posts on this list.
Where is the beekeeper located?
"Mild winters" is the reason that tartaric acid "works"  where Martin is. Bees
can fly out of the hive and void. Plus, Tartaric Acid causes some dysentary. It
is not a hive killer. With the combination of earlier build-up and voiding, you
would never see the effect of tartaric acid in an area with mild winters. But
here in Maine you might. I did. And I no longer use tartaric acid.
You can just about feed them anything in early spring or summer and never note
if it is causing problems because of all the variables. Plus, if you do the
same thing to all your hives, how can you tell if it is good or bad? It really
takes lab conditions to show any effect, like that of tartaric acid or even
boiled sugar water, on bees.
 
Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME
 
Martin Braunstein wrote:
 
> I think any contribution to clarify the issue is quite welcome. However, I
> wonder whether the two beekeepers who criticized the use of tartaric acid
> ever tried it to confirm if it indeed causes what an isolated researcher
> stated. Unfortunately it is plenty of pseudoscientists out there writing
> and confussing the mind of beekeepers.
>
> Most dysentery problems are due to poor quality sugar. The whiter the sugar
> the most refined it is, when you buy cheap sugar you are probably not
> getting any bargain but lots of trouble instead.
> When you prepare syrup from cheap unrefined sugar you put into risk the
> health of your bees. Some beekeepers purchase broken sacks of sugar or
> swept sugar from broken bags. No doubt this dirty sugar carries bacteria or
> any other stuff that might be harmful for bees.
>
> When I suggested the use of tartaric acid it was entirely based not only on
> my own successful personal experience of the past seven years running a
> queen breeding business but also on the success of more than half of
> Argentine beekeepers who regularly use sugar syrup made up of sucrose +
> tartaric acid without any bee loses, without decreasing the longevity of
> bees and without causing disentery. Moreover, all of my baby nucs are fed
> this syrup all year around (because of our mild winters I am able to
> overwinter about 80% of my queen yard).
>
> Notwithstanding it is true that bees do have enzymes that allow them to
> invert sucrose into glucose and fructose, this process represents and
> energy expense that could be saved through the use of tartaric acid.
>
> Some important matters -often ignored when using chemical products- is the
> certificate of  quality, origin, date of manufacuting, expiration date and
> product specification. No one serious can make a wide generalization
> without making reference to what kind of tartaric acid was used to make the
> syrup. Perhaps the British researcher did have problems, but how many
> different suppliers did he try? Did he check the quality of the products he
> was using? Maybe this questions sound obvious and silly but not for me
> since before running my queen operation I worked for about four years at
> the
> Purchasing Dept. of a multinational company where this questions were
> always made before placing a purchase order.
>
> Go ahead and feed sugar syrup + tartaric acid. You'll be amazed at the
> reaction of your bees. I would never endorse the use of anything without
> previously testing it.
>
> Merry Christmas for everybody!
>
> Martin Braunstein
> Malka Cabania Apicola
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> ----------
> > From: Richard Bonney <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: WINTER FEEDING
> > Date: miircoles 24 de diciembre de 1997 6:16
> >
> > The following is excerpted from an article on sugar in "Bee Culture"
> > from February 1997.  The researcher mentioned is Leslie Bailey from
> > England. If anyone is interested in a citation I can track it down.
> >
> > Using Cream of Tartar.
> >
> >         A part of the normal process when bees convert nectar to honey in
> the
> > hive involves the chemical inversion of sugar. Simply stated, sucrose is
> > converted to glucose and fructose.
> >         When we feed bees sugar syrup, they make a similar inversion. The
> > standard feed, granulated sugar, is sucrose. The bees convert this to
> > glucose and fructose before storing it.
> >         It has long been the practice of many beekeepers to add tartaric
> acid
> > to sugar syrup to aid in the inversion process, and instructions for
> > making syrup often call for tartaric acid, either as such, or in the
> > form of cream of tartar. The acid also prevents crystallization of the
> > syrup later.
> >         Many years ago a researcher found that if no natural nectar was
> coming
> > in, feeding syrup containing cream of tartar (or vinegar) caused
> > dysentery, shortening the lives of the bees to one third that of bees
> > fed plain sugar syrup. This finding was written up at the time but does
> > not seem to have become part of the common knowledge of beekeepers.
> > Tartaric acid is still occasionally recommended, without any
> > qualification as to the possible ill effects. Use it judiciously if at
> > all.
> >
> > Dick Bonney
> > [log in to unmask]