just some miscellaneous/eclectic ruminations/ramblings on past threads...
 
tend to agree with the impression that el nin~o's effects may have
something to do
with early/increased swarms: the first reported swarm heard of here in
northeast florida was in mid-january, about a month or so before the past
couple of years' experience; further swarms/afterswarms have followed,
and are still issuing sporadically in spite of recent unseasonable
(cold/wet) weather...
 
as regards smoke to dislodge varroa (in adults,not brood), have seen the
same (eischen's) preliminary reports with the caveat that it does not
kill mites, still  have to place a (screened) sticky board to trap them
or use a screen (4-mesh) false-bottom board to let them fall through;
sounds much like using tobacco except not  toxic as nicotine, though not
sure creosote is any less so, maybe so for grapefruit leaves...
 
all of which leads me to speculate also that maybe some survivor stocks
are the result of a variable combination of factors (besides possible
genetic mite/virulence- tolerance/resistance), among them a strong
nectar/honey flow resulting in swarming, which could be artificially
manipulated as a control method (splits/drone-brood mite- trapping),
along with "hard" smoke in broodless periods and perhaps some "soft"
chemical treatment (oils/acids)...certainly labor intensive but
conceivably/transitionally "biological"/"organic" quasi-natural
beekeeping?
 
 
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