William Morong wrote:
>
> Last Fall, here in central Maine, after proper treatment with Apistan, my
> hives were full of varroa mites.  Application of Checkmite strips caused the
> bottom boards to be loaded with mites.  So far, no varroa in drone brood
> this season.  I followed the directions on both medications exactly.
>
> Bill Morong
Hello Bill,
Give yourself a "pat on the back" for catching the problem. Same thing
happened to me. All beekeepers using Apistan need to check in 7-10 days
to make sure treatment is working. I found maybe one hive on a skid
loaded with mites after treatment and others were running in the 90%
kill range in 1998. Comming out of the winter of 98-99 i was finding the
resistance to fluvalinate was building. Hives were dying as there was no
other legal treatment for me to use. When Checkmite came along i was
back in business. I kept waiting for the Formic acid gel to come on the
scene. If Checkmite hadn't been available i am afraid i would have been
put out of business. Fluvalinate resistance combined with two low
production years cost me my Great Harvest bakery account. I spent quite
a bit of money plus travel to another state to buy bees to get my
numbers back up. Needless to say all the barrels of honey i produced
were used to keep from losing customers.
I knew about the problem before i got resistance. I found the first
fluvalinate resistant mites in 1997. Knowing i didn't have another
product to use i did away with those colonies to slow the resistance.
I have spent countless hours testing and retesting try in eliminate the
varroa resistant mites. There could be colonies in my yards today on
which Apistan might work but in my opinion i was losing the battle. A
fellow beekeeper in another state kept supplying me with bees to keep my
numbers up and i produced honey in locations away from the worst varroa
problems. Finnally Checkmite+ came along thanks to Jack Thomas and
others.
Point is Bill that a beekeeper today has to take nothing for granted and
test everything. I like to play with my microscope and have been
checking and testing for years. ALLWAYS try to find out why a hive dies
and check and see if your treatment for disease is working.
If the old Miticur strips had stayed on the market and we could have
alternated with Apistan then i doubt resistant varroa would have
happened so fast.
In my opinion there are beekeepers using Apistan which have got
resistant to fluvalinate mites now but don't even realize it yet.
Hopefully with the Formic acid gell and checkmite they won't have to go
thru what i did.
Bob Harrison U.S.A.