How often has it been said “don’t use chemicals; use ipm”? Ipm or ‘integrated pest management’,
to my understanding, began to be looked at and talked about when Apistan started to lose it
effectiveness. Beekeepers were advised to integrate different mite control measures, including
Apistan and CheckMite with formic acid, essential oils, etc. In fact when the concept first began
being discussed some quipped that it really meant ‘integrated pesticide management’.

Now it seems to have taken on another meaning--a bit like Spam® and spam. Many think ipm
means to avoid any chemical altogether and substitute powdered sugar, screened bottom boards,
drone trapping, etc. While that all sounds good and some of those do work to an extent, some
have been seen to have little effect.

One of the reasons, it is claimed, mites became resistant to Apistan is that beekeepers were
overusing the strips. That may or may not be. On at least one other discussion group the use of
Mavrik® along with instructions on how to use it has been openly discussed a couple of times
within the past year. I’d be more likely to believe fluvalinate tolerance developed as quickly as it
did because of that practice, but then that’s another story.

Regards,
Dick Allen

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