Hello all,

This was meant initially for Dennis Murrell but really applies to many of us.
The use of powdered sugars in the fight against Varroa seems a popular subject
right now, but by the looks of it no person or research institute has so far shown
the effectiveness and their possible drawbacks from prolonged periods of any
of the powdered sugar methods that are under discussion in the world .

I myself am very much in favor of any sugar treament above chemicals and
would use it today if I needed! On the other hand, I can see that there are really
still quite a few holes to be filled before a complete and usable program can be
developed that guarantees the success that chemicals apparently did have. So
before we can convince all the other beekeepers and present our agricultural
departments responsible for the methods with proof, we have quite a way to go.
The chemical industry migh hate us meanwhile for our attempts to shake off
their polluting products!
But yes, I love to see this rediculously long list with products disappear: Amitraz,
Apistan, Apiguard, ApilifeVar, Apitol, Bayvarol, CheckMite, Flumethrine FM,
Fluvalinate, Folbex, Formidol, Mite-Away, MiteGone, Oxamite, Perizin, Taktivar,
Thymovar, Varidol, Formic acid, Oxalic acid and so on plus all quasi safe oils.

I have never ever used any chemicals on my hives, not even for tests either. My
hives are to the best of my knowledge (using micoscope samples) still clean....but
that is pure luck and to some extend due to my own behavior because Varroa has
(officially) fully spread througout our area.

Dennis, your blasting method is interesting, but your nor the other's powderedsugar
application methods are 100% safe. There is apparently the danger of killing
brood if sugar dust is allowed to enter brood cells of a particular age and with a
certain amount of sugar powder used. Why larvae do die from sugar I don't know
but we should not neglect this signal and dig out the reason. See the article called
"Only large amounts of powdered sugar applied directly to brood cells harms
immature bees" from Aliano and Ellis that Preben Kristianssen from Sweden made
us aware of.

So really any text that sounds: "doesn't harm either the bees or the brood" is not
perfect, since there is a mention in research that contradicts this (see the previous
block) and shows that harm can in fact de done to brood. For the less experienced
beekeepers I can imagine that other dangers exist as well, like for instance the
chilling of brood if they fiddle too long and often with frames during colder periods
for the application of sugar.

One particular difficulty on which I hope to get some more clearity (I'm writing to
a number of sugar refineries in the world for their specifications) is the fact that the
powdered sugars for sale in the different countries do differ, and not just in name.
Firstly they have different grain or particle sizes, secondly different sugar sources
can be used for the production and thirdly different foreign substances (I found 5
so far) are sometimes added by the refineries to obtain certain qualities. Some
retailed sugars might not have a narrow enough range of particles, so that varying
results may be seen, depending on whether finer or coarser particles were involved.
All of those are factors should be investigated, even if they are seemingly of smaller
consequence.
Also:
- too fine sugar dust might perhaps have a chance to enter the bees breathing organs
(for instance there is one sugar on the market with only 9 microns in size).
- wrong additives might affect the bees and the brood
- too large particles might disturb the honey and not have the required or expected
results.

I am in the process of 'screening' the powdered sugars that I can lay my hands on
and do this with the help of my microscope to see how they differ in particle size.
Digital pictures are intended to be taken of each test and an Excel file is used to log
all the trading names plus all the product data found or supplied and any microscope
findings.

Still, someone has to start taking a range of properly recorded tests with different
sugars, application methods and at different seasons, while monitoring the brood
and the Varroa of course, to see if a sugar powder treatment is as positive as we
hope it to be!
Some of our beekeepers have started to apply powdered sugar this autumn in stead
of oxalic acid, that was also seen in the low numbers of beekeepers that came to
pick up their oxalic acid on the "Oxalic acid day" that we organize each year.

Ron van Mierlo
for Trollhattans Biodlareforening
Sweden
Phone+Fax: +46-520-441424
Email: [log in to unmask]

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