> Soft controls have got limitations. Why commercial beekeepers are
> slow to embrace soft varroa controls. Control in U.S. tests generally
> falls around 70% for formic  and thymol  (ABJ 2004). Control can
> certainly be higher and can certainly be lower when weather problems
> and application problems happen.

Formic and oxalic in syrup have problems handling infestations much over 5%,
unless there is no brood present.  Period.  That's the way it is.

Nonetheless, most beekeepers STILL do not monitor their mite problems, and
are expecting these treatments to work miracles on the heavy infestations
that catch them by surprise.  They will not.

Also, formic and oxalic drizzle work best when no brood is present, and in
some regions, that is a much shorter window, with a much longer period of
mite reproduction in between, than the northern regions where these
chemicals are working well.

Nonetheless, we have had a long time to learn about mites and the various
possibilities of managing them, but many, if not most beekeepers have left
the job to others.

We have had fluvalinate and coumaphos as an emergency backup, and _should_
have been using alternate controls and monitoring as a frontline ,but
regulators recommended using them as a first line of defense, and now we are
finding they are not working in emergencies. (I have chronicled our minimal
chemical regime on my diary.  Most of our overwintered hives had lower
levels of varroa, 18 months after treatment with a single Apistan(r) strip,
than Australian packages established this Spring!)

Oxalic evaporation shows promise, since it works over a longer time period
and can, reportedly, be repeated without harm to the bees, but, in southern
regions, we do not know if it will do the job.  Who knows?  Apparently no
one has tried.  Officially, at least.

> Formic is temperature dependant. In many areas cold weather had set in
> before the beekeeper discovered  their first attempt at control had
> failed.

Actually, formic can work in cool weather, as long as there are some warm
days, which we see up here well into October.

> ALSO when the first application was done hives were approaching
> threshold. Add another four weeks of a failed  control and  hives
> with a lethal load of varroa & in most cases advanced PMS.  Formic &
> thymol will not work as they provide  slower over a period of time
> control unlike effective chemical strips which
> will clear a hive of varroa in a hurry WHEN varroa is not resistant
> to the strip.

That's the problem.  People get used to miracles and don't monitor.

> Both formic acid & thymol work best  when temperatures are ideal and
> varroa is not at high levels.

Exactly

> Varroa tolerant bees are a reality but in *short supply*. I have not
> a clue if the Weavers bees are varroa tolerant but I hope they are!
> His goals and mine are moving in the same direction so I wish the
> Weavers the best . *If* the Weavers bees do not prove to be varroa
> tolerant then beekeepers will not only not trust the Weavers but the
> rest of us saying we  are indeed  seeing varroa tolerant bees.

The problem is that your varroa resistant bees may not do well in my area,
nor mine in yours.  Moreover, since the tolerance depends on a rather fine
balance of multple factors, the tolerance demonstrated in one region may not
be apparent in another.  That may even be true from one operation to another
in the same region, since management methods and hive environment can vary
dramatically.

> We want a survivor bee which will tolerate varroa in all settings
> including large cell comb.

That's the problem.

We get lots of anecdotes about sucess in special cases and with intensive,
idiosyncratic management, however the mammoth commercial bee/pollination
industry in North America needs/wants an all-purpose bee (or bees) that can
be parachuted into existing operations, in all regions, without a huge
disruption, without discarding all the existing equipment, and without
complex management requirements.  (At this point, however, maybe all the
existing eqipment has to go anyhow, since the beekeepers have themselves
polluted it to the point where it is toxic to bees).

At any rate, people are again expecting a miracle - that tolerant bees will
allow them to continue to ignore advice to monitor and manage.

I predict that no matter how good the tolerant bees turn out to be, that we
will still have regular reports of people being wiped out.

How long have we had AFB and simple mangement methods to control and
suppress it?  We still hear of people who let it get to the point where they
have 50-100% outbreaks.

Monitor, monitor, monitor.

allen
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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