>
> > I find the arguments for preferring washes over drops to be circular.
> "Washes are good because they can be compared to mite wash benchmarks."
>

Allen, I don't feel that the argument is circular-- washes are a direct
measurement of the mite infestation rate; natural drop is merely a proxy
that may or may not reflect the infestation rate, and may be influenced by
a long list of factors.

Natural drop counts, if done over a period of time can certainly be used to
estimate whether mite levels have reached some threshold, but need major
interpretation, including the amount of brood emerging, and the time of
season.  I'm not down on stickyboard counts--I'm just suggesting that for
making good management decisions, they take some  serious expertise, and a
lot of time and visits to the hives.

>
> >On the other hand, levels of mites may mean different things than they
> did back then. Mortality may occur at lower levels than before or higher
> levels, even, depending on viral load on the one hand and mite tolerance on
> the other.
>

I'm in complete agreement Pete.  The bee/mite/virus relationship is
different now than it was years ago when most of the stickyboard research
was published.  This is likely one reason why most bee researchers have
shifted to mite washes.

>
> >Also, less effective treatments may need to start at lower levels,
> knowing that the overall kill may be 60-80 percent with soft treatments vs.
> 90+% with some of the so-called hard ones (when they still worked)


Also in complete agreement!  I use Apiguard at half dose, and am
experimenting with MAQS at half dose (1 strip per hive).  Am actually mid
trial right now.  I do so to minimize the stress upon the colony due to
treatment, and to avoid queen loss issues.  But this requires treating
prior to mite infestation rate reaching high levels.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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