Max Watkins wrote:
> Coumaphos resistance is now widespread in Italy also.
>
> We need to use a
> range of techniques and treatments rather than rely on one magic bullet.
>
Dr. Watkins,
Thank you for your post which answered my questions. As a beekeeper
depending on bees for part of his income my back is against the wall
again. Seems like i can expect resistance to coumaphos before long. I
allready have got fluvalinate resistant varroa mites. we haven't been
able to get apicure through our supplier and to assure its effectivness
we really need to use apicure in August in Missouri. Seems to me as well
as my beekeeping friends as if those of us using only legal methods are
losing the varroa battle.
registration of treatments is a long and expensive process in the U.S..
Beekeepers using legal methods in the U.S. are hanging on by a thread in
the varroa battle.
I must add at the risk of much criticism that my friend Allen Dick and
other Canadian beekeepers have solved their varroa and tracheal mite
problems with the liquid formic acid treatments. Found naturally in
honey and never have the mites showed resistance. There was much outcry
about their treatments on bee-L but i can't help but think their
position is better than the position myself and my fellow U.S.
beekeepers find ourselves in today.
Bob Harrison
Odessa,Missouri