A recent post to this list echoed what may well be one of the most
dangerous myths ever to delude beekeepers.

>   "Thresholds - the level of mites in a colony which requires
>   action by the beekeeper...."

The fallacy of placing one's faith in a "threshold" is very basic.
There simply is no such animal.

The only possible way to know if mites are "a problem" for any
specific colony is to have more than one "count" for the colony.

While an ongoing set of counts, taken at regular intervals would be
ideal, at minimum, one wants to have the ability to answer the question
"are there more mites than last time?"

We all have "stronger" and "weaker" hives.  Think about that for a
moment, and realize that no single number can apply to both.

The differences in total population, capped brood cells, and so on
renders any single arbitrary "threshold number" useless.

Worse than useless, it kills colonies that might be saved.

The only way to tell if mites are (becoming) a problem is to track
the DIFFERENCE between "last time" and "now", assuming
that reasonably "repeatable procedures" are used to sample and test
for mites.  (And I don't care which test method you use, as long as
you pick one, and stick with it.)

>  "In the southeastern USA Delaplane and Hood (1999) have
>  estimated a treatment threshold from 59 to 187 mites.
>  This represents 3100 to 4200 mites in a colony.

The sad thing is that they did say this.  One is forced to wonder
how far each of their arms had to be bent behind their backs
before they coughed up a number.  The problem they faced was
that they were pressured by lazy beekeepers.  The lazy beekeepers
wanted to do ONE mite test, and use it to make a decision about treatment.

Most all quantum physics courses cover Heisenberg and his "Uncertainty Principle".
The short, plain English version is that one can EITHER measure the velocity of a
particle, or its position, but never both at the same time.

Lucky for us, keeping bees requires no knowledge of quantum physics, but be
aware that we have our own "Uncertainty Principle", and it applies directly to mites.
It also has wide-ranging applications in other practical aspects of life.

It goes something like this:

        One number lacks context, and is useless.
        Two numbers can be compared.
        With three, you have a trend.
        With six, you get egg-roll.
        With numbers, a pencil, and a notebook, you have "IPM"


                jim (who may have seen SOMETHING in Loch Ness, but
                      had enjoyed too much single-malt to be certain)

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