At the ABF meeting, Laurence Cutts and Tom Rinderer mentioned 'Monster
Mites'.  Apparently, the varroa in Florida are now tolerant to
fluvalinate, coumaphos and Amitraz.

Some in the US have been pinning their hopes on Amitraz.   Larry says
that Amitraz might buy one more year, but mites that have experienced
fluvalinate and coumaphos quickly adapt to Amitraz.

It looks as if the race is run and chemicals have had their day.
Thankfully, the use of chemicals has bought enough time to develop bee
stock that seems to need very little assistance in surviving in the
presence of tracheal and varroa mites.  It is time for beekeepers to
adopt that stock ASAP and to be sure to monitor levels.

I attended a talk in Jeff Harris's lab and the assumption was that most
beekeepers do not montor mites.  I was shocked, but Jeff was right, it
seems most people in the room did not know what a sticky board looked
like or how to use it.  His demo of the sugar shake was so quick and
elegant that it is hard to imagine that anyone leaving the room would
not adopt one or or the other -- preferably both -- methods immediately.

The day of just adding strips and trusting fate are long over.  The only
beekeepers left standing in a few years will either be in very isolated
areas, or using mite-tolerant stock and testing regularly for mite
levels.

allen