As I read all the posts on this list, I am impressed lately by how much
pure conjecture is being posted .  Much of it is unneccessary, since the
literature which is widely available answers these basic questions, and
all the speculation merely muddies the waters.  Moreover, manytimes the
answers already exist in the BEE-L logs.
 
Sure, it never hurts to bring up an old question again, but it does hurt
to publish wild speculation and uninformed musings.  It lowers the quality
of this list to the point that no informed person will want to have
anything to do with it.  The people with the answers will give it a wide
berth.  Unfortunately that is already the case with many bee scientists
and extension people.
 
As a case in point, any basic article on varroa specifies how long varroa
can live without a host and whether other hosts than apis melifera are
known.  Let's do our homework, folks, before we post an 'answer' before
700+ people.  Let's try to make the list more authoritative.
 
The list is entitled 'INFORMED Discussion of Beekeeping', not 'Wild
guesses by the uninformed and inexperienced'.  Let's stick to our mandate.
 
 
 
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