Dear Bee-L readers,

Many have asked for another of my varroa solutions. So i will give another
in my opinion worth looking at.

Instead of bringing in Russian queens into the U.S. I would have made a
importation of A. cerana from Asia. In Asia they are rewriting the
beekeeping books with A.Cerana. Because A. Melifera can't live with varroa
without chemical treatment in Asia most commercial operations a going only
to A. Cerana kept in Langstroth hives. Commercial operations in China report
honey production as great with A.cerana as with A.melifera without the
varroa headache.

Queen breeders in China have developed a line of A. Cerana which has equaled
the honey production of A. Melifera, reduces the amount of varroa in the
drone broodless period and the mite load at all times is on a scale most
researchers would love to proclaim to the world they have reached with
A.melifera.

I almost didn't do this post because of one drawback with Apis cerana. Apis
cerana would need to be brought in carefully (like with the Russian
queens)by experts such as Dr. Shiminuki as they are host to another mite
Tropilaelaps clarae. When i presented my A cerana importation idea a few
years back i was told researchers COULD safely import A. cerana into the
U.S. without the mite Tropilaelaps clarae. I know very little about the mite
Tropilaelaps clarae as i have been able to find very little information on
the mite because the mite is not in the U.S.. I had the same problem with
Varroa information before its arrival in the U.S..

In my opinion A. cerana might be a better solution than A. melifera on 4.9mm
foundation do to the fact of no step down process and varroa can't reproduce
in worker cells of A cerana. My understanding is in Asia A. cerana hosts
both varroa and Tropilaelaps clarae without need for chemical treatments and
has for many many years.

Bob Harrison