Part of what Allen wrote in his diary:

“For some reason, varroa is not giving us much trouble. For the past
several years, the only treatment we have used is a single Apistan™ strip
placed in the centre of the cluster in the early spring and left for 42
days. Our tests always show very low levels of mites, much lower than when
we used two strips in the fall plus several formic treatments. Granted, we
had a dry year in 2002, and we spilt heavily this year, and both these
factors tend to reduce varroa loads, but, nonetheless, we did not split all
hives, and when everything is considered we still are seeing lower levels
that we would expect and lower levels than we saw in the past.”

On a top-bar hive site at Yahoo a group member posted some remarks in
conversation with another group member. The person gave permission to post
them here. This is part of what was written:

“The Varroa mite was detected in Grenada for the first time in 1994 and in
the beginning it wrought havoc among both kept as well as wild bee colonies,
especially insofar as the viruses vectored by the arthropod are concerned.
After a few years, however, the surviving population seemed to have adjusted
itself to it and the initial disastrous effects of the attack did not occur
anymore, especially in hives living in the low, drier areas. We did some
control utilizing organic essential oils with excellent results, but after
fifth or sixth year no one bothers too much about Varroa anymore, even
though it is present throughout the Island. No Africanized bees have
entered Grenada up to now, but they do exist in some Islands of the region.

For many years I was involved in commercial production of primary hive
products, as well as in teaching beekeeping in Grenada and other Caribbean
territories, but since about 15 years ago I decided to explore the
possibilities offered by the addition of value to honey, wax, propolis and
royal jelly and ended up trying to make a living producing several lines of
beauty products (soaps, creams, lotions, shampoos, lip balms, massage
creams, etc), ornamentals (candles) and medicinal products (for humans and
animals). At the same time I started getting deeply involved in apitherapy
and for the practice of which I have five hives. By providing technical
assistance to several local beekeepers I get the primary products required
for my cottage industry, without having to break my back too much.

I am in the process of finalizing an Apitherapy Internet Course conducted by
Dr. Stefan Stangaciu from Rumania, and have the honor to have as fellow
student a Lady from Serbia, to whom I mentioned your arrival as a new
member in the TBH chat group.”

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Regards,
Dick Allen

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