From: "huestis" <buzzybee@capital.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 08:55:06 -0700
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Mid-season mite 'treatment'

Hi Pav,

> At the risk of being called namby-pamby by Dee, for possibly undermining
her call for all to stand-firm and let the mites cull the weak bee-genes,
i'm forwarding here a method which knocks mites off the adult bees, using
nothing nastier than icing sugar.

Saving ones bees is a serious game. Wouldn't call anyone namby-pamby. The
sugar dusting method isn't new. Here's the problems. 80% of varoa is
locked in the brood nest damaging the bees. The 20% that the sugar gets
(maybe)is not good enough. You will have to do this about every 10 days to
keep getting mites that emerge. Very labor intensive. Same deal as FGMO and
the like.

Still the underlying parasitic problem is not being addressed. Eric Erikson
has shown that bees kept on small cells have about 10% infestation. When
placed back on large cells that rate goes to 80%. Putting bees on small
cells is doing something. Why so little research on this?

Clay