Tobacco smoke for mites

[beeman7467]

I attended a my first local bee club meeting last week. During a conversation with an older gentleman at my table, the subject of mites came up. He suggested adding dry tobacco leaves to your smoker and using it to smoke the bees. Said it will kill them almost immediately with no adverse effects on the bees. Is this true? I have never heard or read it before, but nearly everyone at the table agreed with him. Also, alot of the posts seem to indicate hot, dry weather. I live in southern Ohio, and so far it has been an ideal summer. We still have abundant white clover (rare for this time of year) and temperatures in the low to mid 80's. I am waiting for the bottom to drop out.

[hoosierhiver]

you can check the archives for more about using tobacco,but i think most of us would agree that tobacco is harmful to bees(and mites), the benefit of using it is questionable,and it can kill alot of bees if you smoke too much.i'd suggest not using it,at least not much.

[dragonfly]

There's an organic beekeeping site that I visit from time to time, just to see if there's any new info on it. The site owner and bee owner says that she uses tobacco when she smokes the bees because it seems to calm them. She also says that some of the old-timers used to go out to the beeyard with a cigarette hanging from the corner of their mouth. I don't know if it works or not because I rarely smoke my bees. I seriously doubt it would be harmful to the bees.

[Michael Bush]

I have used tobacco in the smoker. I recommend it for really vicious bees. It does calm them more. It does not seem to make a difference on the mites. If you smoke the bees heavily enough they start passing out in piles on the bottom board, but still no real difference on the mites.

[Daisy]

I don't think smoke is good for them. I have stopped smoking bees. Trace medicants or without, in the sugar water to lightly spray on entrance and tops of frames seems to serve the purpose and causes less harm to their environment. This is my opinion. For what it's worth. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Michael Bush]

I didn't stick around. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif I often don't use smoke, but if I'm going to do any serious manipulations a few puffs of smoke keeps them calm and saves the lives of the bees that would try to sting me. For minor manipulations I've been using light sugar syrup with Honey Bee Healthy in it. (about 2 parts water to 1 part sugar by volume and Honey Bee Healthy at the rate recomended on the bottle).

I would still recomend light smoking for anything that is pretty disruptive. And HEAVY smoking for those viscious AHBs like I had last summer.

[Daisy]

Micheal, how did you get AHB in Nebraska?

[Michael Bush]

If they weren't they acted exacatly like them. They were second generation buckfasts from Texas. Also, AHB's were shipped all over North America to beekeepers by the USDA from the USDA labs from 1949 to 1970. And they were brought here as early as the 1800s.
http://www.beesource.com/news/article/azrepublic.htm http://www.beesource.com/pov/ahb/index.htm http://www.beesource.com/pov/ahb/viciousbee.htm

[Jorge]

I also know an oldtimer around here who swears by tobacco as an anti-mite treatment. he uses it lightly in his smoker abd does not smoke a lot. He also treats his hives with esential oils, but nothing else ... and his hives are surviving (2/3 of them last winter, which killed ALL the hives of many beekepers around here!!!!). Maybe it does work ... and he gets his tobaco leaves from Ohio (oerhaps therein lies the trick http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

Jorge

Jorge