mite drop

[tedtractor]

the last bee culture said dried sumac berries produced 100 to 400 mites on the bottom sticky board in 24 hours. I am going to try the next day 9-6-04? on one hive...they had 8-20 mites drop without smoking on the board before hand...

[Axtmann]

If I would tell you the earth is a plate and not a globe would you believe me?

Go for a real treatment before it’s to late for you bees.

[Hillbillynursery]

8-20 mites per day is not at a point for treatment by what everyone is telling me. So if it increases your mite drop then it is a help. Good Luck I am awaiting your post on how it works.

[tedtractor]

sumac added to the smoker after it has been hot and going after working 3 hives makes a LOT of SMOKE. I put 9 big puffs at 3 puffs every 15 seconds (so the bees would not choke). I did not see a change in mite drop. Although I had apistan in the hive for 30 days, did not check the mite drop for the previous 72 hours, and also been using menthol for trach-mites for 20 days. the bees are russian so the mites may not be so bad in that hive. I did not see any dead-dragged out bees;so sumac seems to be safe. I hope someone who has a bad mite problem and has not treated with chemicals will try sumac smoking and report results on this site. I will if a hive needs mite control. sorry I think my 1st experiment with sumac smoke was not done right.