Beneficial Mites?

[sentientsoil]

Earlier today I read by happenstance a post about pseudo-scorpions... And also saw this quote on MB's website: "There are more than 30 kinds of benign or beneficial mites,..." And since I didn't know anything about this until today, I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this subject...? Should we be introducing some of these critters to our hives as part of IPM? Sort of like gardeners introduce ladybugs and mantids?

anyone know any good books I could read on this? or where to get a breeding pair of pseudoscorpions? :)

[walking bird]

Haven't heard of any that are geared to help out a hive. I do use predator flies to control houseflies and biting stable flies; works great. So maybe there's something out there; I'll be interested to hear.

[Michael Bush]

If you stop treating and you keep collecting feral bees you'll get them (mites and insects) reintroduced. I saw a pseudoscorpion a couple of years ago in one of my hives.

I wouldn't count on that as being the whole solution, although it will probably contribute, because I had bees that had not been treated when the Varroa hit and they still all died.

Still it seems like all those other mites would fill niches that might otherwise be filled by one of the two "bad" mites.

[mudlake]

I Just went to google and there are lots of good write ups on pseudoscorpion. Something to think of the next time you grab a spray can. Thanks for the thread. Tony

[deknow]

i saw a pseudoscorpian in one of our hives about 2 years ago...i had no idea what i was seeing at the time.

mites, insects, and other "critters" are only the tip of the iceberg. there are over 8000 strains of microbes in a healthy hive, and some of these only are known to exist in very specific niches (like in the honey stomach of the honeybee). this culture is extremely important, and extremely "elastic"...but was never "designed" to withstand 65% formic acid vapors, essential oils, organophosphates, etc...it's simply too much.

for a bit of a primer, try reading "No Bee is an Island" on our website:
http://BeeUntoOthers.com/

we are working on putting more data together, and will soon have an updated version.

deknow

[sentientsoil]

deknow, thanks for the link. informative.

I also wonder, would the setup of a modern langstroth, complete with sbb, make it difficult for any "good" critters, such as a pseudoscorp, to colonize the hive? If so, what could be done to mediate such difficulties?

I'm really curious to know about more of these other creatures.

[Michael Bush]

>I also wonder, would the setup of a modern langstroth, complete with sbb, make it difficult for any "good" critters, such as a pseudoscorp, to colonize the hive?

Some mites would be hard to say. Pseudoscorpions are quite mobile and I doubt that a SBB would make any difference to them.