[Ziholceniflucdu]

i am not quite sure how/where to look up research or what sorts of books are available. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I would like to better understand the effects of powdered sugar on the mite and bee. I have read both that the sugar causes the bees to groom themselves thereby removing the mite, but also that powdered sugar causes the mites to 'lose grip' on the bee. It would surprise me if these were both true, and i would like to understand it better in order to plan how to impliment this for my bees effectively.

Additionally i have long heard that powdered sugar roll is less accurate in counting mites than alcohol wash, and i would like to find the origin of thay study as well.

Really, anything would be helpful. Just looking to educate myself.

Many thanks.

 

[msl]

It has been all but abandoned do to lack of efficacy
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3896/IBRA.1.48.1.14

The objective of our study was to determine the efficacy of powdered sugar as a varroa control by comparing mite populations, adult bee populations, and brood area in untreated colonies with those in colonies dusted every two weeks for 11 months with 120 g powdered sugar per application. We found that dusting colonies with powdered sugar did not significantly affect the adult bee population (treated: 10061.72 ± 629.42; control: 10691.00 ± 554.44) or amount of brood (treated: 4521.91 ± 342.84 cm2; control: 4472.55 ± 365.85 cm2). We also found no significant differences between the total number of mites per colony (treated: 2112.15 ± 224.62; control: 2197.80 ± 207.75), number of mites per adult bee (treated: 0.080 ± 0.010; control: 0.097 ± 0.010), or number of mites per capped brood cell (treated: 0.112 ± 0.013; control: 0.106 ± 0.018). All data are mean ± s.e. Within the limits of our study and at the application rates used, we did not find that dusting colonies with powdered sugar afforded significant varroa control.

https://bees.caes.uga.edu/content/d...archives/RevisitingPowderedSugar-JAR51414.pdf

The method was ineffective at reducing varroa in 75% of our analyses. Moreover, 10-month colony survival between treated and non-treated colonies was virtually identical, and poor, at 38-39%. Powdered sugar is thus, at best, another “weak” IPM component that may contribute toward varroa management when used in conjunction with other components.

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/pow...weet-and-safe-but-does-it-really-work-part-3/

i am not quite sure how/where to look up research

goggle scholar is a great tool
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,6&q=powdered+sugar+varroa&btnG=

 

[Ziholceniflucdu]

Ah thank you this is precisely what i was looking for. Very helpful.

 

[Akademee]

Yeah, powdered sugar mite treatments also tended to kill a lot of brood, the sugar would get in the comb and entomb the larva