[Guest]

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/oct04/bees1004.htm


A fungus that kills the mites and is harmless to the bees and queen.

 

[beebarf]

Good, Im glad to see someone has possibly found a way to kill mites as good as apistan, without the chemicals. I wonder if you can use when supers are on? would the fungus affect the honey in any way??

 

[Phoenix]

First of all, the fungal spores can not live in Honey, and even if it could, Metarhizium anisopliae is non toxic to mammals.

------------------
Phoenix
http://beeholder.blogspot.com/

 

[Hayseed]

this fungus has been used for pest management since late 1800's. See: http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/kyf607.html
and: http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/urb208.html

Hope to see some conclusive study results soon. This would certainly be a huge boon to the beekeeping industry.

Hayseed

 

[Hayseed]

I guess my question is if it's a posssible pest management method and it's been used for nearly a century, why hasn't it been used on bee colonies?

Hayseed

 

[Michael Bush]

http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000272.html

It's been used on a lot of insects, including termites. Probably people didn't think about it because of what it might do to the bees.

 

[Phoenix]

Hayseed...

My first instinct would be to think that since MA is an insecticide, and bees are insects, it would be detrimental to their health. I for one would have never thought to expose my herd of insects to an "insecticide" to kill the insects preying upon them. Though they have done studies on honeybees to make sure they are not effected by residual spray, since (“Meta-rise-e-um Ana-sof-a-Lee”)-MA has been used for quite a while for control of aphids and hornworms on tobacco crops as well as other crops that are being pollinated by honeybees.

I for one see this as a very positive step in the direction of eradication of these mites, and hopefully SHB as well.

------------------
Phoenix
http://beeholder.blogspot.com/

 

[Ian]

>>First of all, the fungal spores can not live in Honey

Right, but they lay dormant until the conditions of the honey change to allow growth and development.

Ian

 

[Oxankle]

Oh, this is great. I sure hope it works. There should not be too much difficulty in cultivating the fungus, so the cost should be low.

I'm sold on FGMO but a fungus should be a better, more direct method of attack.

I wonder what "do not have to worry about the bees becoming resistant" is all about?
Ox

 

[Darrel Wright]

I wonder if that is the same thing that wipes out gypsy moths when they become overpopulated in an area. If it is I can tell you it is almost magically effective. We battled an infestation in Ohio about five or six years back. The population grew and grew, until it looked like all our white oaks were doomed despite our best efforts. Then all of a sudden one day all the little gypsy caterpillars just miraculously turned into nasty fuzzy looking balls of goo. It was like someone fliped a switch. A naturalist friend said it was a natural fungus that did it.

 

[bjerm2]

Man this is great news indeed! Once the fungus is introduced into the hive I believe it will just keep living inside the hive, on the supper walls, on the frames, and reinfect any mites that come into contact with it. I know by using CERTAIN (spelling?) to curb wax moth I have not had problems with frames for years. I hope this works just as good. Thanks again for the heads up.
Dan

 

[Guest]

Make sure you all follow the first link and then click on the picture of the bee with the mite on it. Then follow the link for a high resolution image of the bee... it is the largest photo I've ever seen of a bee! You can actually see the hairs on the mite, it is so big. Wow.

There are lots more bug pictures on the website if you follow the link on the left menu bar.

------------------
Michael Mundy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Beekeeping... is NOT an exact science."

 

[jaydee]

Where can I purchase this? I couldn't follow all the links to find it?

 

[dickm]

Certan and the gypsy moth treatment use the same fungus. I think it's "Bacillus Therengienis". (That's close.) In tablet form it is used in ponds to kill mousquito larvae. Very common in agriculture.It, like other fungi, is found in nature.
The new treatment sounds like an old treament put to a new use.

dickm

 

[Robert Brenchley]

Cetan is a bacterium not a fungus. The fungs the Americans are working on is used to control a wide range of insects already. Parallel work is going on in the UK, using a range of fungi.

------------------
Regards,

Robert Brenchley

[email protected]
Birmingham UK

 

[Axtmann]

I heard here, a company “Medivet” somewhere in the states made already test metarhizium and give up. The fungus can kill bee larva and pupas like the mites and is hard to remove from the hive parts. It’s like walking on a razorblade; I’m interested to see the result from the US.

 

[Zizo]

Well i am a graduete student of argiculture and my graduete task is called "Alternative methods for controling Varroa Destructor".

I have serached whole internet and menu books and articles about it and this thing about "Metarhizium Anisopliae" is the best suprise. Tomorow I will go to universety to ask my profesors of microbiology, enthomology and fitopathology about this fungi and posible influence on bees and men.

I hope this is final solution and if there is no influence on peoples helth I will look in to it to start a production.

Please submit here links for articles or publications about this kind of research, thanks.

 

[Terri]

Zizo, did you find out anything interesting?

 

[Guest]

> I heard here, a company “Medivet” somewhere
> in the states

They are in Canada.

> The fungus can kill bee larva and pupas

This is completely false
This has never been seen in any of the lab
tests or field trials to date. (There may
well be a fungus that kills bees and brood,
but I've not heard of any strain of this
fungus that will even grow on a dead bee.)

> and is hard to remove from the hive parts.

No "removal" is needed, as the fungus only
grows on the shells of varroa and other
hard-shelled insects. It certainly does NOT
grow like mold on hive components.

> I’m interested to see the result from the
> US.

The appropriate papers are by Dr. James and
Dr. Kanga of USDA. Researchers in the UK
are working along the same lines, but I
don't know what they have published.

Who told you this bogus stuff?


[This message has been edited by jfischer (edited November 14, 2004).]

 

[Ozzy1]

Bob Cox, a researcher at Weslaco Bee Lab, mentioned that they had not tested M.A. yet in a hive with brood. He also said that the researcher that started research on M.A. had been transferred so I don't know if it will be continued at Weslaco or another lab. I thought he would have been real excited about M.A. but he seemed more encouraged about some of the other new products that will be coming on line at some time. Oxcilic (sp?) acid he thought was very effective and easy to apply.