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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Phil DeGuzman <phil.deguzman AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: "risnover AT aol.com" <risnover AT aol.com>, "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Mites help
  • Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2015 11:19:05 -0400

For those not familiar with the term, IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is all about using a combination of treatment/abatement measures to control pests. Trivial infestations may be kept in check with lightweight measures, while serious infestations typically require serious measures. The idea is to have a fully equipped armory of appropriate techniques at your disposal, and to nip problems in the bud before they get out of hand. Don't use lightweight measures for serious issues or drastic measures for trivial problems. This philosophy applies to fleas, cutworms, the flu, as well as varroa mites.

Most long-term successful beekeepers that I know use MiteAway Quick Strips (formic acid) and/or ApiGuard (thymol gel) to effectively manage varroa mites and keep their hives healthy & productive. For what it is worth, these are endorsed by Certified Naturally Grown, but far more important for me is that they work extremely well when applied according to the label. Some more information about treatments can be found <here>. A little bit about mite biology and links to more info can be found <here>.

Randall Austin
(No winter losses this year strictly following the advice <here>)

On 3/28/2015 10:33 PM, Phil DeGuzman wrote:
9A6F236E-CD51-4E3A-8883-8736FF0342DF AT gmail.com" type="cite">
So what is the concensus treatment for varroa these days? I've done IPM with some success. But I would like to re-educate on treatment if my varroa numbers go up. I have never been overly diligent about varroa monitoring and think I am ready to start now that other farm enterprises are stabilized.

I do screened bottom boards and spring splits when viable.

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 28, 2015, at 17:26, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Rich,

Unfortunately, mites breed whenever there is bee brood to feed on and reproduce on. In its natural host, apis cerana, varroa is limited to drone brood but in our European honey bee, apis mellifera, varroa is quite successful on worker brood. Drone brood is even better but worker brood serves their purpose just fine. And when the amount of bee brood decreases, the mites double up/triple up/quadruple up/etc. in the same bee brood cells.

Bee populations increase arithmetically up to a plateau during the spring. Mite populations increase geometrically and have no reason to plateau as long as bee brood is present. The mite numbers keep going up and overwhelm the bee population. That's why we commonly see strong hives that are untreated crash and die in late summer, and similarly why untreated hives often weaken and die over winter. And remember, it isn't actually the mite itself that is the problem; it is the viruses that the mites vector and activate. So a few mites are still a problem, and lots of mites invariably create a health crisis.

There is a free software package called VarroaPop that you can use to model to growth rates of varroa in a hive over a year, which demonstrates all this.

Randall

On 3/28/2015 4:06 PM, risnover--- via ocba wrote:
14c61fdcc1f-1394-6785 AT webprd-a26.mail.aol.com" type="cite">
Randall
 
Just a quick question: Is there certain months that mites are more active.
Since mites use drone cells to multiply and there are no drone cells over winter. I'm thinking that
that mites should not be a problem until right before swarming season when drone cells are produced...
 
Rich


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