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ocba - Re: [ocba] Fungi to save bees?

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>, Phil DeGuzman <phil.deguzman AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Fungi to save bees?
  • Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2016 12:36:44 -0400

We already have effective varroacide treatments made from naturally-occurring formic acid, naturally-occurring thymol, naturally-occurring oxalic acid and naturally-occurring hops, although the periodic "new natural breakthrough on the horizon" articles never mention that (I'm sure the journalists have no clue about apiculture). We don't need to wait for "natural substances", they are already here.

We also need to remember that varroa destructor is NOT a "natural predator" of Apis mellifera. It jumped from another species (Apis cerana) very recently -- probably within the last 75 years. So I'm not sure how or why "natural" is such an important requirement for getting rid of an un-natural threat. I completely agree with the desire for low/no residues in wax and honey, low/no lasting adverse impacts on bees, low cost and easy administration that is safe for the beekeeper, but if somebody comes up with a synthetic product that satisfies ALL of those criteria, I'll be first in line to buy it IF it is genuinely better than the existing options.

I'm not itching for a fight (and especially not with my good friend John), just trying to encourage folks to move beyond rhetoric.

Randall

On 3/21/2016 9:48 AM, John Rintoul wrote:
I will be keeping my fingers crossed hoping for a natural approach to some of the problems that we see with our bees.





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