Re: CULT: new topic: bees

Hi,

Have any of you contacted Elke from the Memphis group.  She does a lot of
bee work.

Char
----- Original Message -----
From: <GMason1052@aol.com>
To: <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2003 4:15 AM
Subject: Re: [iris] CULT: new topic: bees


> In a message dated 11/26/03 8:54:36 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> jijones@usjoneses.com writes:
>
> > The massive decline in the wild bee population several years ago was
> > primarily caused by the tracheal mite. In the following years the
> > population of tracheal mites plummeted because the host population was
> > so low. The wild bee population is recovering and will probably
> > stabilize with its new threat. Sometimes predator/host populations vary
> > up and down in long deep cycles.
> >
> >
> >
> Perhaps by "wild bees" you mean something besides honey bees.
> I lost no hives to tracael mites.  I tested some hives without Apistan,
(for
> Varoa Mites).  All of my losses were in the untreated hives suggesting at
> least to me that the Varoa Mite was my main culprit.
> I have removed bees from houses and barns as a public service for years.
I
> used to do as many as my spare time would allow.  I didn't do any this
year.
> Last year I only did one and could see the "yard" the swarm had come from,
so
> they were domestic not wild.  We have had mite problems for 20+ years with
> improvement only because of increased diligence.
> Beekeepers now use a screened bottom board,  early fall treatment, drone
> brood combs, (Varoa mites prefer drone brood, the key here is to remove
and
> destroy the drone brood before it emerges thus destroying the majority of
the mite
> brood.)
> Trachael mites seem in my personal experience to be a more serious problem
in
> the south.
> This may cycle as you suggest,  20 + years for most of us is a little
much.
> Probably much more about bees than anyone wanted to know.
>
> George Mason Portland, Or.
>
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