what I have seen (and other friends concur) is a resurgence in our native bee
species. Ingrid

zxcvbob wrote:

I went to the state fair today, and while looking at the exibits in the
Horticulture Building, I asked a bee exhibitor how the bees were holding
up against the varroa mites. He said the mites are becoming resistant
to miticides, and they are mainly using "essential oils" now, along with
new and improved miticides, so they probably have about 3 more years
that they can treat the mites before all treatments become ineffective.
Now here's the good part. They found some honeybees that have adapted.

The worker bees search for infected brood cells and destroy them.
Using artificial insemination, they are breeding bees for this trait.
It will take a couple of years to build up sufficient stock of the new
mite-resistant bees, but that's probably about how long we have anyway
with the existing treatments.

All this is based on a conversation I had with one exhibitor at the MN
State Fair, and I don't know what his credentials are, so do your own
research before taking this as gospel. But it's encouraging.

Best regards,
Bob



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