New method of varroa mite control
Remember how we're experimenting with
foundationless frames to control varroa mites in our honeybee
hives? Traditional beekeepers put chemicals in the hive every
fall to control the mites, but even the chemicals seem to be failing.
The USDA Agricultural Research Service has discovered what may become a
solution to the varroa mite problem. Since varroa mites find
their hosts by smell, the scientists impregnated sticky paper with bee
odors. 35 to 50% of mites in a hive with this sticky paper let
go of their host bees and head to the paper, where the mites get stuck
and die. The product is still in the testing stages, though so
far the honeybees seem unconcerned by the impregnated paper.
To read more about the study, check out this
quick summary in Scientific American or this
longer version on the ARS's website.
I'm simplifying here. The "smells" are not necessarily smells
--- they might be more like pheremones. The scientists call them
semiochemicals, which just means a chemical that carries a message.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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