i am curious as to how serious Apalachee members consider Varroa monitoring. 18 or so years ago one could treat once a year and be fairly successful. No longer the case anymore. Mite levels rebound quickly and often treatments fail for one reason or another. Neglecting to monitor mite levels and have a treatment plan is a sure recipe for failure at beekeeping. We use a continuous sampling plan where each bee yard gets sampled at least monthly using alcohol wash. We sample 10-20% of hives in a yard. 2.5 % infestation rate is threshold Much easier to knock them down at that level than to correct at 6% or higher.
Trying to do this monthly, at least every two months.
Powdered sugar roll.
3 per 100 bees.
i am curious as to how serious Apalachee members consider Varroa monitoring. 18 or so years ago one could treat once a year and be fairly successful. No longer the case anymore. Mite levels rebound quickly and often treatments fail for one reason or another. Neglecting to monitor mite levels and have a treatment plan is a sure recipe for failure at beekeeping. We use a continuous sampling plan where each bee yard gets sampled at least monthly using alcohol wash. We sample 10-20% of hives in a yard. 2.5 % infestation rate is threshold Much easier to knock them down at that level than to correct at 6% or higher.