Biological control of Varroa Mites

[Zulu]

A posting elsewhere got me fired up on this subject as I already use lady Bugs against aphids.  A quick Google search found that Syngenta is one company that markets the predatory mite Stratiolaelaps scimitus (formerly Hypoaspis miles) described in the Niagara Beeway video linked below

http://www.niagarabeeway.com/bio-control-for-varroa-mite.html

Syngenta HQ for USA is right here in Greensboro NC, and my neighbor and many other friends work there, including a friend in Customer support  (yes I do have friends Perry), so I posed the question to him to find out more for me , and it went to California firstly and then to the UK where the expert resides. Both lead scientists have no knowledge of use in Beekeeping but however Dan in UK said they keep finding more uses for it.

The soil dwelling predatory mite was discovered by Dr. David Gillespie an entomologist with of Agriculture Canada in 1987.
The first company to mass produce and sell it was Applied Bionomics
http://www.appliedbio-nomics.com/products/stratiolaelaps/

http://nurturing-nature.co.uk/wildlife-garden-videos/potential-varroa-biological-control-video/

A few other research projects can be found using Google:
Page 32 of Devon Beekeepers newsletter describes a research project
http://www.devonbeekeepers.org.uk/02_%202013.pdf

They can be purchased here
http://www.evergreengrowers.com/stratiolaelaps-scimitus-womersley-hypoaspis.html


Also of interest is a fungi method which is being researched at UNC in the Social Insect labs by a PHD student who is now in contact with me. She manages the bee hives 1/2 mile from me at Guilford College, where they are working with a Breeder colony using VSH queens, they have just purchased their own AI unit too, so will be inseminating their queens this season. She has promised to join up here and hopefully will do some scientific sharing later this year.
I have volunteered my Boy Scout hive as a test subject too for the Stratiolaelaps scimitus

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/research/entomopathogenicfungi/varroa/

and lastly a very good article on General  Veroa control
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/entomology/apiculture/pdfs/2.03%20copy.pdf

[Perry]

Really good information there. I wonder how some folks might take to the information that they are eating a bug though?
I like the idea in principal though.
I have more of it to go through but the first one was a good watch.

Thanks Zulu
signed
Your Friend 
Perry

[LazyBkpr]

Interesting..  Thanks for the post!!!    At 29 dollars for a bottle that has approximately 4 cups in it.. will treat 4 hives at less than 7.50 per hive for the whole year.  150 dollars to treat 7 hives.. a viable and seemingly friendlier alternative to chemicals..
   The first thing I thought of when the first lady was discussing these little mites.. was what happens when they adapt to eating bee larvae or eggs?  If it can be shown that won't happen I think these little critters are going to become a gold mine.

[rcannon]

So.......what do they eat when the mites are gone? Hive beetles, maybe?

[Zulu]

So.......what do they eat when the mites are gone? Hive beetles, maybe?

That is exactly what we hope, and will hopefully be part of the study we do here with my hive.

[LazyBkpr]

been reading about this since I posted earlier. Very interested..   I might have to try some in the other yard.. no risks taken in the home yard.... but then.. isn't just about every treatment a risk one way or another?  My biggest concern is that these are live critters, and anything alive tends to do what it must to survive..  so have more questions..
   From what I read, they do not destroy all the varoa completely, but they do a nasty job on varoa numbers..  bees that show some resistance coupled with these mites would make an outstanding combination...   One thing I cant seem to find, is.. what happens to them?
  Do they die off in the winter so they have to be replaced every spring?
  Do they survive among the bees and build back up when the varoa do?
   Dying off gives me some confidence.. surviving year to year worries me..  while it would be nice to install them once and never worry about it again, I would have the fear that they would eventually turn to eggs and young Larvae..   really interested so far.

[tecumseh]

it looks like we are on board here at the Texas A&M Bee Lab to give this a try and see what the data tells us.  this will fall into the lap of one undergraduate student and will be a continuation of a similar project by another undergraduate students last year's project.

via talks (not my own) the predatory mite is though to be not so an efficient predator so the first question we would likely look into is what is an effective dosage level.  the second and more difficult question will likely be do they negatively impact the honeybee itself.  thirdly a likely candidate for a topic is appropriate timing of application.

[LazyBkpr]

Fantastic Tec!  Please keep us informed!

[efmesch]

If my memory serves me correctly, it was a controlled study on varroa that went bad when some of the infested caged bees being studied got out into the open.  The rest is history.
LazyBkpr is very justified in his concern.  These new mites are living beings and until we know just what their life cycle and behavior are inside a bee hive, we will do well to tread cautiously. 
Can you picture these mites turning out to reproduce inside hives---feeding on bee eggs---and   moving from one hive to another like varroa do?  That could spell the end to beekeeping as we know it today---as tough as it is.
Yes, they sound like they have great potential and I for one would be overjoyed if they turn out to be exclusively beneficial.  I'm a great advocate of biological control.  But, lest someone start using then in an uncontained hive without the proper precautions, we could be inviting tragedy.

Zulu, I understand your desire to be a resesarcher  of this predacious mite, but suggest that you leave it to the universities, with proper precautionary measures at their sides, to lead the pack.   Once  there are, at least preliminary studies that allow us confidence about their potential dangers not being real, then more studies will be beneficial.

[Zulu]

Zulu, I understand your desire to be a resesarcher  of this predacious mite, but suggest that you leave it to the universities, with proper precautionary measures at their sides, to lead the pack.   Once  there are, at least preliminary studies that allow us confidence about their potential dangers not being real, then more stdies will be beneficial.

Understand your caution , especially with your background , but I found it is already sold in my state to the Nursery  trade ....it is in widespread use in USA in Greenhouses

It is not known to fly , is soil dwelling.

what is not know to me - and nothing written that I can find , is if it might catch a ride on a bee...

The researcher I am talking to is going to talk at length with our State Bee Inspector about looking into this and get back to me , so nothing rash will take place here.

[Ray]

Did a search: Stratiolaelaps scimitus varroa
They are for sale as an advertised CONTROL of the varroa mite.
Cross your fingers maybe the cure isn't worse than the disease.

[efmesch]

Ray, can you give us a few links to the literature you found on their use with bees against varroa?

[robo]

There is a fellow from South Carolina over on Beemaster that is experimenting with them this year.   I'll be interested to see how it works.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,44031.msg379284.html#msg379284

[iddee]

He has now started an additional thread describing how he is doing it.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,44098.0.html

[efmesch]

I'm not going to register on another forum, so I can't post there, but if you are registered there, I would suggest that the mites not be applied to all the treated hives at the same time.   It could be that the time of application is critical for success.  As much as it may seem counterproductive, it just might be that a certain level of varroa infestation would be needed for the mites to build up and maintain their populations for success.  If applied too early in the season, with a very low varroa population, the predators might just die out or become very reduced before they can get established.
I say this in speculation.  All questions are valid at this stage of the experimentation.  That's why I still say, a research institution should be doing the initial studies or at least directing and accompanying experiments with this predator.

[iddee]

I posted it for you, Ef.

[efmesch]

Thanks Iddee---You can always be counted on to make the right steps.