Nematodes and varroa!

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biglongdarren

Drone Bee
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do a bit of gardening and these nematodes seems to be real deal now against pests on the allotment.........
Surely if they can come up with one to fight slugs and another for the likes of carrot fly why cant they make one to kill varroa mites?..talk to me people;O)
 
Nematodes are usually soil born and are small worm-like predators-a bit difficult to introduce into your hive.
 
Biological control of pests has had its disasters in the past..... cane toads and all of that!

Perhaps because the privaledged few who own the big chemical companies would preferr to sell us their biohazardous poisons than a more environmentally friendly tree hugging route!
So research gets no funding?


[Come on PSA~ stick up for the comodoties brokers!!!! chem. fat cats and their ilk!!!**
 
could work well with the artificial smoke spray. all u gotta do now is find a varroa(both types) eating worm. might be a tall order
 
There were some promising lines of research - in the UK and elsewhere - on fungi which were antagonistic to Varroa. The idea would have been to perhaps add a dispenser at the entrance to get it into the hive. The Rothamsted work didn't get its funding extended. Others elsewhere were trying the same thing.

http://journalism.bournemouth.ac.uk/sessex/RothamstedClosure.htm

G.
 
Nematodes are used to help in the control of SHB, perhaps whats needed is a strain of those little phorid fly's, one's that would attack the varroa mites by eating out there brains,and finally killing them when their heads fall of.
 
nematodes live in virtually all animals ( inc humans) and probably 4 out of 5 living things on the planet is a nematode!!
 
I read about a week ago that they are able to "switch off" individual genes in the Varroa mite. If they can use this to switch off (say) the auto-immune system, or the moulting mechanism (a la sacbrood) then we would have a powerful new weapon against the b****y things.

Heres hoping

Savoyard
 
I read about a week ago that they are able to "switch off" individual genes in the Varroa mite. If they can use this to switch off (say) the auto-immune system, or the moulting mechanism (a la sacbrood) then we would have a powerful new weapon against the b****y things.

But surely, we shouldn't want to rely on genetic modification for a solution to our problems.
 
"But surely, we shouldn't want to rely on genetic modification for a solution to our problems"

the method described isn't genetic modification per se (ie a heritable change in the mites), just a "chemical" treatment that turns off a single gene in the treated organism ie a (hopefully) specific varroacide.
 
Biological control of wax moth is already establish in beekeeping - Certan is a spore suspension of Bacillus thuringiensis which infects and kills wax moth larvae. I've sprayed it on empty comb in storage and it seems to work, but is expensive.
 
this is a quote from a newspaper cutting that i kept stating that the Nat Bee Unit as saying " they have developed a genetic technique that makes the mites self-destruct, according to the units Giles Budge".
 
The best thing would be something that renders them infertile. And that will be that. Until resistance builds up AGAIN. However reading this I am drawn back to a thread from last year - using all these wonderful goodies to chemically kill the Varoa which does not get every last one, just leaves the more resistant individuals. Which then mate and then produce resistant strains. Whats next NEW APIVAR LIFE ULTRA, then NEW EVEN ULTRA-ER, cleans your bees like never before. ATMOMIC ULTERANESS IN A SINGLE DOSE AT LOWER TEMPERATURES aaaaa ..... ok i'll stop you get the point.
 
[Come on PSA~ stick up for the comodoties brokers!!!! chem. fat cats and their ilk!!!**

I am not an apologist for any of those groups, icanhopit. Nor have I ever defended any of them. If you disagree, kindly indicate where I may have done that. Otherwise, I fear you've confused me with someone else.
 

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