A significant advantage in using the BIP Technical Transfer Team program is to detect these high varroa mite spikes
early and assess the severity of the issue regionally. This early detection system provides the hard numbers that help
beekeepers decide if they need to treat and when, perhaps earlier than they typically would have, in hopes to lower
their varroa mite loads in time for the colonies to produce their winter bees. Similarly, BIP sampling post treatment will
ensure that the treatments did produce the desirable effects and/or that colonies did not get re-infested by nearby bee
yards. In short, the BIP Technical Transfer Team program can detect the levels of infestation early in hopes to mitigate
damage and colony losses. A colony saved in the fall usually means one more that can make it through the winter into
the following year, decreasing costs and increasing revenue to the beekeeper while providing a valuable pollinating
unit the following year.
We know that colonies die from high varroa mite infestations. We also
know that mites travel on bees and infest other bee colonies. These
early high varroa mite infestation levels are alarming, and even more so
in a region as densely populated (in bees) as North Dakota. The North
Dakota Department of Agriculture and honey producing beekeepers
are doing great work to implement strategies to improve bee forage
and management across the state. Together with renewed vigilance and
sampling efforts from the Bee Informed Partnership, we can continue to
call North Dakota the last best place for bees.
IN YOUR ORCHARD
This graph represents the Varroa mite levels for Minnesota (MN) beekeepers from August 2017 (left) compared to August 2018 (right).
Anne Marie Fauvel,
BIP Technical Transfer
Team Coordinator
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A L M O N D F A C T S
