Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 1, 1993 TAG: 9307010415
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CELESTE KATZ STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"It" is the tracheal mite, a microscopic, bloodsucking Asian parasite that, upon reaching the Roanoke Valley by way of the deep South, killed nearly every wild bee in the area in just under three years.
A year ago, local beekeepers - most of whom tend hives to produce honey, to pollinate their plants or to rent out their bees to farmers and orchardists - told a tale of woe. Each spring would see more dead hives, more money literally sucked away by the tiny pests.
"I bought more bees and lost more bees then than I ever did" in 47 years of full-time beekeeping, 72-year-old Cordy Maxey recalled.
He and other members of the Blue Ridge Beekeepers Association spoke of entire dead hives, frozen during the winter because they were too sapped of energy by the mites to generate sufficient body heat.
Slowly, the bee business is makinga comeback. Government officials and beekeepers alike say that while the mite problem will never go away, it is gradually being brought under control.
For keepers such as Maxey, whose $1,000-a-month honey business is his livelihood, the plague of mites hit hard. Just last season, only 40 of his 100 hives still buzzed; he's managed, with the help of partner John May, to build that back up to 60 hives.
At his Salem home recently, Maxey predicted that in a few years, he might be back where he started in terms of bee population. But he still looks back at spring 1992 as a time of great difficulty.
"I haven't made up for the bees I've lost yet," he added. "When a hive is dead, it's right heartbreaking."
Maxey attributes some of his success in the recolonization process to menthol crystals, which are widely used as a miticide. The crystals are scattered in the hives and vaporize in the heat. The bees breathe the menthol, which kills the mites. Although bees regularly groom themselves, that's of no use in the case of internal parasites.
But menthol has its drawbacks. The crystals won't vaporize at temperatures lower than 70 degrees.
An alternative is a miticide marketed under the trade name Miticur, which is administered in strips placed in beehives. The chemical attacks the nervous systems of the mites, usually killing them without harming the bees, according to George Kelly of Dadant and Sons Beekeeping Supply. Dadant is a Miticur distributor.
Kelly said it costs beekeepers about $3.50 to treat each hive with the strips. However, the effectiveness - and the wisdom - of introducing such chemicals to hives has been questioned.
Keith Tignor, an entomology doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech, says Miticur and similar chemical solutions to the tracheal mite problem should be approached with caution. "It is a poison. It can kill the bee if not properly applied," he warned.
The ideal solution, according to top apiculturists, or bee experts, would be to follow the example of England in the beginning of this century. Faced with the onslaught of the parasites and unarmed with the miticides of today, European beekeepers had no choice but to let the weakest bees - by the millions - die off. Those that survived formed strong new populations which are more resistant to mites than most American strains.
But beekeepers like Maxey, who depend on the honey makers to feed themselves, and large-scale breeders who rent bees to farms and orchards, can't wait that long. And buying new bees can get expensive. Three pounds of bees cost $32, with roughly 3,500 per pound.
But commercial pollinators may need to provide four or more colonies of 60,000 to 70,000 bees each to properly pollinate just an acre or two of crop land, depending on conditions, geography and type of produce.
"It's difficult for me to advise a beekeeper to `just let them die,' " admitted Tignor.
Researchers such as Cornell University apiculturist Roger Morse have been studying various domestic honeybee strains and crossbreeding them to produce a bee more resistant to parasites. However, according to Morse, progress is slow and a better bee is still years away.
As research continues, the mite population grows. What's more, the deadly varroa mite, an external parasite that feeds just beyond Virginia's borders, has begun to make its way into the state, killing both wild and captive swarms wherever it strikes. Total losses suffered from the death of honeybees due to the tracheal and varroa mites are estimated to be more than $160 million annually.
If both breeds of mite continue to spread at the present rate, nearly all the industries that account for the honeybee's estimated $19 billion contribution to the U.S. economy would be seriously hurt, including nearly all forms of fruit, vegetable, flower, meat and grain production. To date, the impact on the environment at large should the bee population continue to drop has not been calculated.
Those who chose to stay in the beekeeping business despite the losses of the past few years are hoping for improvement but not expecting miracles. Cordy Maxey can no longer do the lifting and moving required, but he's not thinking of leaving the business yet. He fully realizes that the worst may be yet to come.
"Things are much different this year, but the mites are here to stay," he said.
by CNB