TRACHEAL MITES CAN BE SUPPRESSED BY OIL PATTIES

The endoparasitic tracheal mite, Acarapis woodi (Rennie), a recently i ntroduced pest to honey bee Apis mellifera L. colonies has had a signi ficant impact on their survival and honey production in North America, especially the northern states. Treatment with toxic agents to contro l mites is problematic because of the potential for contamination of f ood products (e.g. honey and pollen) and beeswax harvested from honey bees, Preliminary reports suggest that introduction of natural product s, such as vegetable oil, may deter or decrease mite infestations. Res ults of experiments at The Ohio State University apiaries conducted be tween 1991 and 1993 demonstrate that under field conditions, oil patti es depressed mite populations when applied continuously to bees, Patti es were made from a combination of solid vegetable oil (shortening) an d white sugar with or without the addition of the antibiotic Terramyci n(R). Oil patty summer treatments, given twice, failed to prevent the mite population increases in bees by fall of 1991. In 1992-1993, conti nuous exposure to both patties produced significant control of mites. Twenty percent of the Terramycin(R) and oil patty colonies and 45% of the control colonies perished by spring 1993, In comparison, no oil pa tty treated colonies died.