CONTROLLING TRACHEAL MITES (ACARI, TARSONEMIDAE) IN HONEY-BEES (HYMENOPTERA, APIDAE) WITH VEGETABLE OIL

Field experiments conducted between 1991 and 1993 demonstrated that tr eating colonies of honey bees, Apis mellifera L., continuously with ve getable oil depressed populations of tracheal mites Acarapis woodi (Re nnie). In 1992-1993, continuous exposure to oil patties, with or witho ut the antibiotic Terramycin, produced significant control of mites. F ive of 11 untreated (control) colonies perished. None of the oil-patty -treated colonies died, and only two of 10 colonies treated with Terra mycin patties expired. Oil patties were made from a combination of sol id vegetable oil (shortening) and white sugar, with or without the add ition of the antibiotic. Two oil patty treatments during the summer of 1991 failed to prevent mite population increases in bees by that fall .