Objective Statement:

Objectives were: 1. to provide beekeepers with safe, effective, reliable and affordable alternatives to Apistan and Coumaphos for control of parasitic mites. Currently, these chemicals must be applied twice each year to ensure colony survival, and that is often insufficient. I will investigate alternative strategies that either reduce the use of synthetic pesticides by ½ or that eliminate them all together.

2. to develop a means of keeping mite levels at relatively low levels throughout the summer, in order that colonies are healthy when it is time to apply the fall treatment.