Purdue News 
Purdue News
The meeting will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Room 214, Stewart Center, on the Purdue campus. Registration is open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. The cost is $5 at the door. Lunch is not included.
Varroa mites and tracheal mites, tiny relatives of spiders that feed on bee larvae, have decimated U.S. bee populations, said Purdue University honey bee specialist Greg Hunt.
"These mites have spread throughout the local honey bee populations in the last 10 years," Hunt said. "They killed most of the wild colonies that nest in hollow trees and other cavities. And many hobbyists and commercial beekeepers stopped keeping bees after the mites killed their hives."
Mites make it much harder to produce honey, Hunt said. To stay in business, beekeepers must adopt a treatment program for their hives.
The loss of honey bees also causes concern among fruit and vegetable growers, Hunt said, because honey bees pollinate roughly a third of all the food we eat. The annual value of crops attributed to honeybee pollination adds up to more than $9 billion.
The nationwide spread of the mites, on top of problems caused by Africanized bees, threatens yields of crops such as apples, almonds, squash, cucumbers and blueberries, and it drives up the price of honey, according to Hunt.
At the meeting, Hunt will describe his work looking for and breeding bees that are better house-keepers, because bees that keep cleaner hives can better resist mite infestations. Hunt also is developing beekeeping methods that reduce mite populations in hives. As part of those projects, he set up 65 new colonies at Purdue this spring.
Other presenters will cover related topics. Keith Delaplane, entomologist from the University of Georgia, will help growers determine when and how to treat for varroa mites. Medhat Nasr from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, will talk about his work breeding bees for resistance to tracheal mites. Kathleen Prough, Indiana State Apiary Inspector, will give an Indiana beekeeping field report. John Skinner from the University of Tennessee will describe effective pollination practices. There also will be a workshop for people who want to get started keeping bees.
CONTACT: Hunt (765) 494-4606
Compiled by Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; E-mail, sig@ecn.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
