Project Number: WVA00317
CRIS Number: 0099156
CONTROL OF HONEY BEE MITES;TAXONOMIC AND BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF ERIOPHYOID MITES; BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF MULTIFLOR ROSE: MITE AND INSECT PEST
Investigators: Amrine, J. W.
Performing Department: Plant & Soil Sciences -- 1825
Start Date: 10/01/2002
Termination Date: 09/30/2007
Reporting period: 01/01/2001 to 12/31/2001
Progress Report:
We modified our four part protocol for IPM of honey bee colonies infested with Varroa and tracheal mites as follows: Part I: feed colonies sugar syrup in early spring (Feb-Mar) containing 1cc per quart of spearmint and lemongrass essentail oils (formulated in a concentrate, Honey-B-Healthyr). Part II: maintain all colonies on screened bottom boards, allowing mite fall and to provide an assay of mite populations. Part III: grease patties containing salt and wintergreen oil, are placed on brood chambers and at the entrance beginning in June. Part IV: colonies with significant mite populations are treated in August-September with 50% formic acid combined with 10% HBH using a redesigned top fumigator. These measures allow us to keep mites well below threshold injury levels: four beekeepers kept 186 colonies successfully in 2001 using these methods. Fluvalinate-resistant Varroa mites became common in WV and MD, increasing the importance of the new protocol to control mites. We have not seen tracheal mites for two years; the protocol is devastating to this pest. Several hives infested with lesser hive beetle were illegally brought into WV in fall 2001; these colonies will be checked in 2002 for the pest. Two pest eriophyid mites appeared on hybrids and genetically modified Zea mays in greenhouses in 2001; Aceria zeasinis appeared in St. Louis, MO and Aceria zeala in Davis, CA. Several samples were received for identification; A. zeasinis had been found in a greenhouse in Auburn AL in the sixties, and had not been seen in the US since then-the mite causes deformation of leaves and appears to interrupt pollination and seed set. Aceria zeala was first described from corn in Columbia in the seventies and this is its first occurrence in the USA; it occurs on the leafy sheaths covering developing ears, coating the husks with white dust resembling pollen; mites appear to interfere with pollination and seed set in the greenhouse. Infested plants were destroyed in California, representing losses of valuable, genetically modified corn worth several million dollars. Investigations revealed several new species of eriophyoids from grapes (Vitis spp. in the USA and Korea), sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum in Australia), and various grasses. Keys to the genera of Eriophyoidea were rewritten to include 64 new genera (340 total); work continued on the Computerized Catalog of Eriophyoidea: there are now 3,544 species, 7,100 host plant associations, and 6,204 known references; a CD with the catalog is made available to researchers. In 2001, Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) of multiflora rose was found in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia for the first time. It has spread as far east as Queen Annes and Talbot counties in MD (Delmarva Peninsula). Due to favorable weather in 2001, spread of RRD increased significantly in WV, infecting up to 40-50% of plants in some areas of WV, MD and PA; the epidemic is expected to rapidly increase in the next few years and to enter Delaware, New Jersey, New York and the piedmont of South Carolina.
Publications:
Noel, R., Amrine, J., Kovacs, A., Delia, A. 2002. Organic four-fold freatment IPM for controlling honey bee mites. American Bee Journal 142(3)Flechtmann, C. H.
W., Amrine, J. W., Jr., Stasny, T. A. 2002. Keys to World Genera of Eriophyoidea, Revised (Acari: Prostigmata). Indira Publish. House, West Bloomfield, Michigan, USA: 232 pp.
Impact:
The modified protocol for managing honey bee mites using organic acids and essential oils will allow beekeepers to maintain strong colonies for pollination and honey production without reliance on synthetic acaricides; fluvalinate-resistant varroa mites can now be successfully treated with the formic acid fumigator. RRD will continue to spread and to eliminate stands of multiflora rose, but will become an increasing problem for rosarians.