[chasil]

Powdered sugar is the standard treatment for removing varroa mites that have emerged from capped cells.

"The peptides killed only the mites, while the bees survived."

What benefits do these new treatments offer? They certainly won't be cheaper.

https://www.honeybeesuite.com/can-powdered-sugar-control-var...

Edit: "Treatments every week killed more mites than treatments every two weeks, which killed more mites than treatments every month... The only treatment schedule that effectively suppressed mites over long periods was once per week... sugar dusting has been found to significantly reduce adult mite populations at times when little brood is present."

[m4x]

There currently isn't a effective treatment for varroa that doesn't also kill the hive. It is not a solved problem, and there is certainly room for more research in this space.

[lavela]

I am pretty sure I read that Bees would be capable of taking care of mites themselves, but taking away their honey puts them in constant food stress, thus suppressing that behavior, and compresses the colony thus increasing mite density. Can't find a proper study right now though.

[bspammer]

The article you linked lists a bunch of downsides to powdered sugar: it doesn’t kill the mites it just encourages the bees to brush them off, it has reduced effectiveness when it’s humid, it doesn’t work on mites that aren’t actively on a bees body, and it has to be applied regularly.

[lostlogin]

And it won’t worked on capped brood, so you have to dust them repeatedly.

[lostlogin]

> Powdered sugar is the standard treatment

This is hilariously impractical and won’t do a thing for the mites in the capped brood.

The labour involved in doing this at scale would be prohibitive too.