APIS Volume 12, Number 4, April 1994

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In this issue

• Fluvalinate Inspections in Georgia
• African Honey Bee Video -- Learning to Live With them
• Honey Hotline: Research From the National Honey Board
• Non Apis or Pollen Bees
• African Bee Miscellany-Kids

FLUVALINATE INSPECTIONS IN GEORGIA

Dr. Keith Delaplane reprinted an article from the December, 1993 Quarterly Update for Inspectors in Pesticide Enforcement, published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)in his Georgia Bee Letter, January-March, 1994. As Dr. Delaplane concludes, the warning to beekeepers is self-explanatory:

"Recently some of our State Programs discovered a problem of widespread misuse of a pesticide product by beekeepers. The pesticide fluvalinate...is now being used by beekeepers to control Varroa mites in beehives during honey flow. The particular formulation used was not approved for use in beehives, and there is no legal use of fluvalinate in hives during honey flow.

"There is a formulation that is approved for use in beehives. The product Apistan is a plastic strip impregnated with 10% fluvalinate active ingredient. This formulation is more expensive, so some beekeepers have been soaking wooden sticks in unapproved fluvalinate formulations for use in their hives . Since this takes place to some degree in every state, all inspectors should be aware of this issue and take action where appropriate." [Editor's emphasis] (see January 1993 APIS)

AFRICAN BEE VIDEO--LEARNING TO LIVE WITH THEM

With support of the Federal Extension Service, USDA and The Ohio State University Cooperative Extension Service, National Apicultural Program Leader for the Federal Extension Service, Dr. Jim Tew, has released a videotape which contains five (5) segments:

• Africanized Bees - Learning to Live with Them, color, 20:23, discusses the recent establishment of the Africanized honey bee population in south Texas. This includes interviews with the Apiary Inspection Service and commercial beekeepers about what the bee means to changes in apiculture in the Rio Grande Valley.
• Africanized Honey Bees - Destroying Africanized Bee Hives, color, 15:20, describes controlling established colonies of Africanized bees in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
• How to Get Started - Bees From a Building, color, 17:23, shows how to remove an established colony of honey bees from a building and install it into a modern moveable-frame beehive.
• The Sting - Ground Nesting Yellow Jackets, color, 5:55, describes the excavation and dissection of an underground yellow jacket nest.
• The Sting - The Hornet's Highrise Hive, Color, 8:11, discusses the bald-faced hornet's life cycle and nesting activities.

This video is currently being added to the IFAS Audiovisual library at the University of Florida. It will be available through your county Cooperative Extension Office. Additional copies are available at $10.00 each from Dr. Tew, OSU Extension Bee Lab, OARDC/Dept. of Entomology, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691, ph 216/263-3684.

HONEY HOTLINE: RESEARCH FROM THE NATIONAL HONEY BOARD

I have had two indications that the Honey Hotline, a service of the National Honey Board Food Technology Program, continues to be a source of information for beekeepers and others. I was able to quickly answer a beekeeper's request concerning honey storage after contacting the hotline. I simply called the 800 number (356-5941) and was sent printed information on the topic.

Dr. Robert Bates, Department of Food Science, University of Florida also received information concerning honey fermentation from Program. It is found in the Honey Hotline, No. 4, 1993.

According to this four-page newsletter, the National Honey Board commissioned a study which recently was completed by Bison Brewing Co. (Berkeley, CA). The company developed five prototype samples of honey ale and stout. The report covered what adjustments are necessary in brewing beer using citrus, sage, clover and buckwheat honeys. In summary, the results include:

1. Honey should be added so that diastic enzymes (alpha and beta amylase) do not degrade the dextrins (non-fermentable carbohydrates) in beer, destroying the texture and body of the end product.
2. Yeast and bacteria in honey are generally not active because of the low water content. However, when honey is diluted for making beer, these microorganisms can grow and adversely affect the end product. Bison Brewing was able to perfect a method to pasteurize honey, preserving its delicate flavor and composition (176 degrees F for 2.5 hours under anaerobic conditions). After pasteurization, the honey is then cooled and added to the beer at high Kraeusen (peak fermentation).
3. Because adding honey will decrease the dextrins in the final product as discussed in number one above, the brewer should use higher saccharification temperatures (154 to 160 degrees F.). A lower original gravity in the wort is also suggested.
4. Honey is generally used in beer brewing because of its distinct aroma and flavor. A subtle flavor is contributed by using 3-10 percent honey per total grain bill and lighter honeys are recommended. At 11-30 percent of total grain bill, distinct flavors develop, and stronger flavored hops, caramelized or roasted malts, spices and other additions should be considered. Over 30 percent of total grain bill, the honey dominates the other flavors in the beer. Stronger flavored honeys in general are recommended because they give distinct flavors, even at low levels.
5. More investigation is needed in heating honey which produces furfurals and derivatives causing off flavors and in ensuring an adequate amount of free amino nitrogen (FAN) necessary to the fermentation process.

In conclusion, according to the newsletter, honey is unsurpassed as an additive in brewing and this activity offers endless possibilities. More information on the research reported above is available from the National Honey Board Food Technology Program, P.O. Box 281525, San Francisco, CA 94128-1525, FAX 415/340-8568.

For those of us that may not be in the micro-brewery scene, honey in beer brewing at first glance appears to be only a minor activity, not responsible for marketing much product. However, there appears to be huge growth potential in this area. According to the above newsletter, in 1992 there were 103 micro-breweries and 191 brew pubs in the U.S. The former are growing at 6 percent annually and the latter increased by a total of 15 between 1991 and 1992. In addition, nearly one million persons make 30-60 gallons of beer at home each year.

Beyond beer, "New Age" beverages and those associated with sports are also good candidates for using honey, according to the newsletter. New Age Beverages are a $195 million market. They are defined as sweetened waters with a "good for you" attitude. Honey holds a "definite" place in a variety of beverage products such as Grizzly Ade, a preservative-free product which is naturally flavored with honey, produced by Pyramid Juice Company (Ashland, OR); Honey 'N Apple Raspberry and Honey N' Cranberry juices from Brookies Food Products (Coral Springs, FL), Barker's Tru-Fruit Juice from Anz-Trade (San Leandro, CA); and Honey Lemonade from Vivaleo (Dallas, TX). (Also see March 1993 and February and March 1995 APIS.

POLLEN OR NON APIS BEES

It is becoming abundantly clear that honey bees can no longer be looked at as the premier insect pollinator for all plants. Many other bees also go for the pollen. Some of these have been written up as "The Busiest of Bees: Pollen Bees Outwork Honey Bees as Crop Pollinators," in the February, 1994 issue of Agricultural Research.

According to the article, of more than 20,000 known bee species, only six are honey bees (genus Apis). The rest are "pollen bees," sometimes called wild, or solitary, bees. These don't fit descriptions of overdefensive African bees, yellowjackets and hornets. Instead, the article says, they have "friendlier" names, including digger, sweat, bumble, carpenter, leafcutter, orchard and shaggy fuzzyfoot.

The key to a pollen bee's fanatic work schedule, according to the article, is that it often is not around long and needs to quickly lay in a pollen load for its brood; some only have four to six weeks to do so. This is analogous to the energy output of salmon swimming upstream to spawn.

Many pollen bees are also far more efficient pollinators than honey bees, because they specialize on certain plants. One example is the hornfaced bee (Osmia cornifrons), popular in Japan for apple pollination. This bee can visit 15 flowers a minute, setting 2,450 apples compared to 50 set by the honey bee. Thus, apple growers only need 500 to 600 hornfaced bees per hectare (2.47 acres), instead of thousands of honey bees. This bee is being studied intensively at the ARS Beltsville Bee Laboratory.

Then there's "buzz pollination." Many pollen bees literally vibrate the flowers, causing pollen to discharge from the anthers in clouds, the article says. Honey bees don't. For certain crops like blueberries, tomatoes, chili peppers, eggplants and cranberries, buzz pollination is important for optimum results. Carpenter bees and fuzzyfoots are adept at this activity, and their activities are being examined by Agricultural Research Service scientists at Tucson, AZ and Beltsville, MD. The goal is to develop artificial nests to make mass-rearing possible.

Bumblebees are big business overseas because of their pollinating potential in greenhouse tomatoes, according to the article, and may soon be in the U.S. This is corroborated by a full-page advertisement in the January, 1994 issue of Fruit Grower. An inquiry for dealers in "maintenance free bumblebees," suggests there's money to be made by selling hives equipped with a special feeding cartridge, transparent lid, and closeable entrance. For information, contact Biobest Biological Systems, Llse Velden 18, B-2260 Westerlo, Belgium, ph +32/14/23 17 01, FAX +32/14/23 18 31.

Another potential blueberry pollinator in the West is Osmia ribifloris, according to the article. It visits a blueberry blossom about every three seconds, three times faster than a worker honey bee. Its life history is being researched at the Logan Utah laboratory for non-APIS bees. Not mentioned in the article, but just as important, is Habropoda laboriosa, the southeastern blueberry bee. The effectiveness of this insect and potential for its use in southern rabbiteye blueberries was written up in the January and February, 1991 issues of APIS.

Although pollen bees are less efficient in certain pollinating situations, those involved in honey bees have little reason to despair. APIS mellifera continues to be the pollinator of choice for a good many crops because it can be managed, moved and manipulated to ensure large populations at specific times, something impossible for most pollen bees. Recent information about the scarcity of honey bees caused by infestation of the imported mite, Varroa jacobsoni, has also changed the pollination picture for honey bees. They can no longer be taken for granted, and like the pollen bees mentioned in the article, their most important protectors continue to be people. As the article concludes, it needs to be recognized that pollen bees (and by extension, honey bees) are a wildlife resource and valuable part of the environment. Scientists contributing to the article are listed as: Suzanne Batra, USDA-ARS Bee Research Lab, Bldg. 476, BARC-East, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-2350, ph 301/504-8205, FAX 301/504-8736; Stephen Buchmann, USDA-ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, 2000 E. Allen Rd., Tucson, AZ 85719, ph 602/670- 6481, FAX 602/670-6493; Philip F. Torchio and Vincent Tepedino, USDA-ARS Pollinating Insect Biology Research Unit, Natural Resources Bldg., Utah State University, Logan, UT 84332, ph 801/797-2520, FAX 801/797-1575.

AFRICAN HONEY BEE MISCELLANY - KIDS

CITE Extension, Federal USDA Extension Service, reports that a third-grade reading level book on African bees has just been published by Dillon Press, A division of Macmillan. Entitled "Killer Bees," it is a part of the series called "remarkable animals." The authors are Kathleen Davis and Dave Mayes of Texas A & M University News Staff.

Also reported was "Bee Smart Week," declared in San Diego County, CA March 21-26. This kicked off an intensive release of information and education on African bees, primarily targeting schools and employers. San Diego Mayor Susan Golding was even a caste member in a skit entitled "Bee Smart and Don't Bug Bees!"

Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU