banana on top of inner cover

[Acebird]

Anybody ever hear of using a rotton banana to control chauckbrood?  People in my club say it works like a charm.  You have to be suited up because it really pee'd off the bees.

I did a search on this forum but didn't get any hits.

[hardwood]

Down here that would be a SHB lure.

Scott

[VolunteerK9]

From my understanding of the banana smell and beehives it would be you taking all the hits and not the search engine when you placed it on there.

[Acebird]

yup!

[Scadsobees]

They didn't give you detailed instructions on how to catch that snipe too, did they?   

[Acebird]

Sorry I don't get the joke.

[Bee-Bop]

Scadsobees;

They didn't give you detailed instructions on how to catch that snipe too, did they?   grin


Sorry I don't get the joke.

He's a engineer you have too explain it very very carefully !! 

Bee-Bop

[kathyp]

snipe hunting is almost a lost art.  

by what mechanism does the banana control the chalkbrood?

[Bee-Bop]

kathyp;

snipe hunting is almost a lost art.  Sad


It's all the fault of those durn plastic shopping bags, snipes wont have any thing to do with them !  

Then again maybe, a rotten banana in a plastic bag might work ?   

Bee-Bop

[Acebird]

I found this:
http://www.hgsc.bcm.tmc.edu/projects/microbial/documents/review_Chalkb.pdf

Start on page 13, this caught my eye:
In the USA the management of honeybee colonies

The banana starts on page 14.


Beek member claimed he had a hive amongst other hives that had chalkbrood for four years.  Local guru said throw in a rotten banana and stand back.  Two weeks later no evidence of chalkbrood.  It is not scientific but for the cost of a rotton banana that could be laying in the woods anyway what would you choose, the banana or a pound of toxic chemicals?  It's a no brain-er for me.

[kathyp]

i don't know any chemicals that work for chalkbrood.  most of the time it's self limiting.  don't see that it could do any harm....

bee-bop, default to the pillow case.

[VolunteerK9]

The ever illusive snipe....tastes good with a red wine sauce 

[annette]

I would not feel good about placing a banana anywhere near my beehives. The banana smell is their alarm pheromone and I would think it might upset them to constantly have that smell on top of them.

Also I thought chaulkbrood was a problem mostly due to ventilation?? Doesn't it clear up pretty easily??

[nella]

Bananas(Dole) are treated with thiabendazole and/or imazalil or azoxystrobin which I think are fungicides. Might there be enough residual material left in the peelings to cure chaulkbrood?

[Acebird]

The banana smell is their alarm pheromone and I would think it might upset them to constantly have that smell on top of them.

Yes, this is what they said.  I was also told they devourer it, not much left.

[Scadsobees]

Sorry I don't get the joke.

It almost sounds like a prank they'd pull on the new greenie beekeeper..."put a banana on and stand nearby and watch it work!!"
 

Like Kathy said...it usually is self limiting, and anybody that had it bad in a hive should be kicked because re-queening is the best cure after a few months of it.  I wonder if the banana induces the hive to supercede the queen - that would cure it.

[VolunteerK9]

I guess the results would depend on if it was an organically grown banana fertilized with all natural monkey poo or one of those wretched Monsanto chemical laden ones 

[Acebird]

I guess the results would depend on if it was an organically grown banana fertilized with all natural monkey poo or one of those wretched Monsanto chemical laden ones 

Hard to figure who is friend or foe on this site but you hit the nail on the head.

[kathyp]

friend or foe?  must we choose sides?

chalkbrood is USUALLY self limiting.  i have lost a hive to it in spite of things like requeening.  it grows were conditions are good for fungus, and that would be here!  in places where moisture is less, and the hive can be ventilated, it is usually self limiting.  i also read a couple of reports about getting the temp up in the hive which would probably preclude the ventilating part.....i did close one hive except for small entrance, i hottest part of summer.  the chalkbrood cleared up, but i have no idea if the heat in the hive was the reason.

[Scadsobees]

Beek member claimed he had a hive amongst other hives that had chalkbrood for four years.  

Sorry, Kathy, I was referring to this situation, not yours or any particular one here.  Maybe that reported episode was a very low-grade case, but this situation seems suspect.  I would take that story with a grain or salt...4 years is a long time to endure that in a hive. 

Usually increased hygeine amongst the bees will cure, which is why requeening works for long-term cases - they get the problems out sooner before the fungus can spread.  The humidity and weather gets it going, but if the bees can keep on top of it, it isn't such a problem.