Subject: Tobacco vs Wood Smoke?

From: [email-masked] (Sandra C Colenutt)
Date: 23 Feb 1995 14:16:42 GMT

I am a University of Guelph student, and am considering doing a project 
this summer on the effects of Tobacco vs. Wood smoke on bee loss while 
moving hives.  Does anyone out there have any practical experience with 
using Tobacco smoke with bees, or any ideas of where I can find some 
information?

Any comments would be appreciated.  

e-mail [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Fred McKenzie)
Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 12:52:59 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
> using Tobacco smoke with bees, or any ideas of where I can find some 

Sandra-

I have no knowledge of beekeeping, but wondered about your choice of
Tobacco.  It is my understanding that nicotine is an effective
insecticide.

Fred

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From: [email-masked] (Mary Songster-Alpin)
Date: Sat, 25 Feb 1995 23:26:27

>e-mail [email-masked]

Sandra,
The niccotine in tobacco smoke is a highly toxic insecticide.  You may want to 
try comparing the effects of various types of wood instead.

Jim Alpin (on my wife's internet account)

Mary S. Songster-Alpin     [email-masked] 
Dept of Micro., Path., and Parasit.
North Carolina State University
College of Veterinary Medicine
4700 Hillsborough St.
Raleigh, NC  27606
I form my own opinions, not NCSU's.

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From: [email-masked] (Owen Watson)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 20:47:31 +1200

> The niccotine in tobacco smoke is a highly toxic insecticide.  You may
want to 

I (and, I think, a lot of Dutch beekeepers) use tobacco instead of wood or
paper smoke. It does not kill bees, to the best of my knowledge. (You can
buy tobacco sweepings from Dutch bee supply places). Tobacco is easier to
get lit and the smokers are certainly smaller.
_______________________________________________
Owen Watson, The Royal Society of New Zealand
Web server: http://www.rsnz.govt.nz/

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From: [email-masked] (David J Trickett)
Date: 28 Feb 1995 09:14:43 GMT

Sandra C Colenutt ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I am a University of Guelph student, and am considering doing a project 
: this summer on the effects of Tobacco vs. Wood smoke on bee loss while 
: moving hives.  Does anyone out there have any practical experience with 
: using Tobacco smoke with bees, or any ideas of where I can find some 
: information?

: Any comments would be appreciated.  

Just out of curiousity, what/why do you expect to get a difference 
in losses by using different smoke while moving hives?  If you move them 
at night (or at least seal them up then, when the foragers have all 
returned) you won't even be using smoke - except to drive them in before 
sealing...

Anyway, I have read that tobacco can be used as a smoker fuel, though I
wasn't able to find a reference for you now.  The Hive and the Honey Bee
does list nicotine as an insecticide that can be used around bees with a
minimum of injury.  It lists the LD50 as being above 11.0 micrograms per
bee.  By way of comparison, malathion is listed at .726, and bifenthrin
(registered under the tradenames Brigade, Capture) is listed at .016. 
THese figures are for exposures resulting from application outside of the
hive (e.g., exposures resulting from visits to treated alfalfa).  The data
for toxics exposures within hives does not include nicotine. 

Incidentally, does anyone know if varroa mites are susceptible to 
nicotine?  I've been wondering about this for a few weeks and thought 
to bring it up now.  Seems like it might be a bit safer 
than the current treatment (and think of the support we'd get from the 
tobacco industry!).  Also, treatment consisting of more than one 
substance might be more effective and more difficult to acquire immunity 
to than a single-substance treatment (synergisms and all...).  Fluvalinate's 
(active ingredient in Apistan) LD50 occurs at 8.78 micrograms.