CONTEXT

Keeping honey bees alive and healthy has become a real headache for most beekeepers. The colonies are weakened by an environmental pollution which does not cease to intensify, by the continuous impoverishment of biodiversity as well as by the permanent presence of the varroa mite and all the viruses associated with this parasite.

 

When in 2015, Paul Stamets, the new media star of mycology in the United States, presented the first results of his discoveries concerning the links that bees have developed with fungi, hope is reborn.

 

Paul Stamets and his team carried out laboratory tests on bees in crates with extracts of mycelia and fungi from 4 different species ( Fomes fomentarius, Ganoderma applanatum, Trametes versicolor, Ganoderma resinaceum ).

 

The results on bee health are very promising: better functioning of immunity, longer lifespan and up to 90% fewer viruses.

The article describing some of the experiments was published in the journal Nature at the end of August 2018.  You can read about it here.

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1st PHASE OF THE MYCOBEES PROJECT

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The experiments started during the summer of 2018

 

Following a procedure recommended by Paul Stamets' team, we produced tinder extracts which were made available to bees from the end of the summer honey harvest.

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