Varroa Mites
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Pharmacyman
- Nursebee
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Fri Jun 12, 2020 1:05 pm
Varroa Mites
Hi, I have two hives in a residential area. This is year two with them. Last year the person I was learning from came over and used oxalic acid vaporization. I just tested for Varroa and hives were 2% and 2.3%. Should I treat for mites at this level? Would Apiguard be a good choice if I should treat now?
Re: Varroa Mites
You are getting into treatment range. If it were me, I would go with a treatment or two of OAV and do a sugar roll afterwards to see about mite levels. My "go to" for going into winter mite treatments is FormicPro. I like that it kills mites under capped brood, but the downside is that it can be hard on weaker queens. I also like the first 3 days it is in to have high temperatures not greater than 82F. If I am trying to get this done sometime in August, I watch the forecast closely and go to work when the opportunity presents itself. I normally do OAV treatments around December 21st as a matter of routine.
Check the Apiguard label for temperature ranges and limitations on use. You should not have honey supers on using thymol based products, but if you are not planning on taking this honey or if you are feeding sugar water, using Apiguard should not be a problem.
I would suggest that you go to the "Bee Health" link on our homepage at www.guilfordbeekeepers.org It is toward the bottom of the home page on the left hand side. It will take you to the Honey Bee Health Coalition site. This has current information about mite thresholds, and it has a tool for helping you make a decision about what type of mite treatment you may want to use.
Check the Apiguard label for temperature ranges and limitations on use. You should not have honey supers on using thymol based products, but if you are not planning on taking this honey or if you are feeding sugar water, using Apiguard should not be a problem.
I would suggest that you go to the "Bee Health" link on our homepage at www.guilfordbeekeepers.org It is toward the bottom of the home page on the left hand side. It will take you to the Honey Bee Health Coalition site. This has current information about mite thresholds, and it has a tool for helping you make a decision about what type of mite treatment you may want to use.