Wax moth prevention in stored frames

shop deals on amazon
BS Honey Bees
Shop deals on ebay
Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Erichalfbee

Erichalfbee

Super Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
BeeKeeping Supporter
Joined
Jul 23, 2009
Messages
35,143
Reaction score
15,682
Location
Ceredigion
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
13
Till End of 2019 retailers have been offering Certan which is Bacillus thuringiensis or B401.
This is being withdrawn by the manufacturer who is replacing it with B402. This however has no date for a licence in the UK
Some members of the forum have used a product from eBay called Dipel Df which is a subspecies of the same bacillus
The application rate is 1g/100ml
 
Last edited:
for clarity ???
top comment 1g/ltr
botto3 1g/100ml
which is right please?
 
No one is certain as it is being used for something it was not designed for. It is an agricultural spray intended for larvae on crops. Reading the instructions on the side of the jar, in that situation it is applied at 1-2 gm per litre for most crops. The apiarist, a knowledgeable bee keeper and researcher suggests 1 g per 100 ml. I used 2 gm per litre and all seems well so far
 
A teaspoon of DiPel in a litre of water produces a solution very similar to Certan when it's mixed, ready for use.
 
drex said:
No one is certain as it is being used for something it was not designed for. It is an agricultural spray intended for larvae on crops. Reading the instructions on the side of the jar, in that situation it is applied at 1-2 gm per litre for most crops. The apiarist, a knowledgeable bee keeper and researcher suggests 1 g per 100 ml. I used 2 gm per litre and all seems well so far
Click to expand...

A minor point is that any use of an agricultural pesticide for a purpose not covered by the label is illegal. It is possible to get an Extension of Authorisation for Minor Use (EAMU), which costs a fee of around £400, plus the time to fill in the forms . Once the EAMU is granted, anyone can use the product for that use. It's very common for herb growers, for example; they can't afford to do the research to prove that products are safe or effective on their crops, so they piggy-back on the data for other crops. It also helps if it's a non-food use, although use in a beehive or on equipment used for food production might be more tricky.

It might be something that a local or national organisation might consider.

You might have guessed I do this stuff for a living.
 
I don't use any wax moth treatment. As soon as I have extracted the honey from the frames the whole super goes in it's own black bin bag, ensuring there are no rips or holes in it. If they can't get in they can't do any harm. Worked for the last two winters.
 
What if they are already in there as eggs or larvae? WM Tends to prefer brood frames anyway. If I put those away, untreated, no matter how well sealed, I would have a mess come spring
 
drex said:
What if they are already in there as eggs or larvae? WM Tends to prefer brood frames anyway. If I put those away, untreated, no matter how well sealed, I would have a mess come spring
Click to expand...

Any eggs or larvae would have had to come from existing waxmoth, evidence of which I would have seen during inspections, if I saw no evidence then there is nothing that can be in the supers unless a waxmoth managed to pick the tiny moment when the super was being extracted to lay eggs. Also, as each super is packed in it's own plastic bag then should any waxmoth outbreak occur it will be confined to one super.
 
ShinySideUp said:
Any eggs or larvae would have had to come from existing waxmoth, evidence of which I would have seen during inspections, if I saw no evidence then there is nothing that can be in the supers unless a waxmoth managed to pick the tiny moment when the super was being extracted to lay eggs. Also, as each super is packed in it's own plastic bag then should any waxmoth outbreak occur it will be confined to one super.
Click to expand...
Ooooooh, I know this is very late in the day to reply to SSUp, but bagging boxes in plastic bags doesn't work... Many years ago, I carefully bagged and stacked all my supers. Several whiles later, I couldn't understand what the tiny rustling noise was, coming from the stack. On inspection, I was greeted by a cloud of moth. Not only from one super, but from most of them. The little beggar larvae had chewed through the (double!) layers of plastic.

Being a slow learner, last year I left a pile of wax I'd removed from frames, ready for the solar extractor, in one of those flexible plastic buckets often used to feed horses. I was intending, of course, to deal with the wax in short order. Needless to say, I didn't. Now I now longer have a bucket, but a colander - I kid you not!!

Oh, and a few years ago, it was reported that a researcher had found a solution to the disposal of plastic. Waxmoth larvae. And it doesn't appear to be simply the munching action of their jaws as it was reported that even " a soupy blend of recently deceased larvae" can break down plastic.
 
Put the extracted frames in the super in the deep freezer for 24 hours.
Then store sealed in plastic sacks

Store dry frames atop of each other and pour an alequat of glacial acetic acid on a bit of rag and put a roof over the stack...

Never did find out what an alequat is but it is something between a gill and a aquatarious Jin?

Chons da
 
If the internet is to be believed
An aliquot ~ (meaning "some," "so many"), a term generally occurring in the phrase "aliquot part," and meaning that one quantity is exactly divisible into another; thus 3 is an aliquot part of 6.
 
bontbee said:
Ooooooh, I know this is very late in the day to reply to SSUp, but bagging boxes in plastic bags doesn't work... Many years ago, I carefully bagged and stacked all my supers. Several whiles later, I couldn't understand what the tiny rustling noise was, coming from the stack. On inspection, I was greeted by a cloud of moth. Not only from one super, but from most of them. The little beggar larvae had chewed through the (double!) layers of plastic.

Being a slow learner, last year I left a pile of wax I'd removed from frames, ready for the solar extractor, in one of those flexible plastic buckets often used to feed horses. I was intending, of course, to deal with the wax in short order. Needless to say, I didn't. Now I now longer have a bucket, but a colander - I kid you not!!

Oh, and a few years ago, it was reported that a researcher had found a solution to the disposal of plastic. Waxmoth larvae. And it doesn't appear to be simply the munching action of their jaws as it was reported that even " a soupy blend of recently deceased larvae" can break down plastic.
Click to expand...
I had a similar experience with supers in plastic bags, that I had bought specially. I kept looking at the pile, feeling confident that all would be well but when I opened them it was a huge mess- the supers had been full of honey as well. The larvae had eaten through the plastic between the boxes.

I think it should work if you put the boxes in plastic bags and then freeze the whole lot. Make sure the bag is sealed. I don't think that the adult moths would be able to eat through the plastic. Interesting that the mushed up dead larvae can "eat" through plastic. Perhaps that research would be useful, so long as we don't get millions of the adults getting into our hives!
 
janetbee said:
I had a similar experience with supers in plastic bags, that I had bought specially. I kept looking at the pile, feeling confident that all would be well but when I opened them it was a huge mess- the supers had been full of honey as well. The larvae had eaten through the plastic between the boxes.

I think it should work if you put the boxes in plastic bags and then freeze the whole lot. Make sure the bag is sealed. I don't think that the adult moths would be able to eat through the plastic. Interesting that the mushed up dead larvae can "eat" through plastic. Perhaps that research would be useful, so long as we don't get millions of the adults getting into our hives!
Click to expand...

24 hours at minus 5 should kill the eggs larvae and any moths... or if you have the space leave the frames there till next Spring
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
bees wax uses medical and balms
2
Replies
22
Views
25K
TomP-
T

Latest posts

Back
Top