Apilife Var / Thymovar

[karen p]

Went into ****** today for things including varroa treatment. Picked up Apilife Var as I was happy with it last year but when discussing amount I needed for my hives ( 3 wood and 2 poly nationals ) was told not to use apilife var with a poly hive as it will damage it. Apparently it is the camphor that is the problem. It was suggested that I use Thymovar for poly hives as it does not contain camphor and is therefore not a problem.

 

[chipper]

I used Apilife var in my Poly Nucs and it does some damage if it comes into direct contact with the Poly.
May try Thymovar myself as there is insufficient air space above the frames for Apiguard....At least in the MB Poly nucs.
Swienty nucs have enough space I think.

 

[oldsalthouse]

I used Thymovar last year and had good results, will use it again this year

 

[Drew]

Went into ****** today for things including varroa treatment. Picked up Apilife Var as I was happy with it last year but when discussing amount I needed for my hives ( 3 wood and 2 poly nationals ) was told not to use apilife var with a poly hive as it will damage it. Apparently it is the camphor that is the problem. It was suggested that I use Thymovar for poly hives as it does not contain camphor and is therefore not a problem.

Is camphor (meant to be) an "active" ingredient?
ie If the camphor is supposed to improve its anti-varroa properties then leaving it out is....... well leaving it out.

Not saying you shouldn't use it or anything just you said "I was happy with it"...

 

[karen p]

I'm no expert but assume it must be the thymol that is the active ingredient, as that is the sole ingredient of Thymovar 15g in each strip. Apilife Var has 8g thymol plus eucalyptus 1.72g , camphor 0.39 and levomenthol 0.39g. However Thymovar goes on twice for three weeks each time and Apilife once a week for four weeks so about the same amount of thymol in each overall. I was happy with Apilife as I seemed to get a fair amount of mites drop the first week and gradually less the following weeks and seem to have a fairly small amount of mites this summer.

 

[victor meldrew]

I knew an old beekeeper who used moll balls amongst his stack of stored supers . This became frowned upon due to their camphor content ! Camphor seems to have reappeared in the guise of a Varroa treatment albeit it's use being restricted to having no supers involved at the time of the treatment
VM

 

[Luminos]

I knew an old beekeeper who used moll balls amongst his stack of stored supers . This became frowned upon due to their camphor content ! Camphor seems to have reappeared in the guise of a Varroa treatment albeit it's use being restricted to having no supers involved at the time of the treatment
VM

...moll balls??

 

[victor meldrew]

WAX MOTH - MOTH BALLS
Get it ?
VM

 

[masterBK]

Reminds me of a very old joke:

Q: If you hold a moth ball in your left hand and a moth ball in your right hand what have you got ?
A: A very big moth!!

 

[enrico]

Correction, very, very, very old joke!

 

[Drew]

correction, very, very, very bad old joke!

ftfy

 

[Stickyfingers]

Went into ****** today for things including varroa treatment. Picked up Apilife Var as I was happy with it last year but when discussing amount I needed for my hives ( 3 wood and 2 poly nationals ) was told not to use apilife var with a poly hive as it will damage it. Apparently it is the camphor that is the problem. It was suggested that I use Thymovar for poly hives as it does not contain camphor and is therefore not a problem.

Have you thought of making a 'picture' frame to raise the roof so it doesn't come into contact with it. Just did it on mine. Roof just slots over.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I used apilife last year and neither of my poly hives were affected. There was a little melting of one crownboard where the strip came into contact with it.

 

[Teemore]

I have come across the recommendation that you use a scrap of the ApiLife Var packet either side of the tablet pieces when you place them in a poly hive. The scrap of the packet thus prevents the product coming into contact with any part of the poly hive. Worth trying.

 

[victor meldrew]

Sounds reasonable
First time I used thymol ,I weighed the crystals out and found the hard plastic tray, come scale cover had become rendered to a matt finish in seconds !!
Needless to say I always use a slip of paper twix scale tray and thymol
VM