DIY... Oxalic acid strips

[Swarm]

I'll let you know next Spring.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

Oa strips don't last 6 weeks get eaten away... Amitraz this year

 

[Swarm]

Mine did.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mine did.

Yes so did mine. I had to take the bits out.

 

[Pembroke]

I'm sure I've read somewhere of beekeepers using rhubarb leaves, you put a cut piece on top of the frames under the crown board and the bees chew it up into pieces and put it out the front of the hive. The point being that the leaves contain oxalic acid and the act of chewing them into easily managed pieces and carrying them through the hive will spread the acid through the hive.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'm sure I've read somewhere of beekeepers using rhubarb leaves, you put a cut piece on top of the frames under the crown board and the bees chew it up into pieces and put it out the front of the hive. The point being that the leaves contain oxalic acid and the act of chewing them into easily managed pieces and carrying them through the hive will spread the acid through the hive.

The internet is awash with crazy ideas like this. Beginners advise other beginners to do it without actually trying it themselves. It’s very popular on Facebook.
It belongs in the beekeepers’ room 101

 

[Apiarisnt]

Report on use/efficacy of some OA strips. They appear to have been water based not glycerine and trialled in Spring and Autumn.
https://www.apimondia.com/docs/apiacta/2006/marinelli_apiacta.pdf

Depends on the recipe:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-015-0405-7
" ...Average efficacy of the organic product was 93.1 % with low variability. This product is an organic treatment designed for Varroa control during brood presence and represents a good alternative to the synthetic treatments. "

 

[Etton]

Oa strips don't last 6 weeks get eaten away... Amitraz this year

Apivar or Apitraz..both being Amitraz? All very confusing, I’m using Apivar this year, vaping a bit of a pain even with my gasvap!

 

[Erichalfbee]

vaping a bit of a pain even with my gasvap!

Why a pain?

 

[Murox]

Apivar or Apitraz..both being Amitraz? All very confusing, I’m using Apivar this year, vaping a bit of a pain even with my gasvap!

There are the only 2 authorised amitraz based products in the UK - Apitraz and Apivar. The others seem to need "special" conditions i.e. temperature above a certain point to work. How do you find vaporising "a bit of a pain"?

 

[Etton]

There are the only 2 authorised amitraz based products in the UK - Apitraz and Apivar. The others seem to need "special" conditions i.e. temperature above a certain point to work. How do you find vaporising "a bit of a pain"?

Just either lugging the equipment between sites, 3 times in 15 day,s or gasvap which I have tried and still to master as I vaped the hives and no varroa fall which made me think ive not done it properly. Also suspicious of my OA which was lumpier and seemed to have absorbed damp so im thinking its not as effective or wrong dosage. Finished putting in apivar strips today.