Icing sugar as a varoaa control?

[Fatbee]

What are people's views on the effectiveness of using icing sugar in reducing varoaa counts?

 

[Luminos]

 

[Black Comb]

It's been discussed many times on here.
General conclusion is that it is not very effective.
A Canadian study came to this conclusion several years ago.

Quite a few threads if you search.

 

[Baggyone]

It's only one part of the integrated pest management system. Use it on it's own and beware.

Not to mention a bit pricey once you are putting a bag's worth into beehives every week.

Baggy

 

[Ely]

I generally tend to remove one bee at a time and pick them off.

 

[Sadders]

The best thing about the icing sugar is having ghost bees flying around.

 

[VEG]

keep it for icing cakes

 

[For want of a better word]

I generally tend to remove one bee at a time and pick them off.

THEN gently roll the mite in the icing sugar and crunch between molars... wash down with an icy cold Moet!
DELISH !!!


​

 

[susbees]

keep it for icing cakes

Well that's all right. I HATE cake icing... ...and bees don't have teeth ...

 

[oliver90owner]

I have used it (effectively), but not as you are considering, I think. See other threads and search for 'sugar rolling' or somnething similar.

Dusting with icing sugar will get a few, but there are better methods out there.

 

[aberreef]

I dusted with icing sugar earlier on this year. It did knock a gew off but not many. The bees were busy collecting it from the varroa floor the next morning so presumably picked a few back up.

Stick with something that will actively kill the mite imo

 

[MuswellMetro]

Be aware that Icing sugar is not as harmless as you may think

it gets mixed with the larva food and theolder larva dont die if you use too much....BUT a light dusting please as it can however cause egg removal and problems

 

[djg]

I have found icing sugar to be a useful tool if you supect robbing within your apiary - dust a suscepitble hive and see where the "ghost bees" turn up...

 

[Moggs]

Tried it - inconclusive - pain in the proverbial. I don't bother (but note reference to more effective administration than dusting - RAB's rolling bees).

 

[Nellie]

I think muswell makes a very good point. Icing sugar, regardless of what you think of its efficacy, is often put forward as a 'harmless' treatment.

It's not without its uses and I keep a box handy, but I no longer use it as a matter of course in my IPM.

 

[Finman]

.
If hive has brood, no method is efficient. But of course if pouring sugar into hive makes you sleeps better, it is really good.

According researches sugar dusting does not work. But that sleep...

I have done false swarms, and some hives have a huge load of mites and mites have time to reproduce before summer.

For example one hive which swarmed.

The swarm is easy to handle. I trickle with oxalic acid.

The rest of hive has 4 boxes and some brood. I shake the rest of bees to one box and then treat them with oxalic. Brood I collect together and handle later.

I have alternative methods like formic acid, thymol pads and spraying with 1% oxalic water (no sugar)

Formic acid and thymol gives taste into honey now in the middle of summer.

Mating nucs are easy to spray with 1% oxalic water.


FORGET the sugar. Try something else. And remember those brood.
Summer treatment is not easy.

 

[Finman]

Be aware that Icing sugar is not as harmless as you may think

....problems

Crying after non harmless methods in fighting against varroa does not work.
Every method has harms, but the biggest harm is mite itself.

We are now in the middle of summer, yield is coming in. To disturb bees in foraging is a big thing. To give extra aroma with thymol is a bad thing.

But in UK it is long time to autumn and to the time when you can use different methohs. Mites have to much time to reproduce if hive has now much mites.

I have written that varroa makes 20%-80% degrease in winter my clusters, if not kill totally. Don't cry for harms when you have much more worse alternative, to loose bees in autumn and in winter.

]90% reduction[/B] in 1000 mites leaves 100 mites alive.

90% reduction in 300 mites leaves 30 mites alive.


Mites reproduce douple in one month.

July 30 mites ...Aug 60 ...Sept..120 ...240---

100 mites ...Aug 200...........Sept..400.. 800...

50% reduction
500 mites....1000....Sept 2000 ...Och 4000

20% of mites are free during brood time...
If you hurt larvae, it has not much affect on mites.

 

[mbc]

If you have a varroa problem then the title ofthe thread is akin to saying "savlon ointment for compound fractures of both leggs".
Finman, 1% oxalic dribble for mating nucs ? do explain a bit more please.

 

[Skyhook]

If you have a varroa problem then the title ofthe thread is akin to saying "savlon ointment for compound fractures of both leggs".
Finman, 1% oxalic dribble for mating nucs ? do explain a bit more please.

This might help http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/oxalicspray.html

 

[DulwichGnome]

We had a lecture from the SBI last year and he was asked about it, the conclusion was that it only holds the mites at bay and if you miss a week they will build up. It's only real use is if the colony has honey and no other treatment can be used. Personal if a colony needs treating I would take the honey off and use something that knocks them back.

Mike.