MAQS - Brave New World?

[REDWOOD]

So what's the idea behind the hops........do the varroa gut drunk and fall over and out of the hive before the bees as varroa have shorter legs.

 

[REDWOOD]

Or does it make the varroa mites hop ping mad

 

[BeeJayBee]

Hopguard should have a licence here next year and that seems a much more benign

Anything that's more benign to the bees would be welcome.

Never heard of it!
Made from natural hop compounds.
HopGuard - Varroa Mite Control - YouTube

Useful. I hadn't heard of it before.

Some stuff on the Vita Europe website, from earlier in the year http://www.vita-europe.com/news/vita-starts-registration-process-for-green-varroa-control-treatment/

So what's the idea behind the hops........do the varroa gut drunk and fall over and out of the hive before the bees as varroa have shorter legs.

I don't know what's in it, says it's 'food grade hop compounds'. So should we be able to eat it too?

I'm tempted to see what the bees will do with a load of hops dumped on the top bars. We've got a massive crop this year, far more than we need for beer.

 

[Swarm]

I feel happier doing this than keeping supers on really late & using MAQS.

Why would using MAQS require you leave supers on really late? You can use MAQS and still have your supers off by August if you wish.
This is what I was referring to in my last post, MAQS is not thymol.

 

[Walrus]

Hi Swarm,
I think the OP was saying that to take advantage of the late HB flow it would be too late to treat with thymol, but MAQS could be used whilst supers still on.

So the point is not that using MAQS needs late supers, but late supers may require using MAQS.

Also, treating with MAQS in summer to give time to replace queens does not necessarily give bees the best chance going into winter as varroa levels can have risen again.

 

[The Drone Ranger]

I am told MAQS being a formic acid treatment might not be ideal in Summer when the temperatures can rise

The ability to reach through cappings to kill varroa (claimed) has to be balanced by the fact that it kills a proportion of the young brood (reported to be 20%)

I expect you can use it at any time of year, but because of the above, Spring or Early Autumn might seem the most suitable times.

 

[lebouche]

I think you are on to something with this.
Every varroa treatment thats come on the market has been developed for larger hives than most use in Britain and yet the doses arent scaled down.

Also, the 'IPM scheme rather than hoping for total mite clearance' will hasten the development of the balance needed between host and parasite so as we can forego treatments in the future.

Can you tell us more about the IPM scheme please?

 

[mbc]

Can you tell us more about the IPM scheme please?

IPM or 'integrated pest management' has been a buzz phrase in agricultural pest management circles for a while now, and as I understand it, it basically means monitoring the situation and only applying control measures when the monitoring suggests it would be necessary, and to measure the response according to the degree of the problem, this is as opposed to prophylactic interventions by rote.
IPM also requires a consideration of all the various control measures available, eg. for varroa control in beekeeping, considering bio technical measures or 'soft' chemicals before automatically reaching for the 'hard' chemicals.

 

[itma]

I am told MAQS being a formic acid treatment might not be ideal in Summer when the temperatures can rise
...
I expect you can use it at any time of year, but because of the above, Spring or Early Autumn might seem the most suitable times.

The instruction document is concerned with the temperature ONLY on "the day of application".
Its a fair guess that their concern is the initial surge or 'flash' of vapour.
And they just want the maximum temperature on that day to be below 30C (I think they are working to the round number of 85F) --- which with your being in Scotland shouldn't be terribly limiting!