WI-USA-BEEK
New Bee
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2010
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- USA
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
- Number of Hives
- 36
Hello all
Im from the state of Wisconsin in the USA so my climate should be close or similar to the UK for the most part. For starters, here are my average high and low tmeps in my area if I can post links
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/54729
The whole reason I joined this forum is hopefully to gain some knoledge of the ins and outs of oxalic acid drip. It is not very popular here but I want to switch to organic chemicals to control varroa. I curently keep 20 colones and plan on expanding to around 50 next season. Right now I have apistan strips in my colonies for varroa but Im pretty sure the mites have gained resistance to it as they have across the county. I also plan on using formic acid next year. I want to use formic in spring and oxalic in fall. I was thinking about fromic this fall but there is a large risk of queen loss if you dont have your method down so gave in to the apistan varroa strips once again. I have been feeding corn syrup heavily and pollen patties so my bees have not shut down brood production yet. I will end feeding this week or the following week.
Anyway, I hope I did not type in circles there but my question is this, when do you apply the oxalic acid drip, and at what temps? Do the bees need to fly after application? Is there queen loss?
I am going to do a mite drop check at end of this month and apply the acid to any that still have a mite count or all if they need it if I feel confadent Im not doing more damage than good!
Thank you all for any help you can provide!
Im from the state of Wisconsin in the USA so my climate should be close or similar to the UK for the most part. For starters, here are my average high and low tmeps in my area if I can post links
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/54729
The whole reason I joined this forum is hopefully to gain some knoledge of the ins and outs of oxalic acid drip. It is not very popular here but I want to switch to organic chemicals to control varroa. I curently keep 20 colones and plan on expanding to around 50 next season. Right now I have apistan strips in my colonies for varroa but Im pretty sure the mites have gained resistance to it as they have across the county. I also plan on using formic acid next year. I want to use formic in spring and oxalic in fall. I was thinking about fromic this fall but there is a large risk of queen loss if you dont have your method down so gave in to the apistan varroa strips once again. I have been feeding corn syrup heavily and pollen patties so my bees have not shut down brood production yet. I will end feeding this week or the following week.
Anyway, I hope I did not type in circles there but my question is this, when do you apply the oxalic acid drip, and at what temps? Do the bees need to fly after application? Is there queen loss?
I am going to do a mite drop check at end of this month and apply the acid to any that still have a mite count or all if they need it if I feel confadent Im not doing more damage than good!
Thank you all for any help you can provide!