- Joined
- Nov 9, 2018
- Messages
- 866
- Reaction score
- 784
- Location
- Rainham, Medway (North Kent) UK
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 48 plus 14 owned by others
https://academic.oup.com/jinsectscience/article/22/1/15/6523139
This study suggests that repeated does of vaped oxalic acid do little more than contain (rather than control) varroa when there is sealed brood in a hive. The researchers used a dose of 1g per brood box seven times at 5-day intervals and found that the level of mites stayed the same (and also that adult bees were not adversely affected); at the same time, mite levels increased in the control colonies. They speculate that the 1g dose may be too small given that others have had success with 2.5 and 4g doses. This might explain the (anecdotal) findings of many beekeepers that repeated treatments are successful in colonies with sealed brood.
A bit of a lost opportunity not to have done this trial with the more usual larger dose (c.2.5g), four times at 5-day intervals?
(Moderators: this article out in January so apologies if it has already been aired here.)
This study suggests that repeated does of vaped oxalic acid do little more than contain (rather than control) varroa when there is sealed brood in a hive. The researchers used a dose of 1g per brood box seven times at 5-day intervals and found that the level of mites stayed the same (and also that adult bees were not adversely affected); at the same time, mite levels increased in the control colonies. They speculate that the 1g dose may be too small given that others have had success with 2.5 and 4g doses. This might explain the (anecdotal) findings of many beekeepers that repeated treatments are successful in colonies with sealed brood.
A bit of a lost opportunity not to have done this trial with the more usual larger dose (c.2.5g), four times at 5-day intervals?
(Moderators: this article out in January so apologies if it has already been aired here.)