Sugar dusting and mite drop

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BernardBlack

Field Bee
Joined
May 7, 2016
Messages
552
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40
Location
Co. Armagh
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
5
Normally I go by the daily mite drop to gauge the height of my varroa problem.

Not sure what sort of numbers would be considered a problem after sugar dusting.

Some notes say to count mites after 1 hour, then 24 hours.

But what level of mite drop is too much, and what subsequent treatments would you recommend?

Any tips welcome.
 
Lots of variables but on the whole sugar dusting is said to remove about 50% of phoretic mites in 24hrs.
Which equates to about 10% of your total mite population . 1000 mites is usually given as the point where colonies can collapse.
 
Did a sugar dusting earlier. 1 hour later, about 7 or 8 mites. Will assess after 24 hours.

I know there’s a lot of things to consider with varroa. But one thing I had last year was the sight of bees with deformed wing in the hive, and bees with DWV being dragged from the hive and dumped. I haven’t seen that this year. As I said though, that doesn’t mean there’s not a high infestation.
 
At the risk of creating horror, I check drone brood and since I started oxalic trickling some 12 years ago I have not yet seen a mite in the drone brood. That's all I do.

PH
 
At the risk of creating horror, I check drone brood and since I started oxalic trickling some 12 years ago I have not yet seen a mite in the drone brood. That's all I do.

PH

How many times annually do you use oxalic acid trickling?

Do you use any other methods?
 

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