Supers stored over summer - wax moth!!!

[Levitt53]

Well I've not used as many supers as last year obviously and just got to the bottom of last winter's stack of supers, aiming to restack them all. The one at the bottom is riddled with wax moth! Yuck. I couldn't sort them out as it was being plagued with wasps - I'll try again when it's raining. I guess I have no other option than to burn them. They survived the winter fine but obviously haven't survived the heat of the summer. How do others store the drawn, wet supers they are not using during the summer? This is the first year I've had much of a stock of them so hadn't really thought about this.

 

[user 819]

I only have a stack of 40- 50 supers/BB's, whether I store wet or dry I fumigate with Acetic first then stack in side a store shed, between every 3 boxes I place a ply, hardboard divider.
I also use a sulphur burner and light that in the store shed every now and then. Once or twice during late Oct to late Jan I spend a half hour and go through them to check for any sign of damage, once this is done I find I have no issues until the merry-go-round starts again.

 

[enrico]

Well I've not used as many supers as last year obviously and just got to the bottom of last winter's stack of supers, aiming to restack them all. The one at the bottom is riddled with wax moth! Yuck. I couldn't sort them out as it was being plagued with wasps - I'll try again when it's raining. I guess I have no other option than to burn them. They survived the winter fine but obviously haven't survived the heat of the summer. How do others store the drawn, wet supers they are not using during the summer? This is the first year I've had much of a stock of them so hadn't really thought about this.

Don't burn them, throw them in the solar melter, you will get the wax and the frames will get so hot any grubs will be killed.

 

[Levitt53]

I'm not sure a solar melter would work this time of year. But my question is a bit more of what do you do with them during the summer?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

How do others store the drawn, wet supers they are not using during the summer?

Same as I do in the winter - makes no difference. I was using some frames midsummer that were stored away at the end of the 2018 season and had not been used last year. there was very little sign of waxmoth (think one frame was unusable) which was probably down to the fact that by this year, they were a little dry.
You do sometimes get the odd box that succumbs - go through them, burn the worse ones (no point putting them in the solar melter - waxmoth invades the boxes as the wax is food for their larvae, ipso facto - they've eaten the wax!) and clean the rest. the odd bit of moth dirt/ web is fine, the bees will sort them, but if they look not too bad, keept them but separate from the fresh stuff, if they don't survive this winter it just means you've delayed burning them by a few months.

 

[Levitt53]

Same as I do in the winter - makes no difference. I was using some frames midsummer that were stored away at the end of the 2018 season and had not been used last year. there was very little sign of waxmoth (think one frame was unusable) which was probably down to the fact that by this year, they were a little dry.
You do sometimes get the odd box that succumbs - go through them, burn the worse ones (no point putting them in the solar melter - waxmoth invades the boxes as the wax is food for their larvae, ipso facto - they've eaten the wax!) and clean the rest. the odd bit of moth dirt/ web is fine, the bees will sort them, but if they look not too bad, keept them but separate from the fresh stuff, if they don't survive this winter it just means you've delayed burning them by a few months.

Ok thanks. It was the bottom one so maybe if just succumbed as you say.

 

[Amari]

I only have a stack of 40- 50 supers/BB's, whether I store wet or dry I fumigate with Acetic first then stack in side a store shed, between every 3 boxes I place a ply, hardboard divider.

I've just tried to repeat a previous order for 80% acetic acid on Amazon but no longer available. Anybody got a source? Thanks.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

C Wynne Jones