What alternatives to oxalic acid?

[Beezy]

Hi,

I don't want to use oxalic acid in winter, so can someone tell me what alternatives there are please?

I'm currently using apiguard and having a high-ish mite drop (150+ over 72 hrs) so would you say that this would require another treatment later in the year?

 

[Frisbee]

The Apiguard/thymol products need an outside temperature of 15 degrees and above to work, so using them later in the year when the temperature has dropped is not going to work. The alternatives to using Oxalic acid are not to use oxalic acid

I failed to collect my doses from my bee buddy last winter.... My bees seem to have survived the lack of treatment and are currently under Hivemaker's thymol/oil medication.

Frisbee

 

[Rosti]

With Apiguard having a claimed 75-99% effectiveness lets say that on average 1 in 5 mites will survive? Apiguard is a treatment episode not a complete treatment in its own right, winter OA is another treatment episode strengthening the overall treatment program. Having comitted to half the job I think you need to explain why you don't want to use oxalic as a mop up.
Remember that winter OA is applied at a time when there is no brood and so very effective mite access is achieved, Cushman quotes 95%+ kill rate for winter OA when using the classic 5ml per seam of bees (3.2% in 1:1 syrup).
One thing that I have puzzled about is that the suggested dose is the same for a std national and a 14x12? Perhaps that is another thread?

 

[Midland Beek]

The alternatives to using Oxalic acid are not to use oxalic acid

You could try diluting some battery acid.

 

[WaxManSmokerBoy]

A good point Rosti. The same effective dose for all boxes, even double brood, but a lesser dose for nucs and mating nucs I believe.

It's a bit like making cakes, the time in the oven turns out to be not quite as critical as first thought, with anything up to plus/minus 20 minutes being a quite normal degree of latitude.

Just wait a month or two and the OA mix discussion will start big time.

Unless of course everyone decides instead to follow the instructions on the packet. As they should.

 

[region2]

Our (nearly) local Seasonal Inspector and bee farmer/instructor doesn't use Oxalic Acid - now he should know what he's doing...

Don't forget icing sugar dusting as another method.

R2

 

[MuswellMetro]

A less effective method is lactic Acid, it requires the brood box to be opened and the frames sprayed , you need to do it twice

i have tried it, but would not recommend it

or use a veterinary treatment called APIVAR which contan Amitraz and is used 6 weeks prior to supers going on, but again I would not recommend you use it unkless you have a real problem ( i have on an apairy with hives with a drop of 5000 mites, two treatment Sept/Oct and March /April)

 

[Arfermo]

Beezy, I get the impression you ,may not have read the FERA booklet on "Managing Varroa". Suggest you do so from https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/downloadNews.cfm?id=93 which is in pdf format. The table on page 30 in my edition is the one you should read.

 

[WI-USA-BEEK]

Hi,

I don't want to use oxalic acid in winter, so can someone tell me what alternatives there are please?

I'm currently using apiguard and having a high-ish mite drop (150+ over 72 hrs) so would you say that this would require another treatment later in the year?

I have been using apistan once a year in fall. I leave it in fro 45-50 days starting in mid september. My mite load is just getting out of hand come end of september again. I also make splits though so that makes a difference. You also cant have resistant mites. I am treating with formic this friday because I want to be able to extract from all frames. I will Use formic, OA, and Hopps. I dont know why you dont want to use an organic treatment instead of something that contaminates your comb, and may lead to other complications. Anyway point is if apistan works as well as it should, you should not have to do anything till spring.

 

[For want of a better word]

Hivemaker's thymol/oil medication.


Keep the icing sugar for your carrot cake


Genetically modified Varroa mite that is canbalistic ( yet to be invented)

 

[biggles]

Use oxalic acid but don't make it a cold liquid, instead put it in a copper tube heat it and let the warm vapor go in through the floor. Save's opening a hive in the cold. Cost very little and warms the bees on a cold day.

PS wear a mask as the fumes are not nice to us

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Use oxalic acid but don't make it a cold liquid, instead put it in a copper tube heat it and let the warm vapor go in through the floor. Save's opening a hive in the cold. Cost very little and warms the bees on a cold day.

PS wear a mask as the fumes are not nice to us

Not really an alternative to OA though is it

Interested as to why the OP doesn't want to use OA - may help with suggestions for alternatives.

 

[biggles]

The only reason I could think of was that its a cold liquid in cold weather.

 

[Arfermo]

The only reason I could think of was that its a cold liquid in cold weather.

So warm it!!!! Obvious really.

 

[biggles]

So warm it!!!! Obvious really.

Warm liquid in the winter goes cold fast. And you don't have to open the hive. Obvious really.

 

[Winker]

Warm liquid in the winter goes cold fast. Obvious really.

Warm liquid in a warm hive...stays warm

 

[WI-USA-BEEK]

You keep the oa in your inside pocket, nice and cozy warm.

 

[Hivemaker.]

What alternatives to oxalic acid?

None,treat with thymol,feed with thymol, plus little bit of lemon grass and tea tree oil,thats it till the following autumn,no oxalic,sugar dusting,drone culling,hiveclean every inspection ect.

And of course some do absolutely nothing

 

[Beezy]

What alternatives to oxalic acid?

None,treat with thymol,feed with thymol, plus little bit of lemon grass and tea tree oil,thats it till the following autumn,no oxalic,sugar dusting,drone culling,hiveclean every inspection ect.

And of course some do absolutely nothing

Hi, thanks for replies. I'd prefer not to use oxalic acid due to the fact that I'm quite clumsy and don't like the idea of handling it. I know that sounds a bit wimpish but that's why I'd like to find an alternative.
Would feeding a thymolised syrup be sufficient after apiguard to keep the mites down until Spring IPM? Do the syrup fumes still knock the varroa off the bees?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi, I'd prefer not to use oxalic acid due to the fact that I'm quite clumsy and don't like the idea of handling it. I know that sounds a bit wimpish but that's why I'd like to find an alternative.

Buy Trickle bottles of ready made from T h o r n e s and away you go. They even sell dummy ones to practice with