winter oxalic drop

[drstitson]

some of the sublimators on the italian forum are experiencing drops in the hundreds. i would have thought that indicated suboptimal autumn treatment and a big risk going into winter. oh and they're giving upto 8 treatments per hive during the winter.

any thoughts?

 

[OXFORDBEE]

What device are they using for sublimation?

 

[Skyhook]

some of the sublimators on the italian forum are experiencing drops in the hundreds. i would have thought that indicated suboptimal autumn treatment and a big risk going into winter. oh and they're giving upto 8 treatments per hive during the winter.

any thoughts?

Do you know if they do use an autumn treatment, and if so what, or are they of the 'hit 'em once and hit 'em hard' persuasion, in which case anything in 3 figures would be pretty good?

 

[Silly Bee]

some of the sublimators on the italian forum are experiencing drops in the hundreds. i would have thought that indicated suboptimal autumn treatment and a big risk going into winter. oh and they're giving upto 8 treatments per hive during the winter.

any thoughts?

8 treatments/hive, at what strength?

 

[Hebeegeebee]

8 seems slightly excessive when 1 does for us!

 

[drstitson]

i've had a reply from someone - it appears that the commonest setup is a very simple one:

http://www.varroglass.it/

 

[chrismcd]

A drop of 600+ after a winter oxalic treatment implies that the Varroa have had plenty of time to hammer your winter bees as they developed in August/September.

I have had big colonies survive, but I have also had them dwindle away in March/April - which is really soul destroying.

After the cold weather last winter my varroa levels were very low for most of the summer, but the little sods came back with a vengeance in August. Rather to my relief we had some warm days at the back end of August and Apiguard worked better than I could have expected.

My winter oxalic drop was quite low and I am hoping for the best!

 

[Arfermo]

I use a Varrox vaporiser. Last year I only did half the Apiguard because the drop was so low. As a result the 2009 December vaporiser drop was quite substantial and I gave up to 4 treatments in one case. Message learned for this year. Did full Apiguard late August 2010 and had thousands (too many to count). Have done two Varrox treatments so far this year but drop is minimal so won't do any more. Lesson learned is to use Apiguard and then Varrox for best effect.
Contrary to the usual modus operandi, I vaporise from below the OMF on a thin steel sheet after clearing out any debris above the OMF. Put matches under crown board during treatment so as to improve circulation of the vapour and removed them after. Works very well with almost no disturbance to the bees.