wintergreen or tea tree oil mixed into feed

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wightbees

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I have been reading about these oils used against the V mite, but it does not say how much to be used.Can someone ponit in the right direction on amount.
I know that chemist say use Tea tree oil against nits for children so it must help in general against the fight against mites ( my thoughts )

Any ideas :cheers2:
 
I have been reading about these oils used against the V mite, but it does not say how much to be used.Can someone ponit in the right direction on amount.
I know that chemist say use Tea tree oil against nits for children so it must help in general against the fight against mites ( my thoughts )

Any ideas :cheers2:


Oh....a can of worms, here,

its basical the same approach as using thymol in the feed or in grease patties

in feed a small amount of thymol stops syryp going off and tee tree essentail oils will have the same effect but thymol has supposidle a more toxic effect on the varroa. very similar to the sticky on use of thymol for Nosema in feed

i am trying it essential oil on a varroa lousy Nuc

i have read an american article but can i trust mad americans :eek:. who use wintergreen oil.

A trawl of the web shows a basic recipe http://thehealingpath.com/OrganicBeekeeping/organic_beekeeping_essential_oils.shtml

thats about 1ml of wintergreen oil per litre....that equartes to 25 drops of essentil oil per litre. now wintergreen oil is less toxicthan thymol and again on the web http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/naturaloils.html but no merntion of tee tree

on tea tree oil and manuka oil ihave only traced that is been used

http://www.hive101.com/tag/tea-tree-oil/



so, i prepared with lectin 1:1 with 10 drops of Manuka oil, 15 drops of Tee Tree oil and 2 of lemon grass added per litre.....seemed too strong with lots of undisovle oil on the surface ( would kill the last bees as it would be left pure oil once all the syrup had gone....so let it settle then added 50/50 water and flushed away the top settle oil

i have fed this and the bees are fine...varroa drop on a five frame Nuc went from 10 per day to 30 on feeding then drop to 2 per day

since then i use a feed without letcin, just a spoonfull of honey to mix the 5 drop of manuka, 6 drops of Trea tree and one of lemon oil in per litre. again draining off the excess oil...letting it settle then squeezing the bottle so the top few cms of sypup are thrown away
 
Last edited:
Thanks MM

Can this be used anywhen through out the yr ?(teatree)
 
I wonder what wintergreen oil tastes like? I know tea tree tastes nasty. Need to remember that some feed always ends up in the supers.
 
Thanks MM

Can this be used anywhen through out the yr ?(teatree)

No idea...first Nuc i have used it on, might try on one overwinter hive as a winter feed later in the year, i also add magensesium ascorbate and calcium ascorbate to all my feeds ( Vitamin C) but that from a friend who worked on bees at rothampsted Ag unit...honey has vit C in it
 
Manley was using oil of wintergreen (methyl salycilate) back in the 40's to treat for acarine,left it in hives all winter...i have done the same in the past.

Tea Tree
Tea Tree oil is often used in grease patties for control of mites. It seems as if Tea Tree oil can be interchanged with wintergreen oil with no loss of effectiveness.

Wintergreen
Wintergreen oil is often used in grease patties for control of mites. It seems as if Tea Tree oil can be interchanged with wintergreen oil with no loss of effectiveness.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Beekeeping/Guide_to_Essential_Oils

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm
 
Oh....a can of worms, here,

its basical the same approach as using thymol in the feed or in grease patties

in feed a small amount of thymol stops syryp going off and tee tree essentail oils will have the same effect but thymol has supposidle a more toxic effect on the varroa. very similar to the sticky on use of thymol for Nosema in feed

i am trying it essential oil on a varroa lousy Nuc

i have read an american article but can i trust mad americans :eek:. who use wintergreen oil.

A trawl of the web shows a basic recipe http://thehealingpath.com/OrganicBeekeeping/organic_beekeeping_essential_oils.shtml

thats about 1ml of wintergreen oil per litre....that equartes to 25 drops of essentil oil per litre. now wintergreen oil is less toxicthan thymol and again on the web http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/naturaloils.html but no merntion of tee tree

on tea tree oil and manuka oil ihave only traced that is been used

http://www.hive101.com/tag/tea-tree-oil/



so, i prepared with lectin 1:1 with 10 drops of Manuka oil, 15 drops of Tee Tree oil and 2 of lemon grass added per litre.....seemed too strong with lots of undisovle oil on the surface ( would kill the last bees as it would be left pure oil once all the syrup had gone....so let it settle then added 50/50 water and flushed away the top settle oil

i have fed this and the bees are fine...varroa drop on a five frame Nuc went from 10 per day to 30 on feeding then drop to 2 per day

since then i use a feed without letcin, just a spoonfull of honey to mix the 5 drop of manuka, 6 drops of Trea tree and one of lemon oil in per litre. again draining off the excess oil...letting it settle then squeezing the bottle so the top few cms of sypup are thrown away
Hi there, I am no expert but I think you will find manuka and tea tree are from the same plant.

Very confusing, Manuka Honey comes from the tea tree. It seems that they are different names originating from Australia and New Zealand.
 
OH BOY!

varroa has 20 accepted control treaments and you want to find more.

there are now 3 splended stuffs and they are formic acid, thymol and oxalic acip.

What I have read about wintergreen oil, it is poisonous to human.
 


That second report is a little bit old Jim Amrine, Bob Noel, Harry Mallow, Terry Stasny, Robert Skidmore
(Last Updated: December 30, 1996)

Oxalic acid trickling has been generated after year 1998. Oxalic, thymol and formic acid has been carefully tested during 10 years after that.


Why, you experienced guys provoke beginners to do all kind of odd things what your self will not do even in state of intoxication
 
I wonder what wintergreen oil tastes like? I know tea tree tastes nasty. Need to remember that some feed always ends up in the supers.

Wintergreen tastes foul! Well it did when I tried Wintergreen TicTacs from the US. It is the same stuff used in muscle rub here! Guess the American bees can stand it.
 
.
ACCIDENTAL poisoning under any circumstances
is an unfortunate event.
However,
when such an occurrence follows the ingestion
of poisonous material which is readily available
to the public without being designated a dangerous
substance the event becomes tragic. Methyl
salicylate (oil of wintergreen) is a drug which
falls into the latter category. It may be purchased
at any drug store without signature and
without precautionary labels of either "poison"
or "for external use only". It is, further, a
substance used frequently as a household liniment
and not uncommonly as a flavouring
medium in foods.
With the general impression being that the
drug is innocuous, it is not surprising to find
that parents have permitted a child to play with
a bottle of the oil. They are dumbfounded to
learn that the child, should he swallow it in the
course of a typical childish investigation of the
substance, has indeed swallowed a substance
which is as likely as not to produce a fatal result.
The following cases of methyl salicylate
poisoning are being reported to bring again to
the fore the potentially fatal properties of the
drug.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC538133/pdf/canmedaj00221-0064.pdf

.
 
Not so in the uk.......labels on methyl salicylate have plenty of warnings about safety.
 
.
ACCIDENTAL poisoning under any circumstances
is an unfortunate event.
However,
when such an occurrence follows the ingestion
of poisonous material which is readily available
to the public without being designated a dangerous
substance the event becomes tragic. Methyl
salicylate (oil of wintergreen) is a drug which
falls into the latter category. It may be purchased
at any drug store without signature and
without precautionary labels of either "poison"
or "for external use only". It is, further, a
substance used frequently as a household liniment
and not uncommonly as a flavouring
medium in foods.
With the general impression being that the
drug is innocuous, it is not surprising to find
that parents have permitted a child to play with
a bottle of the oil. They are dumbfounded to
learn that the child, should he swallow it in the
course of a typical childish investigation of the
substance, has indeed swallowed a substance
which is as likely as not to produce a fatal result.
The following cases of methyl salicylate
poisoning are being reported to bring again to
the fore the potentially fatal properties of the
drug.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC538133/pdf/canmedaj00221-0064.pdf

.

That link is rather old regards the warnings on labels........sept 1940.
 
No more than what they would be to drinking petrol or many other things i suppose,thats why the labels now carry warnings.....unlike 70 years ago.

Do you think varroa have got resistant to thymol in 14 years.
 
Last edited:
Oh....a can of worms, here,

its basical the same approach as using thymol in the feed or in grease patties

in feed a small amount of thymol stops syryp going off and tee tree essentail oils will have the same effect but thymol has supposidle a more toxic effect on the varroa. very similar to the sticky on use of thymol for Nosema in feed

i am trying it essential oil on a varroa lousy Nuc

i have read an american article but can i trust mad americans :eek:. who use wintergreen oil.

A trawl of the web shows a basic recipe http://thehealingpath.com/OrganicBeekeeping/organic_beekeeping_essential_oils.shtml

thats about 1ml of wintergreen oil per litre....that equartes to 25 drops of essentil oil per litre. now wintergreen oil is less toxicthan thymol and again on the web http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/naturaloils.html but no merntion of tee tree

on tea tree oil and manuka oil ihave only traced that is been used

http://www.hive101.com/tag/tea-tree-oil/



so, i prepared with lectin 1:1 with 10 drops of Manuka oil, 15 drops of Tee Tree oil and 2 of lemon grass added per litre.....seemed too strong with lots of undisovle oil on the surface ( would kill the last bees as it would be left pure oil once all the syrup had gone....so let it settle then added 50/50 water and flushed away the top settle oil

i have fed this and the bees are fine...varroa drop on a five frame Nuc went from 10 per day to 30 on feeding then drop to 2 per day

since then i use a feed without letcin, just a spoonfull of honey to mix the 5 drop of manuka, 6 drops of Trea tree and one of lemon oil in per litre. again draining off the excess oil...letting it settle then squeezing the bottle so the top few cms of sypup are thrown away
I was wondering what the difference is bewween manuka m tea tree?
 
:laughing-smiley-004

Why, you experienced guys provoke beginners to do all kind of odd things what your self will not do even in state of intoxication[/QUOTE]
 
.

Do you think varroa have got resistant to thymol in 14 years.

Surely its possible - Any treatment that is not 100% effective will have a tendency to select resistant organisms eventually!

It will happen more quicly if the lack of effectiveness is due to some of the target species having a higher threshold to exposure, rather than due to difficulties in getting sufficient active ingredient to all of the target species.

Please don't shoot me down if this is wrong - correct me politely, but I would postulate from the mode of action of thymol and the fact it can't control varroa in sealed brood means that main part of it less than 100% control is due to the difficulty in exposing all varroa to high enough concentrations. Hence the 2 applications over 4 weeks to cover brood circle and to get all varroa as they leave sealed brood.

But some varroa may have higher threshold tolerances and we may have been inadvertently select them especially if only thymol based treatments have been used in hives (eg no oxalic acid treatments). This would lead to resistant varroa. (I dont suppose anyone has looked at this - judging by the preference for studying waggle dances!:banghead:)

This is why IPM (integrated pest management) using different modes of action to kill varroa is so important.
 

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