# oil of wintergreen



## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

Wintergreen will work as a miticide. Take card board and cut it up into 8 inch by two inch strips. Soak those strip in the wintergreen oil. Place one strip in the middle of the colony, hanging down between the frames. The bees will chew the cardboard up and remove it. Thus in the process will get the wintergreen oil all over themselves and their hive. TED


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## rmar1205 (Jun 23, 2011)

Hi Ted, can it be added to feed?, & what effect does it have. Robby


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## LtlWilli (Mar 11, 2008)

I don't see why it could not be added to food. The smell will still transfer to the bees during the eating....I like the soaked cardboard idea, though.


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## rmar1205 (Jun 23, 2011)

thought about trying it with spearmint & lemon grass oil in the feed, but what effect does it have i.e what are the benefits?


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

You can add it to feed. But the cardboard strip works well. Bees will go into overdrive broodrearing after treatment. It does cause a break in brood rearing just like thymol, so do not be surprised. This was one of the first essential oils I tried 18 years ago. Even got invited to the Mississippi state beekeeper meeting to give a talk on it. They all thought I was "nuts" for using it. Times change as years pass!! It is now just one soft chem in an arsonal of chems we rotate out with using Intergrated pest management. TED


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## dmpower (Nov 7, 2010)

You can also add wintergreen to sugar/grease patties for varroa and tracheal mites as well as in the feed. Don't use any of the essential oils in the hive if you have honey supers on.


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

dm, thanks for telling him that it should not be applied when honey supers are on. TED


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## rrussell6870 (May 14, 2009)

Many essential oils are toxic to some degree to most parasitic creatures such as mites, ticks, fleas, etc... red thyme oil and oil of oregano are among the most toxic, while hops oil, wintergreen oil, and spearment oil are less harsh on varroa, yet had stronger results against t-mites... 

There are some oils that you need to stay clear of all together... remember that the use of these oils is to remove parasitic creatures from the colonies of insects, so the dosage and types of oils need to be considered carefully as over doing it or using the wrong stuff can lead to killing the bees as well... sesame oil is the biggest "no no"... although small amounts do not cause too much of an issue to a strong colony, the effects coupled with other issues such as pms or dwv can bring a colony down quickly... so stick closely to recipes and procedures that many others have already tested so that you do not run into troubles...

Lemongrass oil has a drawing effect on bees and is used often as a swarm lure as well as added to feeds in order to get the bees to take to it more readily, especially if other oils such as mints are added to the feeds... be sure that it is lemongrass oil, not lemon oil, as there is a huge difference and the later can cause serious shutdown of brood rearing...

When using oils as mite treatments, the idea is to add it to feed or strips in early spring while brood rearing is just beginning and again in the fall when brood rearing is nearing a halt... the intention with the feed is to get the bees to consume it and then use it to feed young larvae... thus putting the miticide directly in the cells that the mites would try to enter... in early spring this would rid the hive of mites as it builds up and all of it should be consumed by the bees before the flow begins... then in fall, the bees will again use it to feed larvae killing any mites that have built up within the colonies during the season, with winter stopping the transfer of mites as the bees cluster instead of foraging and drifting...

Hope this helps.


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## rmar1205 (Jun 23, 2011)

all of this information is much appreciated, has there not been a thread devoted to all info on essential oils?


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## dmpower (Nov 7, 2010)

Thanks rrussell for the great information!



rmar1205 said:


> all of this information is much appreciated, has there not been a thread devoted to all info on essential oils?


Everything I know about essential oils started on this site - then on to a little more research. Yes, there are other threads about oils along with some recipes for HBH and grease patties w/ and w/o wintergreen.
Have fun searching the site - it contains some great information - or at least will lead you in a direction to find out more
BTW Essential oils aren't just harmful to pests and bees, humans can have very adverse reactions to handling them as well, so be very careful.


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## wdcrkapry205 (Feb 11, 2010)

Is the Oil of Wintergreen temperature dependent? And I'm primarily talking about in strip form....


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## Katharina (May 2, 2011)

I was researching the wintergeen oil a little bit and it turned out that it is toxic to humans. 10mg, a very small amount, on the skin can kill you. You must wear protective gloves when handling this stuff.


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## rmar1205 (Jun 23, 2011)

b---dy hell, thanks for the warning, much appreciated


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

Thanks I've used paper towel pads before (mixed the EO with mineral oil) but the cardboard strips sound handy. I've also fed EO and had good luck (it really was luck) but I didn't know the difference between the effects of feeding and contact methods. I should be able to act more effectively now. You guys are priceless.


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## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

So Sorry everyone,- Katherina, I forgot to mention I was using chemical gloves when working with the card board strips. Jeepers, I could have gotten somebody killed. I just assumed that everyone knows to use chem gloves when handling potential hazardous materials. TED


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

Undiluted?
Take a piece of paper towel the size of a match head. Just touch the wintergreen oil to get it moist. Put that in a, I used a 4 oz plastic pill container, and put a bee in it. Put the cap on it and watch. Wintergreen was food grade.


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## KelpticFest (Apr 19, 2011)

I seem to recall that oil of spearmint is also used in bee-work. Is it as a miticide, or to gentle the bees? I ask 'cause my spearmint is growing very well and I don't know how to make chewing gum.


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

Ted,
I think you have hit a nail. I get the impression that many people do not realize that EOs, at least many of them, are "INSECTICIDES" and are not treated as such. I remember when I read the sheet on wintergreen and got to the "insecticidal" properties, lethal doses, there was a big "holy Cow" look on my face. Just an observation.


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## buzzhageman (Jul 25, 2011)

Hi Ted,
Could tea tree oil be used in the same respect and if so what would be the proper application?


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## nessa (Aug 4, 2011)

We were looking for just this kind of information. Are there any suggestions on where to buy the oils - reputable and safe for the bees?


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## Katharina (May 2, 2011)

http://www.lorannoils.com
or
http://www.lorannwholesale.com


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

It looks like this is the place to submit this post:
Wintergreen treatment:
1 cc Wintergreen
1 Cup Honey - warm water to finish 1 quart
mix and feed 1 time in September

Should vinegar be included in this mix?

Has this recipe been tried?
Myron Denny
Glencoe Okla


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

dmpower said:


> You can also add wintergreen to sugar/grease patties for varroa and tracheal mites as well as in the feed. Don't use any of the essential oils in the hive if you have honey supers on.


I use natural Thymol in strips as a mite treatment for many years. IMO it is the best and easiest way to treat against Varroa and tracheal mites. When I use Thymol (even during honey flow) I never ever had any problems with a taste in my honey.
Even if this would be happen, I'm not worried about it. Check the internet, there are several areas in the world where they have thyme fields and PURE thyme honey available. Now don't tell me, thyme honey is poison to humans.

http://www.amazon.com/Thymian-alpiner-aromatisch-kaltgeschleudert-unfiltriert/dp/B004EXNKDI
http://www.kretanatura.de/tyminan-honig/index.php


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Ted is that pure oil on that cardboard? Wouldn't that be a heckuva lot of oil, plus pretty expensive?


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## Richard Cryberg (May 24, 2013)

Katharina said:


> I was researching the wintergeen oil a little bit and it turned out that it is toxic to humans. 10mg, a very small amount, on the skin can kill you. You must wear protective gloves when handling this stuff.


While I support safe handling of all chemicals, as all of them are toxic at high enough doses, Oil of Wintergreen really is not particularly toxic. It has an oral ld50 of nearly 900 mg/kg in rats and an estimated oral ldl of several hundred mg/kg in humans. This is a bit less toxic than aspirin or caffeine. So, it should be handled with about the same safety precautions used to handle aspirin or caffeine.

Dick


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## Dominic (Jul 12, 2013)

Axtmann said:


> I use natural Thymol in strips as a mite treatment for many years. IMO it is the best and easiest way to treat against Varroa and tracheal mites. When I use Thymol (even during honey flow) I never ever had any problems with a taste in my honey.
> Even if this would be happen, I'm not worried about it. Check the internet, there are several areas in the world where they have thyme fields and PURE thyme honey available. Now don't tell me, thyme honey is poison to humans.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Thymian-alpiner-aromatisch-kaltgeschleudert-unfiltriert/dp/B004EXNKDI
> http://www.kretanatura.de/tyminan-honig/index.php


From what I read, there is no thymol in thyme nectar. Or very, very, very little. I might be thinking of menthol, but I think it actually applies to both. The thymol, and menthol, are in the green parts, the leaves.


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## johnbeejohn (Jun 30, 2013)

ted or anyone would you use wintergreen after treating with MAQS about a month ago and could u lay it across the frames like MAQS I treated all of my hives with the MAQS and 2 of them still have some mites present would wintergreen be a good choice to try?


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## Myron Denny (Sep 27, 2009)

Skoal chewing tobacco has wintergreen in it, I do not know the amount but it has the wintergreen smell. I chewed Skoal for several years, possibly that is my problems!


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Since no discussion of wintergreen oil is complete without mention of WVU's research, here is a link for anyone not familiar with their results:

http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm

Note that they were looking for an emulsifier to use in their syrups. However this can be overcome simply by placing the oils in a cup of water and blending on high in a blender for 5 minutes. The oils emulsify and stay that way for months. The emulsified oils can then be added to the sugar syrup and given to the bees.


HTH

Rusty

edited to add:


> It has an oral ld50 of nearly 900 mg/kg in rats and an estimated oral ldl of several hundred mg/kg in humans.


FWIW All the warnings I've read for wintergreen are not about taking it by mouth. They are about getting it on the skin. What the difference is, I don't know. I just take precautions not to get it on my skin. Actually, I tend to use spearmint oil instead because of the warnings on wintergreen. Since I don't know about these things, I just figured it was the better way to go--less chancy.


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## Richard Cryberg (May 24, 2013)

FWIW All the warnings I've read for wintergreen are not about taking it by mouth. They are about getting it on the skin. What the difference is, I don't know. I just take precautions not to get it on my skin. Actually, I tend to use spearmint oil instead because of the warnings on wintergreen. Since I don't know about these things, I just figured it was the better way to go--less chancy.[/QUOTE]


Wintergreen oil is ortho-carbomethoxyphenol. Most phenols are toxic at the cellular level simply due to their corrosive properties if concentrations are high enough. A household example of a phenol containing product is lysol. I would expect reasonably concentrated wintergreen oil on the skin to produce a localized burn where the skin cells have been killed if not washed off promptly when irritation is felt. Spearmint oil is mainly a mix of two terpenes, carvone and D-limonene. Most terpenes are not corrosive at the cellular level. Many produce a pronounced cooling feeling when applied to skin. Common examples of such terpenes would be camphor or menthol. In terms of oral toxicity both wintergreen and spearmint oils are roughly equally toxic and less toxic than aspirin. The original poster claimed a toxicity for wintergreen oil that is more toxic than the chemical weapon sarin. That simply is not remotely true.


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

That's good to know. Thanks!

Rusty


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