# Any setback from sugar dusting ????



## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

I am planning to give 2x treatments of powdered sugar dusting using B. Wranglers good ole varroa blaster, spaced 7-9 days apart. Is it really any big determent to the hives ???



I am asking this because all 3 of my hives are new, and just building up, and I havent monitored any mite loads. I want to do this more from a curiousity stand point and preventative angle.


----------



## Moonshae (Jun 7, 2007)

I'm interested in this, too. I hived two packages in May, and want to start preventative treatments soon (if appropriate) but I'd prefer to not use chemicals. I am using a screened bottom board, and would put in a sticky tray after the shake to catch any mites, but I don't want to chance my hives' survival over their first winter. Everything seems to say that varroa can't build up too heavily in the first year, so I'm wondering, I guess, if I should even do a sugar shake? I don't want to not shake this year if it means I have to deal with a crisis next year, though.


----------



## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I've never heard anyone suggest any downside to powdered sugar dusting other than it being labor intensive
of course you don't want to do it with supers on

Moonshae
lets clear up a little terminology
a "sugar shake" or "sugar roll" is putting a cup full of bees in a jar with some powdered sugar and shaking them up to dislodge the mites. then you dump em out on a clean surface to count them, it's for determining your mite level 

"dusting" is a different thing
just trying to get us all using the same lingo

Dave


----------



## stangardener (Mar 8, 2005)

drobbins said:


> I've never heard anyone suggest any downside to powdered sugar dusting other than it being labor intensive
> of course you don't want to do it with supers on
> 
> why not?


----------



## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

sugar in your honey
same reason you don't feed with supers on
not like it'll kill you but it makes your honey less "pure"

Dave


----------



## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

With all due respect to "B. Wrangler", the best way to apply powdered sugar is to DUMP it onto the bees. In my experience, you can't puff, puff enough using any kind of "blaster".

Another "general" point, the FIRST step in any mite treatment should be MONITORING. "Preventive" applications are not part off IPM.

And, dont just set back and wait because you THINK "varroa can't build up too heavily in the first year". You need to MONITOR to KNOW for sure.

>you don't want to do it with supers on . . .
These words are UNTRUE (sorry drobbins ).

Powdered sugar CAN be applied WHEN honey suppers are on the hive. Powdered sugar MUST NOT be applied directly to the honey supers. Remove the honey suppers, apply the powder sugar GENEROUSLY to the brood chambers, then replace honey supers.

DISADVANTAGES - Very labor intensive. Treatments must be timed for maximum effectiveness and can NOT be used when bees are clustered. Application is dependent upon fair weather and may draw ants. Dusting during a dearth may initiate robbing [ABJ, 5/07, p405]. 

Significant egg removal and loss of a fraction of the older larvae can result from heavy dusting (Aliano & Ellis 2005). However, this loss is of little consequence since a portion of a day’s quota of eggs represents a relative minor investment to colony [ABJ, 5/07, p404].


----------



## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I'll re-phrase that
"I" don't want to do it with supers on . .

Dave


----------



## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

When you dump the PS into the brood chambers, 99.9999999% of it falls through the hive onto the BB or onto ground (using SBB). Very little (volume wise) sticks to the bees and some of that MAY be consumed by the bees in the clean-up (or clean-off) process. Do the bees store what is consumed or do the "leave it some where" on there next cleansing flight?

If some very small amount makes its way into a honey cell, at least it’s not poison!


----------



## brdiii (Jun 27, 2007)

*mite trap*



spunky said:


> I am planning to give 2x treatments of powdered sugar dusting using B. Wranglers good ole varroa blaster, spaced 7-9 days apart. Is it really any big determent to the hives ???
> 
> 
> 
> I am asking this because all 3 of my hives are new, and just building up, and I havent monitored any mite loads. I want to do this more from a curiousity stand point and preventative angle.


I Have always had better luck useing a shb trap the one that you fill with vegiatable oil. then do the dusting you hill two birds with one stone.


----------



## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

it's just the principal of it Dave
I don't think you should put ANYTHING in the hive while supers are on
I'm trying to make "clean" honey
if 99.9999999% falls through the hive I don't see how it can achieve very much
I guess part of it is my local conditions, our flow is over before mites get to be a problem so I can avoid this issue

Dave


----------



## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

>it's just the principal . . .
>I don't think you should put ANYTHING in the hive while supers are on . . .
That's a GREAT principal! But, if mite load is high or increasing by leaps and bounds, is "waiting" your best option?
There are conditions that warrant REMOVING honey supers to apply V-mite treatment.
When those conditions exist, I'd try sugar dusting before strips 

>if 99.9999999% falls through the hive I don't see how it can achieve very much . . .
Well, if 99.9999999% of the sugar contains 30% of the hive's phoretic mites and you keep applying the sugar OFTEN and at regular intervals, you WILL SEE and change in your mite load.

>our flow is over before mites get to be a problem . . .
Since we are talking "principal" here, I think it’s important to learn "safe, clean" ways to tackle the mites before they are a "problem" that warrants the use of some CHEMICAL.


----------



## spunky (Nov 14, 2006)

*mite load*

I went ahead put in the trays with veggie oil. I will count mites tuesday.


See what happens


----------

