# Hydrolyzed lime dust to kill SHB's?



## jbraun (Nov 13, 2013)

Diatomaceous earth kill soft bodied insects by piercing their bodies and allowing their fluids to escape. If you have a screened bottom board that accepts a tray below the screen you can use it in place of oil as it does not go rancid. If you don't have that set up you will kill the bees as well. This could also be used in your jar traps. 

You can find it for sale in pet shops or vet supplies stores as it's also used to kill internal parasites in dogs and horses.


----------



## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

Use mineral oil instead of cooking oil. Mineral oil is odorless and doesn't go rancid. You can get it at Walmart, Walgreens, etc., often where laxatives are sold. If the traps didn't eventually get filled with dead pests and debris, I could leave them all year. When I change the traps out, I'll pour the used oil and trap contents into a single bottle. In time the oil and pests separate and I can reuse the oil in the traps again. 

I've actually tried diatomaceous earth just to see how it would work and it isn't effective for long because the traps can accumulate water from the condensation inside the hives, neutralizing the effects of the DE, which needs to stay dry and powdery.


----------



## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

will52100 said:


> The other thing I'm thinking of trying is boric acid capped with crisco in plastic board, maybe a little powdered sugar mixed with the boric acid. This would be used in the jar traps with the funnel and slotted lids to keep the bees out.Thoughts?


This is from an old obsolete video that is still found on the internet, this and a few other videos (same source) can cause more harm than good. The problem is; it's poison and it will kill bees if they come in contact with it, beetles could drag it around the hive, when it get hot (as it is now) the Crisco could melt and flow through the poison out into the hive. Water/condensation other pest like ants could also do the same thing. It does not mater if it's food or not the bees will lick every last drop clean if they can get at it. Those same videos say to fumigate with mineral oil for mites; this has been shown here to be worthless. The additives that are used in the oil will kill your queens. 

Oil or DE are often used below a SBB to kill beetles. Ground treatments outside the hive are good to prevent waves of more beetles.


----------



## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

Good information, thanks. I'm thinking I'll use mineral oil and a little honey mixed with a little flour for bait.


----------



## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

You can find pollen substitute recipes online. I use a combination of brewer's yeast, honey crystals (because I have a tub of them for baking stuff, but you can use regular honey), and soybean flour.


----------



## will52100 (Jun 8, 2015)

I wound up mixing a little crisco, flour, and sugar water to make a dough, and used that for bait. When I swapped it out, I checked it again after about 5 minutes before leaving the hive and there were already 3 SHBs in the oil, and another at the bait tried to fly back up the funnel and bonked into the lip and landed in the oil. We'll see how they look tomorrow. 

I have another trap made up, just waiting a couple days for any superglue fumes to leave before installing. Basically a wood block with a plastic bottle lid glued to it and glued in the center of the jar.


----------



## Jon Wolff (Apr 28, 2013)

will52100 said:


> I wound up mixing a little crisco, flour, and sugar water to make a dough, and used that for bait. When I swapped it out, I checked it again after about 5 minutes before leaving the hive and there were already 3 SHBs in the oil, and another at the bait tried to fly back up the funnel and bonked into the lip and landed in the oil. We'll see how they look tomorrow.
> 
> I have another trap made up, just waiting a couple days for any superglue fumes to leave before installing. Basically a wood block with a plastic bottle lid glued to it and glued in the center of the jar.


Great! Sounds like it's already working. Those traps will get really disgusting the better they work. I was thinking that if I was in your situation and didn't have bamboo, I'd probably take a branch a couple of inches in diameter and drill out the top to create a cup. That way you wouldn't feel the need to recycle the bait holders if you didn't want to.


----------

