# Beginner at Thymol Fogging



## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

There are two reasons to kill mites.

Most beeks want to kill them all so their bees don't have to fight them.

A few only want to kill enough to allow the bees to live long enough to adapt to life with the mite or develop the ability to do away with them on their own.

I am the latter. I want to develop a bee that eradicate the mite without the beek's help'

That being said, I only fog when I see the mites increasing. Then I stop fogging when the count drops. I have three yards. One gets no treatment. The bees in it have an ancestry that can be traced back into the 70's and have never been treated. One gets checked and fogged when needed. The last one is the introductory yard. It is where I place new hives until they are evaluated. Those get fogged often.


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## Bizzybee (Jan 29, 2006)

Good deal Mike! I did the same thing you are doing for the same reason. I don't fog anymore but I'm not going to tell why. Ive made a little post here and there about it but didn't say much about it. And I don't want to influence your expectations.
Point is with things like this, you could line up an army on both sides of the issue and still not ever get the answers you truly want for yourself without proving it to yourself.
Best of all, one year from now when you publish your paper on it, we'll have us a new guest speaker on the hook! 

Lemme write this down here somewhere. Call Mike, set up chat room date .......... 11/15/08

All kiddin aside, I'll be looking forward to you keeping us up on how it's doing for you!


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

> Iddee: A few only want to kill enough to allow the bees to live long enough to adapt to life with the mite or develop the ability to do away with them on their own.


That's my ultimate goal too, Iddee. Right now I'm taking my first step in that direction. Later I can work on evaluating my queens, keeping and breeding from those producing bees which can do just that.




> Bizzy:
> Point is with things like this, you could line up an army on both sides of the issue and still not ever get the answers you truly want for yourself without proving it to yourself.


I've noticed that, Bizzy, and that's why I'm attempting to put aside both camps for a while and prove to myself if this will work in my yards, on my bees, in my region. Only one way to find out for sure ... try it. I'll keep you posted.


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## AnthonyBermani (Sep 7, 2006)

I am interested in fogging too. I plan to research the topic more in depth through the winter and start fogging in the spring. My question is where can i find FGMO and Thymol for fogging purposes?


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Send Iddee a private message. He may be able to help you with the Thymol. You can get the mineral oil at Wal-Mart or any drug store.


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## AnthonyBermani (Sep 7, 2006)

When do you seasonally start/stop fogging? Or do you fog continuously?


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

If the weather is cold enough that the bees are clustered and not flying, then I'll not fog. I think it would be counterproductive to fog and break up the cluster in cold weather. If the mites are not already under control at that point then it's probably too late anyway.


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

Mike are you going to just fog or follow the protocol by Dr. Pedro Rodriguez?


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

I'm not using the cords, Ski. I'm following his Thymol fogging instructions and we'll see if fogging alone will do the trick. 

If it doesn't work then I can blame myself for not using cords, and move on to Plan B.


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

I Understand.
I am going to try fogging again this year but this time add the cords.
Maybe we can compare results through out the beekeeping season.


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## AnthonyBermani (Sep 7, 2006)

A fogger is definitely on my Christmas list. Next year Im using all SBB and using powdered sugar, along with my normal drone catch frames. i hope to have Varroa under better control compared to previous years.


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## CSbees (Aug 7, 2007)

Do foggers go under the hives?


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

Burgess and another brand of bug foggers is what I have heard being used. You mix the FGMO and Thymol put it the fogger light it up and fog the entrance of the hive. I have a SBB and have tried fogging the space under the hive so it will go up through the SBB into the hive. If you do do a search on fogging or thymol or FGMO you should get a lot of info.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Bizzybee said:


> I'll be looking forward to you keeping us up on how it's doing for you!


FWIW - Just a quick update on this... sold all my hives yesterday after the county inspector checked my colonies. He found *no* V-mites in any of the hives. This is a first for me. I've used no chems at all, just been thymol fogging every week since last fall, weather permitting, up until supers were added in April. 

Wish I could have continued this until fall for a full year evaluation, but hopefully I'll be able to pick it up again next year and start over.


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## allrawpaul (Jun 7, 2004)

I've been fogging weekly since early this spring. I believe its been effective. In hives that have the largest mite counts I have been pulling drone comb as well. I am also using the cords. Mite counts are very low in most hives. I will reduce to bi-monthly and maybe discontinue cord use When all counts are low.


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## beepowers (Mar 15, 2007)

If you put the cords on when the mites are hitting their peak in late summer, you get the best benefit from them. The cords get tugged, pulled and rubbed against while the bees try to remove them, which results in mites being dislodged from bee bodies. The honey, oil and wax that gets on worker bodies gets cleaned off by other bees, which removes more mites. As long as you use fully screened bottom boards-and would you do otherwise with this method?-you get a good supplemental mite drop. Don't stop fogging when cords are on if you have real high mite counts. I saw something about making strips from wax paper, does anyone use this, and how does it perform vs. cotton mop strings? WJPowers


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

The instructions for making the emulsion cords call for using a ceramic container is there anything wrong with using a stainless steel pot?


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## Flyman (Jun 11, 2007)

Stainless Steel is considered a "reactive" vessel. That is, it will react unfavorably upon contact with some chemicals. Don't know if Thymol is one of them. Hence the recommendation for using Ceramic. I use a glass mason jar and it works fine. If you prepare the emulsion in your kitchen, make sure you like the smell of Vicks Vapor Rub.

Tom


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## margot (Jun 25, 2001)

*Fgmo*

I fogged regularly with thymol for several years, with apparent success, and found very few mites on screened bottom boards. All 3 hives died in January of this year. I sent a sample of bees to Beltsville, and the report said that there was a very high concentration of mites.


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## Ski (Jan 18, 2007)

Margot,
You wrote:
found very few mites on screened bottom boards

The statement was unclear, did you have a sticky board under that screened bottom board for at least 24 hours so you can count the mites?


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## margot (Jun 25, 2001)

Yes. I used a board coated with PAM cooking spray. I examined it under a magnifying glass 24 hours after spraying, and never found more than 6 or 8 mites.


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