# Sticky  what is your mite treatment of choice?



## squarepeg

in an effort to make our diseases and pests subform more useful i am striving to have sticky threads covering the top issues facing beekeepers. it occurred to me that there is not a sticky thread specifically addressing varroa. when it comes to treating varroa there are a myriad of approaches being employed and my hope is that we can compare and contrast them here. many thanks to all for contributing.


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## psm1212

Apivar. Despite some reports of mite resistance, I am still finding very consistent mite kills throughout my apiaries through post-treatment alcohol washes. My climate (South Alabama) will not allow me to use many of the treatments commercially available such as thymol and formic acid products. I need to treat when the supers come off in July because brood has been actively cycling since January. It is consistently above 95F with high humidity during this treatment window. 

I also use OAV, but find it not worth the trouble when large brood nests are present, no matter how often the frequency. This might not be the case if I had less than 8 - 12 hives, but with 50 - 75 hives across 5 apiaries, the benefits do not justify the efforts. 

As is always the case, our geography/climate, timing of our nectar flows and density of managed hives in our areas, should likely bring very different answers across the country. I look forward to reading what others are doing and why. Thanks for starting the thread squarepeg.


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## RayMarler

Same here, Apivar. Works great for me.


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## GregB

Oxalic acid solution (2.5%).
Lactic acid solution (18%).
Used on brood-less colonies in pre-planned fashion.
This is the second year of the experiment - two treatments per year (is this generally sufficient?).


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## ruthiesbees

Here in coastal Virginia, we rarely have a "broodless time" to use OA appropriately. Mostly I have been in the chemical treatment free camp with various IPM measures until I started rearing queens on a larger scale and want to make sure my cell builders have varroa free nurse bees. In the decade I have been beekeeping, I always said if I had to turn to an organic treatment, it would be a Formic flash treatment. This is the raw Formic that gets diluted down to either 50% to 65%, put on a sponge or pad and put on the bottom IPM board or a top screen for 10-24 hrs (overnight here) and then removed. I've also done the brush on diluted formic on the capped brood that goes in a fumigation box for a number of minutes before being returned to a colony. So far, both are working well for me in addition to my other IPM methods. I'd love to talk to more people that are using it this way. I will attempt to attach some articles on it for those that are not familiar with the raw formic.


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## AR1

OA paper towels using Randy Oliver's recipe. Since I sell neither honey nor bees, I take the chance with unapproved methods. It appears to be working well, but I don't have a scientific approach to checking for mites, mainly just pull drone comb and check to see if it is infected. This year, zero mites.

In prior years I used drone culling and brood breaks. With variable success.


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## GregB

ruthiesbees said:


> we rarely have a "broodless time" to use OA appropriately


To clarify - I make the mid-summer "broodless time" myself.
Winter broodless time is, indeed, natural up here.


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## jtgoral

AR1 said:


> OA paper towels using Randy Oliver's recipe. Since I sell neither honey nor bees, I take the chance with unapproved methods. It appears to be working well, but I don't have a scientific approach to checking for mites, mainly just pull drone comb and check to see if it is infected. This year, zero mites.
> 
> In prior years I used drone culling and brood breaks. With variable success.


Paper towels or Swedish towels is what you are using?


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## AR1

Blue shop towels. Origin unknown but probably not Swedish.


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## jtgoral

AR1 said:


> Blue shop towels. Origin unknown but probably not Swedish.


I am going to use next week *Swedish Sponge Dish Cloth*
I think Randy Oliver tried those lately.


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## Loriann1

We are having a weird spring in the Pacific Northwest. It's been chilly and rainy for a while, then it got blazing hot for a couple of weeks. Next week is supposed to be upper 90s, so our girls have had a short summer so far. I lost all of my bees last winter to who knows what. Treatment? Cold snap? Mites? It was all four hives. So, this year I'm going back to what I did my first year that seemed pretty successful, as I got a bumper crop for a first year. My second year I got twice as much. I use OA dribble in sugar syrup. My hives (3) are so small, I just dont want to take 3-400 bees away. I already lost one hive to starvation last month. I will dose every five days, for the few weeks with the OA ... and feed sugar syrup all summer long with these ladies. And I wont take any of their honey, as I'm just a backyard hobbyist.


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## Gino45

ruthiesbees said:


> Here in coastal Virginia, we rarely have a "broodless time" to use OA appropriately. Mostly I have been in the chemical treatment free camp with various IPM measures until I started rearing queens on a larger scale and want to make sure my cell builders have varroa free nurse bees. In the decade I have been beekeeping, I always said if I had to turn to an organic treatment, it would be a Formic flash treatment. This is the raw Formic that gets diluted down to either 50% to 65%, put on a sponge or pad and put on the bottom IPM board or a top screen for 10-24 hrs (overnight here) and then removed. I've also done the brush on diluted formic on the capped brood that goes in a fumigation box for a number of minutes before being returned to a colony. So far, both are working well for me in addition to my other IPM methods. I'd love to talk to more people that are using it this way. I will attempt to attach some articles on it for those that are not familiar with the raw formic.


I'm interested in the 'brush on' formic method; however, I'm very leary of doing this as I don't want to be exposed to the formic. Does anyone have suggestions as to what equipment is used to do this safely?


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## ursa_minor

This year I did my first intentional bloodless splits 2 hives now 4, each with an OA dribble when they became broodless. 

Apivar on 2 in the fall, and another OA dribble on the other two when they go broodless in Oct. We will see what spring brings and if the OA twice does the trick that is what I am going to continue with.

edited, to clear up confusion.


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## ruthiesbees

Gino45 said:


> I'm interested in the 'brush on' formic method; however, I'm very leary of doing this as I don't want to be exposed to the formic. Does anyone have suggestions as to what equipment is used to do this safely?


At 50% dilution formic is not so potent that you need to be fully geared up like at 95%. I'm outside for the dilution and use the safety glasses, chemical resistant gloves and an N-95 mask to dilute it. Once diluted, I switch to my normal kitchen dishwashing gloves (that I use for hive inspections) and bring the capped fames over to the table where the diluted formic is sitting and brush it on with a paint brush and set them in the box to offgas. If the wind switches direction and I start to get a wiff of it, I move to the other side of the table. It's recapped in a glass bottle in under 5 min. Even the 65% ones that go in the hive don't have a really strong smell unless you put them up to your nose and inhale (which you should not do). From my readings, formic fumes are not as damaging to the lungs as oxalic ones, so if you already have the gear for OA vaporization, you should have all that you need to stay safe.


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## Kuro

I probably treat more often than most people, since I only keep 2-3 hives and want 100% winter survival (Zone 8, Pacific Northwest).

Sometime June-July: OAV, when a split hive becomes brood-less (~4 weeks later).
Sometime in August -mid September: formic pro, full-sized hives only.
October - early November: Apivar, all hives.
December: weekly OAV (all hives), until mite drop becomes near-zero. If it gets too cold for OAV, repeat in January.


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## elmer_fud

I try to change up what I use and have yet to find a perfect solution. I have used Apivar, OAV, formic Acid, and unintional brood breaks (supersede, ect).

Apivar - Most years it has worked but I had one year that it did not work. It sounded like some other people also had problems with it that year. It also sounds like some mites have a apivar resistance.

OAV - I have had problems with a want not getting up to the top of big (5+ box) hives. It is also more work than other treatments since it is multiple (4+) cycles vs 1 or 2 for other methods. I have also hit my hives with a single OAV on a warm day in the middle of winter some years, and I think it can help make sure they are clean in the spring. 

Formic Acid - It has worked some years and not others. If you have quilt boxes/other vents they need closed up otherwise all the acid vapor just goes out the top (I figured this out by mistake). I have also found that large hives (4+ boxes) need a higher dose (2 pads instead of 1) to reach a high enough concentration to kill the mites. I have also seen it take out a queen, but it was in a hive that was already crashing.

Brood breaks - They are not as effective as other methods, but they do help. I have not intentionally had brood breaks but I have had them a few times when I pulled a queen (when I found the hive wanting to swarm) or when they were superseding the existing queen. The hives that had a brood break tended to have lower mite counts in the fall then the ones without any brood break.

In general, I have found that mixing up treatments seems to work well. Regardless of what method is used, you need to do mite counts before, during, and after treatments to make sure that they worked. I have also found that starting in august to september is a better option. If you wait to late and the mite load is still high after a treatment it is much harder to change and do something else before winter hits.


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## Ranger N

I am with psm1212 and Raymarler. 
I am in Lancaster County, SC and I place Apivar in July right after I pull supers. Then, I OAV vapor once in November, December, January & February. This has been my plan the last 3 years and will continue until I start suffering hive losses. So far my hives have been coming out of winter strong with very few mites, if any.


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## RayMarler

Yes I do Apivar in March and September. March during drone brood rearing, and they do some drone brood rearing in September. Cleans them up just before and again just after winter.


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## StefanS

For regular hives:
April and May - OA/glycerin on Swedish sponges.
August - MAQS - as needed after alcohol wash results (my threshold - 4+ mites in 300 bees) 
Middle of November - OAV
Mating nucs:
OA dribble (3.2% in sugar syrup/glycerin solution (50/50 w:w)(day 19/20 after set up)
Central Massachusetts- 30+ hives


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## garlorco

I use OAV and glycerin formula as per Randy Oliver on Swedish towels. I treat in the Spring during the brood break and then in the Fall. Leave the towel on through winter. Follow up with OAV fogger in the Fall but yet to have any mite drop by then. So far zero mite issues. Will be inspected in a couple of weeks so will see what the state finds. So far very happy with the treatment.


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## podunk

Formic pro for me, just have to watch the ambient temp. Central Indiana


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## Steve in PA

Glycerine OA dribble 1x per month from Feb to Dec except when they have supers. Feb and Dec dribble use sugar formula instead of glycerine.


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## COAL REAPER

no love for the apistan? haha
ROTATE.
for me in NJ its apivar and/or apistan after pulling honey in july. i have found both to be effective, but see mite immigration continue into the fall after summer treatment. one follow-up strip of the other flavor in the center of bottom box seams to get those new arrivals as they come in. last year was apivar then apistan. this year is apistan and then apivar. OAV cleanup around thansgiving and christmas. i reserve formic for emergencies, typically in spring IF needed. i am considering a one pad formic treatment on singles in march or april. gotta put some more thought into how to incorporate this with nuc sales. four modes of mite reduction per year is a lot. i wish i could come up with a better way to snub mites in the summer and keep them off going into the winter. lots of other beeks around that do not treat effectively has kept me on my toes. i have fallen into a calander based treatment because i never know what to expect in some yards and have been negatively suprised on too many occasions.


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## GregB

Steve in PA said:


> Glycerine OA dribble 1x per month from Feb to Dec except when they have supers. Feb and Dec dribble use sugar formula instead of glycerine.


What % OA do you use?
Thanks.


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## Steve in PA

GregB said:


> What % OA do you use?
> Thanks.


Whatever was in the other dribble thread you replied to yesterday.


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## GregB

Steve in PA said:


> Whatever was in the other dribble thread you replied to yesterday.


2.5%.
Thanks.


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## Steve in PA

GregB said:


> 2.5%.
> Thanks.


Looking at the table in the link from Randy's page it is 3.2%. Sorry for the confusion.


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## mikesixtysix

OAV early spring and late fall, Formic Pro summer.


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