# Fighting mites with syrup



## cavscout (Apr 21, 2015)

Are mights affected when feeding them tea tree or wintergreen oil in their syrup?


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## cavscout (Apr 21, 2015)

I guess i should make it clear when feeding bees syrup. Thanks


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## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

Google UWV wintergreen study.


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## Hogback Honey (Oct 29, 2013)

Heres a link I found

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


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## cavscout (Apr 21, 2015)

Hogback very interesting article, it confirmed my thoughts.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

This is an *old* "" 1996 study by WVU that is a *4 part protocol *for treating mites. "1). Syrup: 25 drops (1 cc) of wintergreen or spearmint 2). EO Grease patties: 3). EO Tracking strips: 4). EO Paper inserts". Not just put some EOs in syrup and expect your mites to die. And *because it did not work they added Formic acid *to the protocol in 1999. We already knew that formic acid worked on mites they just needed something that actually worked so they could say that it was a success.

WVU; 1999 FORMIC ACID FUMIGATOR FOR CONTROLLING HONEY BEE MITES IN BEE HIVES 
"our four-fold treatment protocol (Amrine et al. 1996; Noel and Amrine, 1996) of: (1)
screened bottom boards, (2) wintergreen/salt grease patties (Sammataro et al., 1996; Sanford,
1995), (3) feeding essential oil concentrate, Honey-B-Healthy7 (HBH) (Noel 2006), and (4) the
50% formic acid fumigator (Amrine & Noel 2001)"

Then there's the whole probiotic thing. A lot of research aimed at bee probiotics, in searching for cures for CCD, AFB, EFB, Nosema... Not sure why anyone would purposely kill their bee's probiotics with EOs?

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/grp/2012/457150/abs/
*"probiotics retard the growth of the microorganisms, while essential oil kills them." *

http://www.slu.se/en/collaborative-...bacteria-in-honey-bees-can-prevent-foulbrood/
*"probiotic lactic acid bacteria can prevent the two worst bacterial bee infections – European and American foulbrood."*

"research suggests honey bees may take advantage of these beneficial symbiotic bacteria to *convert indigestible material into nutritious food *and to *enhance protection from pathogens*."

"there are The crop microbiota of A. mellifera is composed of 13 bacterial species within the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium [16], [17], [18] and it plays a key role in the production of honey [16] and bee-bread [19], long term stored food for both adult honeybees and larvae." 

Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of selected essential oils (% v/v) against 10 different micro-organisms  ;
Lemongrass
Eucalyptus
Wintergreen
Tea tree
Spearmint
Oregano
Thyme
These EOs inhibited all 10 Micro-organisms that were tested in this study.

Which of the 13 bee probiotics are being inhibited by the EO's listed above?


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## Lmhudson11 (Mar 11, 2017)

FlowerPlanter said:


> This is an *old* "" 1996 study by WVU that is a *4 part protocol *for treating mites. "1). Syrup: 25 drops (1 cc) of wintergreen or spearmint 2). EO Grease patties: 3). EO Tracking strips: 4). EO Paper inserts". Not just put some EOs in syrup and expect your mites to die. And *because it did not work they added Formic acid *to the protocol in 1999. We already knew that formic acid worked on mites they just needed something that actually worked so they could say that it was a success.
> 
> WVU; 1999 FORMIC ACID FUMIGATOR FOR CONTROLLING HONEY BEE MITES IN BEE HIVES
> "our four-fold treatment protocol (Amrine et al. 1996; Noel and Amrine, 1996) of: (1)
> ...


IYO, what is the best all-natural option for treating varroa mites while protecting the probiotics of the bees if not EO's?


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## Jackam (Jun 3, 2013)

Lmhudson11 said:


> IYO, what is the best all-natural option for treating varroa mites while protecting the probiotics of the bees if not EO's?


Have you seen this?


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

Randy Oliver has extensive material regarding all types of Varroa treatments. He found outside of Thymol that the other essential oils were not too efficacious. Here is a link to his website: http://scientificbeekeeping.com/


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Lmhudson11 said:


> IYO, what is the best all-natural option for treating varroa mites while protecting the probiotics of the bees if not EO's?


IMO any treatment that is *fed* to the bees will be far more devastating to probiotics than a vapor that is gone in a few days. If I had to pick I would say OAV, it's an organic acid already found in honey. I would also try to incorporate TF or VHS genes in to your apiary.



jonsl said:


> Randy Oliver has extensive material regarding all types of Varroa treatments. He found outside of Thymol that the other essential oils were not too efficacious. Here is a link to his website: http://scientificbeekeeping.com/


He also seems not to like it much, but yes studies have shown it is the most efficient EO (actually one chemical found in one EO) for treating mites as a vapor;

R. Oliver, thymol;
"is only effective in a fairly narrow temperature window of roughly 60° – 90°F. Bees don’t like it much. They fan, they get “pissy,” they may tear out brood. Queens may shut down egglaying, run out of the colonies, or be superseded. In general, it’s pretty disruptive to the colony. This may be an issue if it occurs during the critically important late summer production of future “winter bees.”

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/ipm-7-the-arsenal-natural-treatments-part-2/


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

Put gasoline in the syrup. I bet the mites will die.


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## jonsl (Jul 16, 2016)

FlowerPlanter said:


> IMO any treatment that is *fed* to the bees will be far more devastating to probiotics than a vapor that is gone in a few days. If I had to pick I would say OAV, it's an organic acid already found in honey. I would also try to incorporate TF or VHS genes in to your apiary.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You are siting an older article from RO's website. That was from 2007. I think his thinking has changed somewhat from them. Here is a more recent study from 2016: http://scientificbeekeeping.com/a-test-of-late-summer-varroa-treatments/

Based on this study it also appears that Apiguard (thymol) was the most efficacious treatment that he tried.


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## Richard Cryberg (May 24, 2013)

Lmhudson11 said:


> IYO, what is the best all-natural option for treating varroa mites while protecting the probiotics of the bees if not EO's?


Neither apivar nor oxalic acid vapor is going to bother the probiotics a bit. All natural is folk lore. Natural products are quite often very toxic which is exactly why plants make them to start with. Natural products tend to be very non specific in their actions as the plants make them to kill or deter feeding by insects, mammals, bacteria and fungi. Also one in three natural products tested has proven to be a carcinogen. This is the same ratio of carcinogens you find for totally synthetic chemicals. In fact, the most toxic substances known to man are all natural products. Quite a number of them top nerve gas in toxicity.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

jonsl said:


> Here is a more recent study from 2016: http://scientificbeekeeping.com/a-test-of-late-summer-varroa-treatments/


Thanks for posting, Very Good article by R Oliver, lots of good points (too many to list but here's a few that pertain to this thread);

Mixed essential oil pads;
"According to the maker, these pads contained about 6.25g of thymol each, along with a proprietary *blend of other essential oils*, in vegetable oil. The brood in the treated hives looked good on 28 Oct, after 30 days of continuous treatment with 2 pads on relatively small colonies, and mite levels had decreased (Table 3). But by a week later, *2 of the 7 hives had crashed, I suspect from all the essential oil vapors simply being too stressful on small colonies *late in the season (note that colonies in this location were still actively rearing brood in October). Perhaps these pads would be best applied to stronger hives in warmer weather."

Oxalic/glycerin Strips;
"Practical application and a cautionary warning: the oxalic/glycerin strips show great promise, and I will continue testing. The downside, however, is that some beekeepers will of course keep them in their hives continuously (especially since the bees do not remove the strips), which will apply a strong selective pressure on varroa to develop resistance mechanisms to acids. Beekeepers have a history of shooting themselves in the foot by overusing treatments without rotation, resulting in resistant mites and bacteria. If you use these strips, please do not leave them in your hives continuously, as you may then inadvertently be breeding mites resistant to acids, which could ruin it for the rest of us."

"The Results of Actual Testing
I was disappointed by the performance of any of the forms of thymol applied in the broodnest, as they not only exhibited somewhat poorer performance than the alternatives, but appeared to have a more negative effect on the queens and brood. On the other hand, I was quite impressed by the performance of Apiguard gel, delivered to the top of the hive, with a 1½-inch spacer rim."

"Folks, let’s start getting smarter—breed for (or demand from your suppliers) mite-resistant stock, practice biotechnical methods such as splitting, induced brood breaks, drone brood removal, and rotate treatments. Never apply the same treatment several times in a row, as you will simply be selecting for more and more resistant mites."


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