# Organic Varroa Mite Treatment



## Mattsse (Nov 21, 2014)

As I learn about beekeeping I have been reading about their pests. I came across this:

http://www.thewarrestore.com/organictreatment.htm

Is it complete nonsense? Seems too easy to me.

Thanks!

Matt


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Screened bottom boards and sugar dusting are nothing new and not unique to Warre' hives. The University of Florida and Florida Department of Agriculture tested it years ago. It is only effective for a short time when performed every three days.
If you have ever had a tick you know they do not lose their footing and fall off. The Varroa actually pierces the bees' exoskeleton and has a much firmer hold than a tick on a mammal. Bees do groom following powdered sugar.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Mattsse said:


> Is it complete nonsense?


Short answer, yes it's nonsense. Although as with all things, some people will swear by the method.

Just some history as to how that page you referenced came into existence. The owner of thewarrestore was once a regular poster on Beesource some years ago. He was very much promoting warre hives and would teach that warre hives did not get mites. He was quite certain of this and would argue with anyone who differed. Of course after the nubee honeymoon period, in time the inevitable happened, both him, and his customers started losing hives to mites.

A difficult position after all he had said about the evils of treatment, so he ceased posting on Beesource, and put a page on his web site advocating treating with sugar. Which I think must be some kind of compromise in his mind, still not using so called "harsh chemicals", but advocating a "gentle" treatment.

The reality is that in an average hive around 80% of the mites are inside a brood cell, which only leaves 20% available to be dislodged with a powdered sugar treatment. Powdered sugar will dislodge some of that 20% and make them fall off. Of the ones that fall off, they are not harmed and many will walk straight back up. A few will not if they are buried in the sugar and cannot work their way out.
So all up it only gets a very small % of the mites. Because of the way mite populations can grow exponentially, the mite numbers can be right back where they were, within just days. Sugar dusting for mites is an interesting, and appealing concept. Very effective though? No.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

The link also refers to using a "Thyme Oil" mixture sprayed on towels. 

There are other products on the market which use "Thymol", also derived from the Thyme plant. Those include Apiguard and Apilife VAR. I'm not sure if Thyme Oil has the same impact on mites as "Thymol".


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Oh that's interesting, I last read that page maybe couple years ago, perhaps the thyme oil has been added since. Thyme oil can be an effective mite treatment and it's organic. Can be tough on the bees though, I gave up using it myself after losing too many queens.

I'm wondering if thyme oil has been added to the page because he found sugar dusting was not the solution he had initially hoped?


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Then there was the fellow really gung ho about food grade mineral oil and later on thymol became part of the recipe. I think it was said to "activate the FGMO"


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Probably so Oldtimer. 
Personally, I think dusting is a complete waste of time. JMHO. Thymol works on the mites, but it can produce some undesirable side effects. Ever eat honey that tasted like cough syrup?


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Crofter, that was Dr Rodriguez. Another lifetime.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Mike Gillmore said:


> Ever eat honey that tasted like cough syrup?


Indeed. One of the less than brilliant things I once did while working a hive that had previously been treated with Apiguard was pick up a little bit of honeycomb that broke off & put it in my mouth. Unnoticed was it had got a bit of thyme crystal stuck on it and wow that was a mouth numbing experience!


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## colby (Jan 12, 2013)

look into oa vaporization. very effective for me. easy on the bees .... very bad for the mites. maybe SNL could respond


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

Oldtimer; I find Randy Oliver's statement about the sugar dusting study done by Mr. and Mrs. Ellis in Florida. Oliver made the statement that after a year of treatment the control colonies returned to the original mite levels while the dusted colonies had less than a third of the mites they started with. I have only read the summary of the study, I have never read the entire study, but having only 1/3 the number of mites in the dusted colonies would appear to me to successful. Whether it would be considered labor efficient may be another thing.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Haven't read Randy's study on it, but presumably if each dusting gets a few mites, and you do it often enough, you could eventually make a difference, as you say, it's about labor.

Some years ago a guy here on Beesource ran a thread as he treated a mite infested hive with sugar, every 3 days, for as long as it took to clean up the hive, just to show it could be done. After some amount of time which from memory was some months, he had reduced mites to a low level. He did concede though that it had been a major time consuming task, and he would not be doing it again.


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## Dan P (Oct 29, 2014)

Has anybody heard any more results from this test?
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/aug97/mitesmoke0897.htm?pf=1


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## Tcqf (Feb 3, 2015)

Vapourized AO is classed as organic and gentle on the bees regards


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## Rusty Hills Farm (Mar 24, 2010)

Oldtimer said:


> So all up it only gets a very small % of the mites. Because of the way mite populations can grow exponentially, the mite numbers can be right back where they were, within just days. Sugar dusting for mites is an interesting, and appealing concept. Very effective though? No.


What nobody seems to mention about this method is that it can create a massive ANT problem from all the sugar. They can be harder to get rid of than the stupid mites!!!

JMO

Rusty


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