# Mite control and various acids



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The only one I've used is Oxalic. The only way I've applied it is evaporation. It was very effective.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

Where did you find a 50 pound bag of oxalic acid?


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

magnet-man

http://www.chemistrystore.com/oxalic_acid.htm

that ought to last a while









Dave


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## dfs (Apr 12, 2006)

How does this 'evaporation' method work?

I found the acids at a local freight damage
store.

$1.99 a bag.

I'll probably never see them again....
That is the way it goes.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

here's the shade tree mechanic approach

http://bwrangler.litarium.com/oxalic-acid-vaporizer/

here's the cadillac
you gotta wade thru the sight to find it

http://www.members.shaw.ca/orioleln/Vaporizer.htm

Dave


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## Finman (Nov 5, 2004)

OXALIC ACID TRICKLING

Cure is given before winter when brood is away and bees are in winter ball. +5 - +10C (41-50F) is good out temperature. Bees may fly back to hive at this temperature but even colder is good. 

Brood area contains mites. It it best to destroy them if it is small. If bees do not fly and you put frame out, birds will pick brood from frame. If you leave brood you may have hundreds of mites there. 

Get a vaccination syringe from drugstore so you see ecaxtly needed measure to spray. 

You may put paper on bottom boad before handling. You will se how much you get mites when you take it away. 

Recipe: 

Take 7,5 gr oxalic acetic powder and put it into 0,1 liter warm water. 
Take 100 gr sugar and dilute it in the solution. 

(Euro coin is just 7,5 g. You can weight your coin and you can use as weight. Own balance is easy to do. Our coin weights are in internet. There are cheap digital kitchen balances in stores which have 1 g accuracy. ) 

This 160 ml volume is enough for 3-5 hives, depending of the amount of bees . 

Give droplets together 4 ml solution in one gap of frames, which is full of bees from edge to edge. 

Do not give for one box hive more than 40 ml, and this only for hive which is totally full of bees. 

Do not give for 2 box hive more than 50 ml. 


DON'T GIVE TWICE HANDLING. It is harmfull. 

Sweden: http://www.algonet.se/~beeman/research/oxalic/oxalic-0-nf.htm


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## Finman (Nov 5, 2004)

WARNING

It is dangerous to invite your self handling methohs against varroa. There are enough good and safe methods which are tested. 

Be carefull in handling because somehow mites avoid cure even if you give it. Some fault but what.


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## Finman (Nov 5, 2004)

.
I ment INVENT not invite

.


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## dfs (Apr 12, 2006)

Thanks for the links.

I just recently got some electric stove
elements in a batch of gas grill parts at an
auction.
I'll probably rig something up with running
them on 110V instead of the 220 they are rated
at. I have the luxury of power in my hive yard.

I'll probably plumb up some fittings on the bottom 
of each hive.

Thanks...


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## Cam (Sep 27, 2005)

I was considering using the shadetree mechanics version of OA treatment but I have a few questions.

If using a vent type evaporator where would you drill the hole for the vent. Bottom brood box? Bottom quarter of the bottom brood box? Does the gas rise or fall? Do honey supers need to be removed.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

Cam,

you can just stick it in the entrance
then stop up the rest of the entrance with rag
put in your sticky board if you have SBB, you want to seal the stuff in
George Furgeson experimented some and suggests not making the tube to long or the gas will condense before it gets to the end (maybe not this time of year)
I don't know if it rises or falls, it mostly expands 
throw an empty bottom and a hive body on the ground and cover the top with some plexiglass or a piece of glass and do a test run to you see what's going on before you do it to your bees 

DON'T BREATH THE VAPOR!!

a dust mask won't help

Dave


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

>George Furgeson experimented some and suggests not making the tube to long or the gas will condense before it gets to the end

Tis true, even this time of year. It would plug up the tube and the build up of pressure would blow a plug of OA powder into the hive.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>If using a vent type evaporator where would you drill the hole for the vent. Bottom brood box?

I went with a box on top. I took two shallow supers (which I don't use anymore) and drilled a hole in them to put the evaporator in. The bottom method probably works fine, but my back doesn't like me bent over like that and if the fumes come back towards me, I don't want to have to stand up first and then move.









Oxalic acid vapor seems to work fine from top or bottom as long as the dosage is correct.


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

Interesting Michael...... Does OA vapor sink,
rise, or is it kinda neutral?? I would rather
not stoop over either.


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## Craig W. (Feb 26, 2006)

OA is heavier than water so I would think it would have the tendency to lie low, but if its heated up it may rise more than what it would under normal temps. Doing it on a windy day would help to expel the gas from the area.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Does OA vapor sink,
rise, or is it kinda neutral?

I don't know for sure, but if you make just the amount to fill the box, does it matter? From what I've seen, my guess is while it's hot it's rising and as it cools it's sinking. At the same temperature as the air it probably sinks.


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## Bill Ruble (Jan 2, 2006)

I just went to town and purchaced all I needed to vaporize the oxalic acid and just now put it in one of my hives. I have never done this before so not sure I did it right.
What I did was drill a hole in an old supper, took of the top of the hive and put on the empty super and vaporized into the hole in that top supper. My question is this, I have 2 deeps, and two suppers almost full, will the vapor reach all the way down to the bottom deep ok?
Bill


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## Bill Ruble (Jan 2, 2006)

I just went to town and purchaced all I needed to vaporize the oxalic acid and just now put it in one of my hives. I have never done this before so not sure I did it right.
What I did was drill a hole in an old supper, took of the top of the hive and put on the empty super and vaporized into the hole in that top supper. My question is this, I have 2 deeps, and two suppers almost full, will the vapor reach all the way down to the bottom deep ok?
Bill


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

if you use it on the top of the hive and there is a top cover above it, it ain't gonna rise much no matter what it want's to do
likewise if you use the bottom entrance and have your sticky board in it will have a hard time falling
it expands in the only direction it can, into the rest of the hive 
I think Michaels point is it doesn't matter
do it however is most convenient for you

I HIGHLY recommend doing a test run on an empty box covered with glass or plexi to get an idea what's going on

Dave

[edit]umm, Bill, you removed the supers full of honey first, right?

[ August 06, 2006, 06:06 PM: Message edited by: drobbins ]


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## Bill Ruble (Jan 2, 2006)

I had left the fogger in the hole to let it cool down and not let any fog out. I just removed it. It was plugged with the cristials so I dont' think all that much got inside although I did see some crestals on the top bars so some of it did. 

I think next time I will get the pipe that goes into the hive hot first so it should not plug so much.

Another thing I did different was that I did not use the adapter you had on yours that goes into the hive. I don't see any need for it. I just put in the end of the coupling directly into the hole. Any reason for the adaptor?
Bill


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

It's much easier if you put a plexiglas lid on the hive so you can watch the vapor.


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## shylock3 (Jun 8, 2006)

Didn't I read somewhere in beesource that oxalic acid is use to preserve wood? I went to my local hardware, they never heard of it. Where can I order it?


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

it's used to clean wood
it's called wood bleach
to clean your deck before you stain it
look next to paint stripper and such

Dave


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## shylock3 (Jun 8, 2006)

Thanks DROBBINS.


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## Owen (Apr 28, 2006)

I treated both of my hives today with OA. I made Dave's vaprizors, the one used in a vent hole. I heated it up each time for 4minutes and when I pulled if off it had liquid OA left in it. I probibly should have heated the tube up for a few minutes longer. I am going to check later today and see how my mite drop is. If it seems low I may try again in a week or so.

Owen


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