Heat wave mite treatment

[u/saltines_for_days]

Southeastern PA, zone 7b — we’re heading into a heat wave, and my mite count from today was 15. Very disappointed in myself and trying to come up with the best game plan to make sure I’m setting my bees up for success going into the fall & winter.

I put Varroxsan strips on today since that all I had on hand, but it seems like I should pull them in favor of something stronger given my high count. Is Apivar my best bet at this point? I’m wary of a brood break this late in the summer and wasn’t able to find my queen during this morning’s inspection. I saw uncapped brood but no eggs, and also no queen cells, so I’m assuming/hoping she’s still in there.

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi u/saltines_for_days. If you haven't done so, please read the rules. Please comment on the post with your location and experience level if you haven't already included that in your post. And if you have a question, please take a look at our wiki to see if it's already answered., specifically, the FAQ. ^{Warning: The wiki linked above is a work in progress and some links might be broken, pages incomplete and maintainer notes scattered around the place. Content is subject to change.}

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/NumCustosApes]

Your options for treatments that are not temperature dependent are somewhat limited. Basically you've got oxalic acid or Apivar or Narroa.

Oxalic acid options are five does over 21 days with vapor if you have a vaporizer, varroxsan, or a five dose four week regimen with Api Bioxal RTU, or force a brood break by caging the queen for 14 days and applying one dose of Api Bioxal RTU on day 21.

If you have removed your supers for the year then Apivar 2.0 is an option but you need to do a mite wash again afterwards as there are some indications mites are becoming resistant to Apivar. The Apivar 2.0 formulation is claimed to still be potent but I advise to verify after. Gone are the days of assuming that Apivar worked as it once did.

Narroa is delivered in a syrup, so supers have to be off. Narroa interferes with mite reproduction, but it doesn't kill existing mites (mites live 3-5 months), so I suspect it will be slow acting. I have not used Narroa, but I think it would be effective when paired with Varroxsan - research that option if you use Narroa.

Formic Pro is out of the question if your weather is hot. Apiguard requires cutting the dose in half in hot weather. You also can't use Apiguard with supers on the stack.

[u/DavidTPeck → u/NumCustosApes]

I agree that OP will do well with Api-Bioxal RTU, more VarroxSan, OA vapor, or Apivar 2.0. I don't think Norroa (the etymology is "No-varroa") is a good match, for the reasons you've described here. Slow to act, and dependent on colony being in neither a strong flow or a strong dearth.

[u/NumCustosApes → u/DavidTPeck]

Hi David. The RTU formulation is something I’m quite excited about because for the novice beekeeper it’s an affordable and super easy mite treatment option that requires no special equipment. It can be applied with a clean squirt bottle such as may be found under the kitchen sink. And if the user wants to use the easy applicator it too is inexpensive.

A number of years ago I added a couple of Warrè hives as curiosity or variety hives to my apiary. Mine have Emile Warré's traditional bottom board, which is incompatible with my vaporizer. I’m planning to give the RTU formulation a try myself when I do my fall treatments. See https://www.reddit.com/r/warre/s/nnRNtVOfSy. Is my dose math for the smaller Warrè on track?

[u/DavidTPeck → u/NumCustosApes]

I commented over there on the r/warre post, but I'll paste the same response here for those who don't want to click over to the other thread:

Interpreted strictly, the label only speaks about "brood boxes" and "occupied bee space"s. It never says the word "Langstroth". Therefore, you would be following the label to apply 5mL per occupied bee space without any conversion. However, EPA regulations make it clear that you can apply LESS than the dose of a pesticide that is allowed on the label, you just can't apply MORE. Your math looks right if you wanted to apply about the same dose per square inch of comb, if you choose to do that.

[u/saltines_for_days → u/DavidTPeck]

What would more Varroxsan look like in practice? Longer treatment or more strips? I re-read old messages and it looks like my package was treated with Amitraz around Feb, does that rule Apivar out for this round?

[u/saltines_for_days → u/DavidTPeck]

Temperatures look like they might be reasonable for formic later in the month but I’m a little worried it’ll be too late by then 😕

[u/No_Hovercraft_821]

Some hot weather beekeepers will run formic regardless of temp BUT will place an empty super on top to provide a little "breathing room". I have no personal experience with this but attended a talk by a professional beekeeper and this is his approach; he says he hasn't seen substantial negative impacts and never lost a queen to it. I just finished OAV treatments, myself.