Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: Patrick on March 24, 2008, 12:42:11 AM

Title: Oxalic acid vapor mite drop compare
Post by: Patrick on March 24, 2008, 12:42:11 AM
I did my first oxalic acid vapor treatment and counted 112 mites 24 hours after. I have one deep of bees. Is that Good , Bad or Ugly?
Cheers,
Patrick
Title: Re: Oxalic acid vapor mite drop compare
Post by: Michael Bush on March 24, 2008, 07:22:57 AM
>I did my first oxalic acid vapor treatment and counted 112 mites 24 hours after.

Assuming a proper dosage of oxalic, that probably means you didn't have very many mites.  They will continue to drop at a higher rate than untreated for a few more days and then drop off to almost nothing.  You probably had less than 200 mites in the whole hive.
Title: Re: Oxalic acid vapor mite drop compare
Post by: Patrick on March 24, 2008, 02:16:15 PM
Thanks Michael,
But that is not to say it is still not a problem, right? (the numbers you estimate are lower that what I would have guessed) I have been seeing wingless crawlers for about 3 weeks now (about 3 per day) so after a few powdered sugar dustings, I thought I would try the vapor, and drive the final steak through the vampires heart.

Cheers,

Patrick
Title: Re: Oxalic acid vapor mite drop compare
Post by: Michael Bush on March 24, 2008, 10:33:17 PM
>But that is not to say it is still not a problem, right?

Those numbers are very low.  But that is assuming the right dosage of Oxalic and not too much ventilation during the treatment.

>I have been seeing wingless crawlers for about 3 weeks now (about 3 per day) so after a few powdered sugar dustings, I thought I would try the vapor, and drive the final steak through the vampires heart.

Sounds like you already knocked the numbers down with the sugar.