Has anyone used Sucrocide?

[WhipCityBeeMan]

Varroa mites are problematic for all of todays beekeepers.  I have recently been looking for a good product to use as a miticide while staying away from chemical usage. As a horticulturalist I know the value of insecticidal soap on soft bodied insects and I am eager to try Sucrocide on my bees this year.  I am however looking for some input from folks who have used the product.  I don't want to use it if my fellow beekeepers have not had success with it. I am sure, as with any IPM practice, it is not in itself a silver bullet and must be used in concert with other IPM practices at the right time and in the right manner. 

Thoughts??

[heaflaw]

I have about 15 hives and have been using Sucrocide solely for 3 years.  I don't count mites but my hives are as healthy as when I used Apistan.  I lose one or 2 every winter and get an average of 2 medium supers of honey from each.  I would get more honey if I was better at controlling swarming.  My bees are gentle: I use smoke only to make them move down into the hive when I want to feed, take out frames, etc.  I spray between the frames about 5 times a year particularly in early spring and in the fall.  That is very easy to do.  Once a year in early fall I take out each frame and spray all the bees.  That is much harder work, much more time consuming and by the time I get through with a hive, many soaking wet bees are crawling outside the hive including up my suit.  I also spray with Sucrocide when I am moving frames from hive to hive or combining:  the theory being that wetting them confuses their organization and covers over their individual hive smell temporarily so that they are not defensive against "outsider" bees.

I really don't know if another method is better, but for me, Sucrocide has been successful.  It is also inexpensive.

I look forward to reading other opinions.

[Joseph Clemens]

Varroa mites are problematic for all of todays beekeepers.  I have recently been looking for a good product to use as a miticide while staying away from chemical usage. As a horticulturalist I know the value of insecticidal soap on soft bodied insects and I am eager to try Sucrocide on my bees this year.  I am however looking for some input from folks who have used the product.  I don't want to use it if my fellow beekeepers have not had success with it. I am sure, as with any IPM practice, it is not in itself a silver bullet and must be used in concert with other IPM practices at the right time and in the right manner. 

Thoughts??

I take exception to your opening statement. I have never had problems with Varroa mites that required mite treatments to keep a colony alive and productive, I've been keeping bees successfully, with the mites, here in Tucson/Marana, Arizona for more than ten years without a mite treatment (except, recently with some small-cell), and I've never used any other chemical treatments, ever -- except recently I began using Bt for wax moth larvae.