Rewaxing plastic foundation

[EQCM2B]

I recently lost one of my hives and when I noticed that the bees were gone it was FULL of wax moth larvae. Not knowing exactly what to do I removed all of the wax from the plastic foundation. My first question is should I rewax the foundation or will the new bees take care of that? Second question was removing the wax a good idea or should I have just let them finish developing and place the frames in the sun?  Any advice would be appreciated.

[Ben Framed]

??should I have just let them finish developing and place the frames in the sun??? 

I would think the sooner you finish the larva off the better if they were SHB. I would not want them having the opportunity to escape and  burrow into the ground.  Being you said wax moths, I don't know. Phillip

[saltybluegrass]

What are the best ways to remove wax moth mess from your plastic frames

[cao]

This is the main thing about plastic foundation and plastic frames that I do not like.  If there is a problem and you need to clean the frames, there is no easy way  to do it.  Scraping the wax and comb off and then pressure washing has worked the best for me.  Then a good coat of wax. 

The biggest problem is that the plastic will not hold up to temperatures that melt the wax.  If you are using wood, all you need to do is put it in a solar wax melter and let all the wax melt away.

[The15thMember]

??should I have just let them finish developing and place the frames in the sun??? 

I would think the sooner you finish the larva off the better if they were SHB. I would not want them having the opportunity to escape and  burrow into the ground.  Being you said wax moths, I don't know. Phillip

Just to clarify, wax moths do not burrow in the ground to pupate, they pupate in a silken cocoon.  I don't have any experience with foundation, so I can't speak that that aspect, but I'd think that with any pest you'd want to kill them and not just let them develop.     

[saltybluegrass]

Yeah Cao I learned about melting plastic foundations on the grill went above 20?%

[Ben Framed]

??should I have just let them finish developing and place the frames in the sun??? 

I would think the sooner you finish the larva off the better if they were SHB. I would not want them having the opportunity to escape and  burrow into the ground.  Being you said wax moths, I don't know. Phillip

Just to clarify, wax moths do not burrow in the ground to pupate, they pupate in a silken cocoon.  I don't have any experience with foundation, so I can't speak that that aspect, but I'd think that with any pest you'd want to kill them and not just let them develop.     

That is true wax moths do not burrow in the ground. SHB do. I suspect that the problem is SHB, just form my own  experience and some on here has said wax moths are usually controlled by a strong hive. No information was given as to the problem caused by the larva, such as webbing per wax moths or sliming such as SHB, except the bees were gone. Again another good indication that SHB may be the problem by the bees leaving. Even so for the benefit of the doubt that I have,  I did go on to say, I don?t know meaning, I have no experience with wax moths.
Phillip

[EQCM2B]

Thanks for the replies. I?m still a little confused on my primary question of do I NEED to rewax the foundations or is it something that some people do and some people don?t?

[Ben Framed]

Thanks for the replies. I?m still a little confused on my primary question of do I NEED to rewax the foundations or is it something that some people do and some people don?t?

If the plastic is clear of wax, then most defiantly.

[2Sox]

[attachment=0][/attachmenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDxLA6MKa3k

Here's a neat idea.

[Ben Framed]

Here's a neat idea.

Good Stuff 2Sox.  Jeff comes up with some good ideas.