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  • Varroa treatment .

  • Honeybee pests and diseases.
Honeybee pests and diseases.
 #7753  by AdamD
 14 Jun 2020, 10:46
I was alerted to the website 'Stopvarroa.co.uk' which advertises a magic product with 100% success, with a spray on the comb the varroa in the colony will be completely destroyed in 24 hours.

One of the reviews states" Very good product, I would miss this big opportunity if I did not give it a try,
I will order it again, as I am sure already." Doesn't read true to me.

The returns address (the only one shown) is in the US.
The product is not licenced in the UK.

Any ideas?
 #7800  by Chrisbarlow
 17 Jun 2020, 17:55
It looks dodgy
 #7806  by Murox
 18 Jun 2020, 09:53
AdamD wrote:
14 Jun 2020, 10:46
I was alerted to the website 'Stopvarroa.co.uk' which advertises a magic product with 100% success, with a spray on the comb the varroa in the colony will be completely destroyed in 24 hours.

One of the reviews states" Very good product, I would miss this big opportunity if I did not give it a try,
I will order it again, as I am sure already." Doesn't read true to me.

The returns address (the only one shown) is in the US.
The product is not licenced in the UK. Any ideas?
An american product unlicensed and for sale in the UK with 'magic' results - has to be
a) a hoax or a con
b) precursor to opening up trade barriers.
Not sure how anything could be 100% effective since most mites are inside sealed cells. Best quick knockdown I've found is sublimated oxalic treatment.
 #7807  by NigelP
 18 Jun 2020, 10:49
Worth looking at "Evaluating the efficiency of oxalic acid vaporization and brood interruption in controlling the honey bee pest Varroa destructor" C Jack et al. 2020, Journal of economic entomology.
Essentially they found vaporised OA had little effect on varroa levels. Brood interruption (queen caging) weakens hives considerably, whereas Amitraz (positive control) did the job.
My only concern is they used a low dose of OA (1g) per hive rather than the 2g+ per hive that most others use. They are currently repeating their experiments with higher doses of OA.
Abstract of paper below.

A successful Integrated Pest Management approach to Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman control in managed colonies of western honey bees Apis mellifera Linnaeus (Hymenoptera: Apidae) must be an improvement over conventional control methods and include cost-effective treatments that can be readily employed by beekeepers. Herein, we tested the efficacy of oxalic acid (OA) vaporization and brood interruption as Varroa controls. Sixty experimental colonies were randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups with 10 colonies per group. The six treatments were: 1) OA applied once, 2) OA applied three times, 3) brood interruption, 4) OA applied once + brood interruption, 5) OA applied three times + brood interruption, and 6) no OA or brood interruption. The OA was applied via vaporization, with each application being 1 g OA applied through the hive entrance (label rate), on the bottom board. Brood interruption was accomplished by caging a colony's queen in a queen cage for a period of 24 d. An additional 10 colonies were treated with amitraz (Apivar - positive control). Varroa levels were estimated before, during, and after treatment applications using sticky boards left in colonies for 3 d. Our data suggest that queen caging to achieve brood interruption during the fall season can negatively impact colony strength and survival. We observed high colony mortality in some treatments, despite diligent colony management to alleviate the side effects of the treatments. Colonies treated with amitraz were healthier and had better survival than those treated with OA vaporization. In conclusion, OA and/or brood interruption did not provide sufficient Varroa control.
 #7808  by Murox
 18 Jun 2020, 11:46
Thats not really comparing like with like is it ? Amitraz and its chemical synonyms stay in the hive for how long ?? and oxalic sublimation is a more or less instant knockdown. We know oxalic vaps are best used on 4 occasions at five day intervals to cover the brood period.
Its probably fair to say that no one system has 'the' answer, resistance to some chemical treatments is already starting – not sure if mites can resist acidic vapours in the same way – burns their legs off doesn't it?
 #7809  by AdamD
 18 Jun 2020, 11:51
I haven't found the full article yet.

Maybe the higher, 2g dose will give better results. So I won't bin my vaporizer just yet!
 #7812  by NigelP
 18 Jun 2020, 13:01
Murox wrote:
18 Jun 2020, 11:46
Thats not really comparing like with like is it ? Amitraz and its chemical synonyms stay in the hive for how long ?? and oxalic sublimation is a more or less instant knockdown.
According to other papers OA knockdown continues for several days after application. It's also not really known exactly how OA vapour affects varroa. IIRC there is some evidence that it is absorbed by their foot pads and acidifies them internally whilst also damaging their "feet", but as far as I can find their is no definitive evidence on the action of OA vaporized crystals on varroa.
Their point was OA had no real affect on mite levels even when 3 or 4 vapes were given 7 days apart (and this was done on hives with and without brood). Not that Amitraz was the solution, it was their positive control to see how other beekeeper recognised methods compared to it and was only in the hives for the same time as the other methods were used. There is a review of the whole paper in the science section of the ABJ, which is where I came across it.

I've had problems with OA vaporization in the past. Using a sublimox which is one of the most temperature controlled and efficient methods of vaporization. I would find a few hive where mite levels refused to drop (this is vaping every 5 days). After 4 or 5 vapers I was still getting drops of 100's of varroa. Worst case took 10 vapes to get down to double figures.. Others have reported similar issues with some hives using vaporized oxalic acid.

Like Adam I shall see what their results are using higher concentrations of OA before binning the vaporizer.
 #7815  by Murox
 18 Jun 2020, 14:07
Personally I ring the changes with treatments, just my effort to avoid resistance. I was struck by the amount of data/studies that are available for the various chemical treatments and how many are 'sponsored' by the companies who who make them. I was equally surprised to find how few there are really about the more naturally occurring organic acids eg oxalic which are abundant and cheap and how there is nearly always some sort of "we don't really know" caveat. Maybe I am just cynical.
 #7817  by NigelP
 18 Jun 2020, 16:36
Probably /wry grin/
There are several papers on OA mainly about trickling, their is a nice review on trickling with a bit on vaporization. Google

Oxalic_acid_treatments_for_varroa_control_review.

Acute Contact Toxicity of Oxalic Acid to Varroa destructor
(Acari: Varroidae) and Their Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae)
Hosts in Laboratory Bioassays

Quite a few on vaporization, but not as many. First ones were from University of Sussex, Ratnieks is the name to look up..

Al Toufailia, H. M., Amiri, E., Scandian, L., Kryger, P., Ratnieks, F. L. W. (2014). Towards integrated control of varroa: effect of variation in hygienic behaviour among honey bee colonies on mite population increase and deformed wing virus incidence. Journal of Apicultural Research 53, 555-562.

Al Toufailia, H.M., Scandian, L, Ratnieks, F. L .W. (2015) Towards integrated control of varroa: comparing application methods and doses of oxalic acid on the mortality of phoretic Varroa destructor mites and their honey bee hosts. Journal of Apicultural Research, 54(2), 109-121