Chrisbarlow wrote: ↑04 Oct 2018, 21:36
I do have thymol and I am told its a good way to avoid nosema, maybe one day I`ll try it. I have a recipe some where for mix ratios some where.
There are at least 2 different recipes for thymol solutions for addition to syrup. There is the Hivemaker, thymol- Lecithin emulsion which is more complex than the easier Manley recipe, which is what I use.
For a 1000x/2000x concentrated stock solution AKA Manley you dissolve 20gms of thymol crystals in 100 ml of Isopropanol. In use you add either 1ml per liter of sugar solution (1000x). Or I use it as 2000X and add 0,5ml to 1 liter. Both concentrations stop any mold forming, but whether this simpler thymol solution is effective as a nosema preventative is more speculative. However, I have never had a colony suffer from serious nosema (or at least the ones I've tested) since I started using it. Nor have I ever found any mould growing in any of my 1:1 sugar solutions,which has included containers left outside all year in out apiaries for the "just in case occasional emergency feed".