Formic acid

[Juandefuca]

Does anyone ever worked with formic acid to control Varroa and Tracheal mites ?
What tooling you use for controlled evaporation.
I am aware of the illegality of it because of safety aspects.
The long awaited Gel form is still not available yet. Pity .
Catfish

[This message has been edited by Juandefuca (edited 03-26-2000).]

[Barry]

> The long awaited Gel form is still not available yet. Pity .

It appears it won't be either until this fall. Seeing that it's illegal in the states, I haven't used it and don't intend to either. I'm trying to get off the use of all chemicals, myself. It seems sooner or later we will be forced to rethink how we keep bees as the current treatments keep getting stronger and stronger and last for fewer years.

My personal thoughts.

-Barry

[Juandefuca]

I have certainly no problem with the attempt to eliminate any So called Chemical control.
In the meantime , until we get that far , we are loosing colonies.I lost just 4 of them 3 to tracheal mites and nosema and one to nosema. Although I treated in the fall and again this feb. when I detected both.
Obviously the duration and quantity was not enough. In the fall I treated with Coumaphose and now I find not ONE varroa.Finally I purchased FA and have an evaporator. No sign in that colony of any varroa yet. Bees do well in that hive. Two TBH hives do not exhibit any trace of any illness nor mites.
I will check the cell size in those and will report.I still would like to experiment with FGO but the quantity to purchse is nonsense as well as the shipping from the sources. Somewhere there must be source locally to get the stuff. Where and for what is it used ??
What are other brand names? How can one determine the viscosity ? I would appreciate any info on that , so I can spread the word in this area, the Pacific North West.
Jdf
Feet note. According to unreliable sources , the manufature of the gel product has solved the problem of their machinery, which shortchanged the Quantity within some of the packages. IT should on the market shortly, so it is said.
[This message has been edited by Juandefuca (edited 04-04-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Juandefuca (edited 04-04-2000).]

[Barry]

Latest info from the producer himself:

"WE HAVE SHIPPED ABOUT 50,000 APICURE PACKETS. THERE WERE SOME PROBLEMS
WITH THE PACKAGING MACHINERY UNDER FILLING SOME OF THE PACKAGES, BUT
THAT HAS BEEN SOLVED AND THE 50,000 THAT WENT OUT ARE ALL AT 200 GRAMS
OR ABOVE. THERE HAS BEEN ONE CASE THAT I KNOW OF WHERE TWO PACKETS HAD
INADEQUATE GELLING AGENT IN THEM WHICH EMPHASIZES THE NEED TO USE
CHEMICAL RESISTANT GLOVES AS PER THE LABEL AND NOT BEEKEEPER'S LEATHER
GLOVES.. SOME OF THE INITIAL 3000 PACKETS THAT WENT OUT WERE NOT
ADEQUATELY WASHED AND GAVE OUT QUITE AN ODOR FROM FORMIC RESIDUE ON THE
OUTSIDE. BUT, SO FAR WE HAVEN'T HAD ANY PACKETS THAT WEREN'T SEALED
PROPERLY. I AM CONFIDENT THAT ALL THE MINOR GLITCHES ARE BEYOND US NOW,
AND WE HAVE TO FACE THE MAJOR PROBLEM - PRODUCING ENOUGH TO MEET THE
DEMAND WE EXPECT IN THE SUMMER FOR FALL USE. WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO LINE
UP ANOTHER PACKAGER AND IT WOULD CERTAINLY HELP IF THE BEEKEEPERS
ORDERED FROM THE DISTRIBUTORS WELL IN ADVANCE. BOB STEVENS"

I will try and get answers to your questions about FGMO.

-Barry