Varrora AND Tracheal mite treatment

[Ricko]

I'd like to treat this fall for mites as a preventative measure. My plan is to use OA with the Canadian vaporizer and battery.
I plan on doing two treatments a week apart.

My question is:Is this treatment good for both, Varrora and Tracheal Mites?

[Michael Bush]

>I'd like to treat this fall for mites as a preventative measure.

I'm not sure why you want to treat as a preventative. If you don't have a lot of mites isn't it a waste all the way around?

Why not monitor and see what the mite load is first.

>My plan is to use OA with the Canadian vaporizer and battery.

I've had good luck with OA vapor.

>I plan on doing two treatments a week apart.

I'd do that after brood rearing stops. That way you'll get virtually all the mites.

>My question is:Is this treatment good for both, Varrora and Tracheal Mites?

I believe it does.

[magnet-man]

I have done quite a bit of searching to find if OA works on Tracheal Mites and have not seen anything that says it works. The only positive studies were for Varrora. I have found studies that say FA works on Treacheal Mites though.

I would love to see a link to an study that says it works. If it is out there, I am sure one of you will find it.

[Ricko]

"I'm not sure why you want to treat as a preventative. If you don't have a lot of mites isn't it a waste all the way around?"

I hope you're just kidding me here Michael! LOL
Would you buy a new car and never change the oil unless the pan gasket started to leak or the engine started to burn oil?

Michael, the treatment of my hives with OA is my method, by which I also monitor. It is preventive maintenance, which represents a two pronged attack!
First, it kills or substantially reduces the mites that are there. Secondly, it allows me to count (monitor) the kill rate to see how serious problem is. To do otherwise, well now that’s a waste of time!
Isn't an ounce of prevention worth not having a pound of hurt?
Otherwise,thank you for letting me know that I can kill two birds with one stone.

[Michael Bush]

>"I'm not sure why you want to treat as a preventative. If you don't have a lot of mites isn't it a waste all the way around?"
I hope you're just kidding me here Michael!
LOL

I am not kidding at all.

>Would you buy a new car and never change the oil unless the pan gasket started to leak or the engine started to burn oil?

Would you replace the water pump every year on your new car just in case it might wear out? Would you put a new transmission in before the old one quits? I would diagnose the problem first and then, if there is one, fix it.

Would you take antibiotics once a week to make sure you don't get sick? Would you have your appendix removed to keep from getting appendicitis? Why treat a problem unless you know you HAVE a problem first.

>First, it kills or substantially reduces the mites that are there. Secondly, it allows me to count (monitor) the kill rate to see how serious problem is. To do otherwise, well now that’s a waste of time!

To not treat doesn't take time. To monitor, of course does take some, and I would recommend that.

>Isn't an ounce of prevention worth not having a pound of hurt?

Doing an unnecessary treatment is not prevention. It's treating something that isn't a problem. All treatments have their side effects.

>Otherwise,thank you for letting me know that I can kill two birds with one stone.

I don't know that there are studies on OA killing tracheal mites, but the Oxalic breaks down some into formic acid, so if formic acid kills the tracheal mites, it's a pretty good guess the OA vapor will also, if not because of the OA, then because of the formic acid released.

[magnet-man]

MB, I think you need a mixture of glycerol and oxalic acid to make formic acid. I don't believe any formic acid is created when you heat it.

[This message has been edited by magnet-man (edited September 22, 2004).]

[Michael Bush]

I don't know about that. I only know that several people have said that it does. I do know that the formic and oxalic work on the same principle and I would expect it to kill tracheal mites for the same reasons. But I don't know of a study on the subject, not to say there isn't one.

[magnet-man]

I have a call into the Beltsville research lab regarding two questions. The first is oxalic acid affect on tracheal mites. The second question is why Bacillus thuringiensis is no longer registered for use in the US. Apparently at one time it was available under the Certan brand name.

Will let everyone know when I hear something.

[Walt McBride]

Magnet-Man, from what I understood about Certan not bee-ing on the market here in the US was the cost to keep it registered for use. The profit from sale was not great enought to make it practicable to sell.
Walt

[magnet-man]

That is what I figured. Certan seemed really targeted to the wax moth.

There are different strains of B.t., each with specific toxicity to particular types of insects: B.t. aizawai (B.t.a.) is used against wax moth larvae in honeycombs; B.t. israelensis (B.t.i.) is effective against mosquitoes, blackflies and some midges; B.t. kurstaki (B.t.k.) controls various types of lepidopterous insects, including the gypsy moth and cabbage looper. A new strain, B.t. san diego, has been found to be effective against certain beetle species and the boll weevil. Source: (http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/24d-captan/bt-ext.html)

However it has found its way into transgenic crops.
Mycogen (c/o Dow AgroSciences) and Pioneer (c/o Dupont) have put the cryIC gene
from B.t.a. into their The transgenic maize line TC1507 which is resistant to the European corn borer. I would say industry has been quite busy putting genes from B.t.a. in a number of crops. Can you say cotton and rice?

There are also varieties that have an effect on some beetles. They are Bacillus thuringiensis var. san diego and Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis. So there may be hope against the SHB. I saw that nasty picture the American Bee Journal had this month. Makes me glad that Oklahoma does not have SHB yet.

Does anyone know what queen breeder in Texas lost the 600 mating nucs? Between the AHB and SHB Texas just cann’t get a break!

Well this has been a little off thread.


[This message has been edited by magnet-man (edited September 24, 2004).]

[magnet-man]

Well I sort of got an answer from Beltsville. Certan does work but was too labor intensive to be widely accepted.

As for oxalic acid affect on tracheal mites he did not have an authoritative answer to give. I wonder if I could get a grant for such a study?

[BULLSEYE BILL]

>I wonder if I could get a grant for such a study?

If you have a big business AND a PHD you can.