Bt against wax moth?

[buckbee]

Has anyone any experience of using Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) against wax moth? I am trying to stop the use of PDB locally and not everyone can freeze.

How easy is it to use?
How effective?
Any downside?

[magnet-man]

It does work. It is a 1 to 19 mix and is applied using a hand-spray bottle., so it is very easy to apply. The only down side I know of is it smells bad.

On a side note I did try to grow it in petri dishes but was unable to. I assume there were any spores they were not viable. The product does contain the endo-toxins and seems to have a long shelf life.

[Michael Bush]

>Has anyone any experience of using Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) against wax moth?

Yes.

>How easy is it to use?

Very.

>How effective?

Very for years afterwards.

>Any downside?

Cost?

[Robert Brenchley]

It worked a treat the one time I had to use it. Very easy to use; I just sprayted it over the frames with the bees in situ; I didn't bother with the broodnests as I'd already established that the bees were well capable of dealing with moth there. I had some weak colonies with an infestation of greater wax moth, which I'd never had before, and as it hasn't been found this far north till very recently I wanted rid of it as fast as possible. It just vanished with no harm to the bees that I could see.