?thymol?

[BEEn Stung]

I been away from this post for a while. things have changed. Last year I saw little , if any, mention of thymol.
Last year I done the FGMO thing with almost complete success. Worked good all summer but now I am getting many mites.
Guess I will have to do lot of studding and learn about thymol and how to use it.
Can somebody point me to a summery.
Don't tell me "In the bee journal". I have never seen it and probably will not.

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Erwin

[Michael Bush]

I will preface this that some of this is my opinions. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

Thymol. It comes from the Thyme plant. It's one of the active ingredients in Listerine and Vicks Vapo Rub and Gold Bond poweder. It has that distictive listerine smell.

It is a good antimicrobial. It kills bacteria and most viruses and most fungus.

Apparently it also kills mites.

It is the active ingredient in ApiLife Var which has had some trials to proof it is effective. It is used a lot in europe as just crystals in a tray with hardware cloth on it to keep the bees from hauling them out and throwing them away. Most of the tests I read the crystals in the tray was just as effective and cheaper than the ApiLife Var.

Dr Rodriguez has been adding it to FGMO. http://www.beesource.com/pov/rodriguez/abjsept2003.htm

[bjerm2]

I mix thymol this time of year just to help knock down the mites. Thymol kills on contact where FGMO by itself does not. It causes the bees to groom, making the bees knock off the mites from themselves, and the mites that are not on the bees to get coated and suffocate. I use 25 grams in a pint of FGMO. So far it is working out well for me. I use Thymol with FGMO in the spring (make up one batch) use it up then all summer use just FGMO and then again in the fall after the harvest start using thymol again. Bees go into winter without much or any infestation of mite. In the spring any that might have escaped the fall treatments are again taken care of with the first few applications before I put on the honey supers.
Dan