West Traps and Mites

[Flyman]

Anybody have an opinion or actually experience to prove if West traps will also take out mites? I use mineral oil in the traps for SHB (they work really well) but wonder if the mites that fall also die. The traps covers the SBB and I'm hoping I am not using one treatment to the detrement of the other.

[Grant]

I gave my hives a West Trap late in this summer. Hives have to be very level, and they seem to take a lot of veg oil. They also catch a lot of hive trash (pollen, wax granules, chewed capping crumbs). I ended up lining mine with paper towels to make them easier to clean, and used a thick concentration of soapy water (Dawn dishwashing liqud). It was cheaper than liquid vegetable oil.

They do trap mites, but my main purpose was to drown SHB.

Grant
Jackson, MO http://www.MakingPlasticFramesWork.homestead.com

[Panhandle Bee man]

The mites that fall into the oil will die. However there are a lot of places on a west trap for mites to land that isn't in the oil. those mites will crawl back into the hive. Fred Rossman made/makes a combination SBB/West hive trap. Looked like a good idea to me.

[Flyman]

Grant, what do you think your soap/water ratio is? I know soap is a control for some garden mites also. Have you also used the "sandwich box" traps that go in the top of the hive?

Panhandle, do you have a link for Rossman? Tom

[John D.]

I installed two of the West traps from Rossman in Sept. They slide under the SBB from the rear of the hive. I've been finding dead SHB in them so far. Haven't got mites yet but will keep that in mind. There is so much debris that falls in the trap, I don't know if I could see the mites if they were there.

[SL Tx]

It seems to me that a SBB would hamper the effectiveness of a West trap. I've figured it to be an either/or deal so I put diatomaceous earth and wax moth/SHB lure in the tray under the SBB when I figure SHB's to be active. Am I missing something?

[beemandan]

It seems to me that a SBB would hamper the effectiveness of a West trap. I've figured it to be an either/or deal

SL, I'm inclined to agree. I still bought a handful of those bottom boards from Fred this year. I'm planning to outfit one yard with them. I'm going to slide the West trap in, underneath the SBB, without its cover. I want to see how many SHB larvae drop down into the oil.

I've begun to suspect that ordinary SBBs may make my SHB problem worse. They give adult SHB an easy escape from harrassing bees and give SHB larvae an easy drop to the soil. I'm not sure if slight reduction in varroa is worth the increase in SHB.

[snarky]

Last year I used a west trap under the SBB - got mites, SHB, and larva. you have to look thru the debris but the mites that go thru the SBB are in the oil. also got someone elses bees - I think they thought they found an unguarded entrance.

I got the tray as close to the SBB as I could, made it like a drawer back of the hive. The biggest problem was that water got in it when it rained. not much of a problem here in GA.