Fall Mite Treatment - Mite Away II vs. Others

[MWillard]

I'm a first year beekeeper and I'm preparing for my fall treament of varroa mites. I'm curious to hear what folks experience has been using Mite Away II and the results they have seen.

I was at our annual Vermont winter meeting back in January and heard a talk by Medhat Nasr, Provincial Apiculturist in Edmonton Alberta. He gave a great talk about the history of mite treatments and the affectiveness and lack there of by all of the various chemicals.

To sum it up, Medhat's research showed a significant advantage to using formic acid (Mite Away II) vs. Apistan and Check Mite.

Any thoughts?

[Andrew Dewey]

Mite Away II is a more recent product than check mite and apistan. CM and A both have issues with resistant mites and probably (talk with other local beekeepers) will not provide good control. MA II has it's own set of drawbacks - you will want to use a respirator when placing it on the hives - that should tell you something about the potential effects on you!

That said, I've used MA II and will use it on some of my hives this fall. I'll treat other hives with Apiguard. MA II is temperature sensitive so I only use it in yards I can easily get to. Remember - miticides are pesticides. Handle accordingly. Wear nitrile or rubber gloves.

Have you been doing regular mite counts? Do you need to treat your hives?

[wildbranch2007]

in the fall if the temp. is to high for mite wayII i put on apiguard both are effective if the temp is high enough, get it on early enough.

mike

[danno]

I see your in Vermont To bad because if you were alittle further north in Canada you wouldn't need the respirator. Apparantly Canadians breath different than us in the states. Point is use your head. Watch the wind and leave the cover on the tub until you get out side. Were not talking nuclear waste here

[beedeetee]

MA-II worked well for me. I didn't use a respirator, just kept down wind. They do smell strong but are easy to apply. I used pliers to handle them.

In the last week of the application the temp got up to 90 with no ill effects. It sounds like the temperature is most critical in the first week.

[MWillard]

Have you been doing regular mite counts? Do you need to treat your hives?

We have a SBB on the hives with a sticky board. We saw a few mites in mid-May, but none since then. We also have been pulling capped drone brood for a visual inspection and haven't seen a single mite on any of the pupae.

Of course that's not to say my hives don't have mites, because I'm sure they are in there.

I want to treat them and make sure the mite levels are as low as possible heading into winter.

Michael

[caberwife]

This Canadian used a respirator when she was applying formic acid pads to the hive! Not to mention rubber boots, rubber gloves and eye protection. :)

This is my first year keeping bees, so I'm following the instructions of my mentor, who gave me the formic acid pads and interior frames to rest them on. I'll see how things go with this treatment.

[danno]

This Canadian used a respirator when she was applying formic acid pads to the hive! Not to mention rubber boots, rubber gloves and eye protection. :)

This is my first year keeping bees, so I'm following the instructions of my mentor, who gave me the formic acid pads and interior frames to rest them on. I'll see how things go with this treatment.

Im not saying that you shouldn't wear safty equipment when needed but here in the states its required. In Canada it is not. Safty is always important but they push everything to far here

[Greg]

Michael,

I've been following your post with interest. I'm in my first year in Cornwall and have seen no mites - just checked my SBB with sticky board over the weekend.

Are you planning an keeping the SBB over the winter and are you leaving it completely open to the ground? Anyone else in the area care to comment on leaving the SBB open over the winter?

Thanks,

Greg

[oldenglish]

Im not saying that you shouldn't wear safty equipment when needed but here in the states its required. In Canada it is not. Safty is always important but they push everything to far here

Formic acid is pretty corrosive on the lungs, I guess in Canada with their medical, lung replacements are not a problem so just standing upwind in sufficient. If I was using it I would wear all the safety equipment, the saying "better safe than sorry" seems most apt.
That said I am not putting any chemicals in my hives.

[NewbeeNnc]

If you don't see a mite problem then why would you treat? Michael Bush would probably say, why would you treat at all. Usually 1st years hives don't need a treatment unless things have gotten really bad in the hive. I would check a few more times on your board count before it gets cold and see if you may need to treat in the spring, but sounds like to me you're in good shape.

[indypartridge]

If you don't see a mite problem then why would you treat? Usually 1st years hives don't need a treatment unless things have gotten really bad in the hive. I would check a few more times on your board count before it gets cold and see if you may need to treat in the spring, but sounds like to me you're in good shape.
My thoughts exactly.

[scdw43]

Yep, same here.