Dadant considering not carrying SC plastic any longer:

[dcwilliams]

I just got off the phone with Dadant, and the sales rep said they are out of SC plastic and are debating whether to continue carrying it any longer.

[Michael Bush]

It seems to work ok once the bees are regressed, but since it hasn't worked well for regression, I can understand that. I believe Dadant isn't the manufacturer so maybe the manufacturer will find another supply company to handle it. Maybe the manufacturer was too greedy?

[dcwilliams]

The rep stated it wasn't a big mover. Perhaps the warnings scared everyone off, or like you said - mabye the manufacturer was a little greedy.

[Oyster]

I just received my shipment of 10 sheets of SC foundation from Brushy Mountain, so at least there is one alternate supplier.

[Branman]

I have a lot, but have yet to have good luck with it

[Joseph Clemens]

The plastic small-cell foundation works beautifully for me. I did a small experiment, I set-up and used two deeps with all plastic small-cell foundation with the frames on normal spacing using normal 1-3/8" end bars. This Spring I observed my first full-size frame of nearly perfectly formed small-cell comb filled nearly solid with capped worker brood - a gorgeous sight.

Since I was using pierco plastic foundation and frames before I began using small-cell wax and then small-cell plastic foundation it is understood to have substituted for an initial regression.

I use 3 - 10 frame medium depth supers (6-5/8") for brood with an excluder before placing any additional honey supers.

I cut the sheets of plastic small-cell foundation in half horizontally. I use commercial grooved top bars, cut my own end bars, 1-1/4" wide and cut my bottom bars to fit between the end bars, nailing them in place from the outside of the end bars. I use two bottom bars, one that has a narrow groove to hold the bottom of the foundation in place; and one without a groove to close the bottom of the frame. This makes an open space below the foundation, between the two bottom bars of about an inch. The bees usually build drone comb in this empty area. I plan to reverse this on some frames, place the open space at the top of the frame to see what difference this may have. If nothing else it will make a convenient way to handle them, at least until the bees build comb in them.

[Branman]

that gives me a lot of hope, I just put some more plastic in, I'll know the results soon. I hope I can get some good SC worker cells out of this batch

[Phoenix]

Dadant only sells stuff that has a high turnover rate, or they can get their hands on it fairly easy. The Small Cell plastic foundation comes from China, therefore they have to purchase quite a bit in order to make it worth their while. Because there has been a lot of skepticism towards Small Cell Retrogression it took too long to turn over the inventory. Wax Small Cell foundation on the other hand is manufactured in-house therefore there is no need for consideration of stagnant inventory.

[George Fergusson]

Has anyone tried making their own foundation- large cell or small? I came across a description of a simple-to-make mold for casting your own foundation and while it sounds a bit tedious, it just could be a good activity for those long cold winter nights here in Maine- at my age, making babies- the traditional wintertime activity around here, isn't an option any more...

George-

[Branman]

George, are you referring to plastic foundation? That would be pretty sweet [img]smile.gif[/img]

[George Fergusson]

> George, are you referring to plastic foundation? That would be pretty sweet

There I go again, getting off topic.. but it IS a question well worthy of a thread of it's own. Expect one soon!

George-