Does anyone use Fumigillin-b in a drench method on a commercial level? If so how do you mix it?
Yes. We are all guessing, it seems. Too bad we have to use this drug. The sooner we find alternate solutions that do not involve sacrificing our bees and our livelihood, the better.The spaniards did use bags and that would necessitate an inner cover at least. Not everybody uses that piece of equipment. Now I'm not sure why they used baggies. They are easy to place over the cluster at the precise place. From what I hear bees will not syrup if heavily infected with Nosema Ceranae so beekeepers resort to drenching. I'm not sure if the Spaniards did this. I thought they did but again not sure. I would think that drenching would give a good distribution of the syrup, provided it did not end up on the bottom board.
John, been there and am doing that, I'll let you know if anything comes of it .I suspect Tea tree oil known for its anti fungal properties may be worth exploring also.
I use 0.25 gram/gallon as a mold preventative. It also happens to coincide with a concentration of 0.44 mM thymol which is what was used in a 3-year study done in Turkey comparing its effectiveness with that of fumidil. I have never used it as a varroa treatment so I can't comment on that. I also use thymolated syrup when I mix my pollen patties, again as a mold preventative. Some have questioned how effective Thymol treatment is on Nosema since the results of the Turkey study have not officially been duplicated. I have chosen to use it over other mold preventatives in the hopes that there is some validity to that study. For a raging verified active Nosema infestation, it still seems that fumidil is the only treatment that provides a more verifiable immediate result.that you have fed.
I have fed 1gram/gallon syrup.......makes some colonies cluster on the outside... but seen no damage otherwise. Think recommended dosage in Spain was .44gm/gallon.Also fed fumidil -B seperately in syrup. I understand thymol also hinders varroa developement