Grease patty with EO

[Hoxbar]

I've read so many conflicting articles about grease patties with EO for mite control. I've got a couple of questions.
1. Do grease patties with EO help control mites?
2. Which EO work best against mites?
3. Can I have a good grease patty recipe using EO?

Thanks in advance.....

[sqkcrk]

EO as in etholyn oxide? Or what?

Not everyone, ie me, knows what all of the abbreviations mean. Newspapers usually spell out what they later abbreviate. I'll try to keep that in mind when I next post something like AHB or HBH. Thanks.

[stoweski]

Essential Oils.

I have used grease patties with EO's. Out of five hives that we overwintered with a pollen patty and grease patty two made it. One never even touched the grease patty.

Thymol is the EO you need for mites.... Just like what is in ApiGuard. Although when I bought EO's I also bought wintergreen and lemongrass as well as Thyme.

I've also toyed with adding EO's to sugar syrup in the Fall.

I do not know where I hid the recipe I used. I'll look around. As I recall it's only a couple of drops of thymol though. That stuff is potent.

[sqkcrk]

That makes sense. Thanks.

[Hoxbar]

Have you used lemongrass?

[stoweski]

Do a search for grease patties - you'll find plenty of recipes on here.

Not sure if the link will work but here is one with several different recipes. Notice one suggests a lemongrass substitute.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223029

I didn't use lemongrass oil in my last batch. Unfortunately I cannot find the recipe I used. I believe I mixed a little wintergreen and thyme though. No more than a few drops... and I know the stuff was potent so be careful!

[Rick 1456]

Whether it works or not is the question I'm still debating with myself to treat or not and what with. I have used some wintergreen in a grease recipe.
I made the grease "patties" and put them on top of the brood area. some bees took it, some didn't.(hives that is) So,, I substituted half honey(mine) for the sugar portion of the mix. Since the grease is supposed to inhibit the mites ability to hold on, and the EO is supposed to confuse the mites senses and potentially kill the mite if it comes in contact, what was the best way to get the max number of bees in contact with the mix? I put the patty at the entrance,,,,It pretty much just laid there,,,some of it disappeared, but I didn't think it was being effective. The next time I made a batch,,,I loaded it in a "Jerky Gun". If you are not familiar,,it is basically a caulking gun use to make jerky strips. I used the meat stick tube. I squeezed a strip all the way across the hive entrance and in close. Didn't block the entrance, but the bees pretty much couldn't go out or in without coming in contact with the stuff. When the bees hit that stuff,, it was a grooming frenzy Alot of them would groom before they took off,,,and when they landed before going in the hive. The entrance bees ate it and it disappeared pretty quick. In a dearth, it was all gone in 2 days. I have found an occasional mite on the entrance board. I suspect everybody probably does so can't say if the stuff caused it. I do not use SBB and have not done a mite count as of yet. My hives are well populated and healthy as far as I can tell.
BTW when I subbed the honey for sugar,,the honey does not mix with liquid crisco. I used a cake mixer to blend it together.
If anyone is interested,,Jerky guns are readily available at Cabelas,,Bass Pro,,,,Walmart during the hunting season.
Good luck,,,,,If someone tries this and does a before and after mite count,,,I'd interested in the results
Thanks
Rick SoMd