Ground Treatment

[bluescorpion]

Hi All

I'm a new beekeeper here in NC and wanted to find out what you guys suggest to treat the ground underneath my hives to kill off ants and any bad larvae that may have fallen to the ground?

Thanks for any input

[hpm08161947]

The best advice I can give you would be to keep your hives as strong and full of bees as you can. A strong hive can take care of itself.

[Mbeck]

I've watered in a few gallons of permethrin and water mix under Nuc stands and pallets before I placed bees there. I think the mix rate (check) was 10-15 mls per gallon of 35%.
In both cases I wanted to place bees where there was either fireants or carpenters ants.
It works for a while but probably isn't worth the effort.

[WWW]

I do not have any practical experience with this but have heard that Clorox can be applied to kill these vermin but is a short lived treatment.

[cg3]

It won't help with ants but for the other stuff tou could traet the ground with concrete.

[Maryland Beekeeper]

Diatomaceous Earth around the hive, according to FatBMan, will kill the SHB's

[mac]

Inspector said folks are applying powdered cloths washing detergent around hives before it rains not sure if it works or not but soapy water kills beetles so it sounds good.

[Michael Bush]

Back in the '70s I didn't know any beekeepers who wouldn't lecture you about insecticides being a "treadmill" and killing insects with poisons being a horrible idea that kills indiscriminately both beneficial insects and pests. Now the beekeepers have mostly jumped on the insecticide bandwagon, treating their own beeyards and even their hives with things that, if not currently labeled insecticides, they used to be.

I would not treat the ground with anything that would kill insects.... but that's my philosophy. One that used to be fairly universal among beekeepers a few decades ago...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesphilosophy.htm

[Blackwater Bees]

Ants-high temp axle grease on hive stand legs-reapply as needed. Wax moths- Stong hive, you can spray stored comb with BT Aizawai from classifieds on beesource. Small Hive Beetle- Good luck, I haven't found anything to kill them out yet. I did get some marginal help from checkmite strips stapled to the bottom of corregated carboard pieces and placed on the hive floor. Drenching under hives may not be effective if you have melon or cucumber fields near you. They are a pest of that family of vegetables and can reproduce in them. When they disc the fields near me (thousands of acres of cucumbers) under in midsummer and again in the fall, I get a huge influx of adult beetles. Weak hive = slimed dead hive. Just my $.02

[Tia]

Strong bees! That's the main answer but if you want to go chemical free (see Mike Bush's statements above) you can also try beneficial nematodes (you can get them at www.GardensAlive.com--I use them on my garden and I have no squash vine borers!) or do as I do and get chickens! The girls scratch through that dirt and eat all the nasties!

[bmat555]

Diatomaecus earth will really help. I use is around my bee hives as well as around the house to control ants. I had a renter that left one of my houses with bedbugs. I used a steamer and diatomaecus earth and never had another problem with them. I built a house last summer and put it in the walls before drywall went on and that house has virtually no bug problem even though it is very rural and used only frequently. I feed it to the dogs to prevent worms. It sounds crazy but really works. You can buy it at Menards in the garden center.

[bluescorpion]

I've heard about Diatomaecus Earth before but didn't really know much about it. I think I'll give it a try. Hopefully this will help control the ants and small larvae in the ground.

[mmmooretx]

I use no insecticides anywhere near my hives. I do put the weed blocker fiberglass cloth under the hive, which also helps me track what is falling out when I run my SBB open. But I do put down a nematode application once a year that is SHB specific because that is my primary issue. My stand is 1" galvanized pipe with a 2" PVC ant shield that has high temp. bearing grease in it for ant control. The link for the nematodes is below, but it is not a fix all, it only reduces their numbers while they are pupating or in the larval state in the ground. Adults will fly in the hive entrance in the evening. I strongly support MB's have a strong hive to be healthy. Oh yeah the DE loses most of its effective power when it gets wet or is rained on, I did use it for a while, it works on ants too.

http://www.bugsforgrowers.com/produc...abditis-indica