Check Randy Oliver's site. But remember, if you measure your thymol syrup in Milli-moles, he will claim you are not a beekeeper( a comment I took personal).
Thymomite from Heilyser Technologies is a fine product. It is a strip impregnated with 12g of thymol. Add 1 strip on the top bars, 2 weeks later a second one. Treat when temps are below 90F. works pretty good. Price is reasonable.
You can also add 2 tsp of thymol in the lid of a honey jar. You need a screen of sorts place on the lid to keep the bees from removing the thymol. You would also need an inner cover o there is sufficient room to place the thymol. the bees tend to want to propolize the screen to seal the thymol vapours.
I have tried the former method and not the latter.
Thymomite from Heilyser Technologies is a fine product. It is a strip impregnated with 12g of thymol. Add 1 strip on the top bars, 2 weeks later a second one. Treat when temps are below 90F. works pretty good. Price is reasonable.
I will second that. Bees will tend to propolize it at times but when the conditions are right it's a pretty effective treatment. The big advantage thymol has over Formic is that you aren't "on the clock" before it quits working. Even after an extended period of cold weather, in which few mites are being killed, all it seems to take is a little warm weather to activate it again.
My understanding is that Thymol is a “membrane disruptor”. To me this is like putting soap or salt on an open wound. Mites and insects have soft connective tissue around moving parts that are susceptible.
There are some commercial applications on the market and some homemade applications too.
I will third the comment on the strips fro hieslyer.
My personal experience, first year we had bees. 24 hr sticky board count turned up one mite. We debated treating at all, but we had strips, so put them in. 24 hours later another count. I lost track of the count somewhere north of a thousand from that same hive.
Year one, all hives survived. Year 2, we put strips into 6 hives. Similar drops, and all survived. This year we put them in all the hives. We put two strips in a double deep, one in a nuc. Two applications on two week spacing.
Are the strips the reason we have had 100% survival when everybody around us is losing hives? I dunno, but not going to try going without them to find out.
Interesting side note, our bees haul them out in the spring.
I am also thinking about using a cup of this mixture and soaking paper towels in a zip lock bag then put the paper towels under the inner cover for a lingering effect. The bees will eventually chew it up I think and remove it.
Several years ago a beek from another country was soaking cord (soft rope?) in FGMoil with thymol. Put several inches of rope into hive. (I'll have to search and re-read about it.) I'm also thinking a soft treatment might be beneficial and easier on the hive. We've tried thymol in syrup, no negative effects, didn't notice positive either. Plain FGMO really starts the hive humming, so this might be important part of treatment success. I'll post again if I find the information.
Use blue shop towels.
12 gr thymol plus 18 gr vegtable oil for each towel.
Multiply by number of towels you need. ( 2 towels per hive )
Use 1 towel 2 weeks apart. Leave the fist towel in the hive when you add the second.
Done this for 5 years now.
Works great. Not to many losses. Around 15%.
Run 300 hives now.
Hi Bear's Treasure,
What kind of thymol do you buy? Do you have a link? I see all kinds on line and at amazon, but I'm not sure what to buy.
Thanks,
Robbin
In EU there are only two authorised (in most of the countries) formulations for thymol : Api Life Var and Thymovar.
I don´t know how is in US , but here authorised treatments are expensive ( about 5 euro / one treatment / hive), and the use of tymol in crystals or solutions is not allowed.
But... we are stingy and so, new formulations appear... as a domestic formula of Thymovar, with the same results and a lower price.
Here goes :
Needed : thymol in crystals, sunflower oil or other frying oil, vermiculite block ( I don´t know how is called in US but here we call it "oasis" and it´s used in flower shops to put NATURAL flowers, as there is another one very similar for artificial flower that is not suitable).
8 g of thymol + 12.5 ml of sunflower oil for hive.
Cut the vermiculite block in slices of 1 cm. You will get "wafers" of about 10.5 X 7.5 X 1 cm.
Crush a little the vermiculite wafer between two planks (not essential but will absorb better the thymol).
Heat the oil to 70º C.
Remove from stove and add thymol
Mix until it solves completely
With a syringe, put carefully 20 ml or the mixture in each vermiculite wafer , without leaking, until it absorbs completely . It should be used immediately , one "wafer" / hive, broken in two or four parts, above the nest and in the periphery of brood (as Thymovar or Api Life Var).
Repeat in 12 days. In hot weather , a third application is recommended 12 days after the second. 12 to 15 days after the last application, remaining residues should be removed from the hive.
DO THE MIXTURE IN A WELL VENTILATED PLACE .
USE PROTECTION GLOVES AND GOGLES.
BE SURE THAT REGULATIONS IN YOUR COUNTRY ALLOW THIS.
You are going to see a lot of the same issues with thymomite as you will with Apiguard. Some queens may shut down and you may even lose a few here and there. I really like the convenience of the strips and have had good success using them between the boxes in a double placed across the frames and towards the back. We have used half strips with good success if the forecast is for high temps creeping above 90. A repeat application a few weeks later may well get your mite numbers to acceptable levels though some hives just seem determined to propolize them instead of shredding and removing them.
Yes, it's true thymol fumes are heavier than air but if you put the strips directly under the lid you need a rim to allow space for evaporation or a lot of hives will propolize them onto the lid, in effect, sealing them up. I don't have rims or recessed lids but, again, have seen pretty good efficacy when placed in the middle of a double where it is within but on the outer fringes of the cluster. That's where they get the most attention. BTW don't even think of trying to hang them between frames like most other mite control strips.
I saw that you have tried hopguard 2. In your experience do you think the efficacy was as good as using the thymol strips? And did you have to replace the hopguard 2 strips after 10 days to get a full mite cycle kill?
Oh man, I was afraid someone would ask me this. Seems like both these products are fickle and follow up monitoring is prudent with both. I saw good results and not so good with each and don't fully understand why. A follow up treatment with thymomite is pretty much mandatory and despite Hopguard 2's claim to being a "one and done" treatment I'll just say don't count on it. Both should be used when it's still warm....but not too warm, though, thymol is a bit more volatile if temps get much over 90 They both kills lots of mites, for sure, but getting control in a large "broody" hive in late summer is a pretty tall order. I really like the look of the hives after Hopguard more so than a thymol treatment because it seems like there is more of a regenerative process going on with lots of frames of eggs and larvae and hygienic activity as opposed to the thymol where queens are more apt to shut down. I tend to think the real "sweet spot" for Hopguard usage is in the spring in a nuc of 4 comb size once a new queen is up and running after a brood break. Much less chance of queen issues with it.
<I tend to think the real "sweet spot" for Hopguard usage is in the spring in a nuc of 4 comb size once a new queen is up and running after a brood break. Much less chance of queen issues with it.>
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