[Tenacious Dave]

Last year I had huge SHB problems in my home apiary. Not so much at my work (2 colony apiary) about 20 miles away. This year I started early with laying diatomaceous earth. The only beetles I've seen were overwintered. The next inspection yielded zero and so far I have not seen a single SHB in either yard. I am extremely happy about these results.
Keep in mind I used a Freeman style board last year but somehow beetles were bypassing it enough to continue their life cycle and increase in numbers throughout the year.
Less ants too.

Just thought I would share.

Interesting article about how this natural product can be used safely around bees:

https://www.diatomaceousearth.com/b...apply-diatomaceous-earth-without-hurting-bees

 

[BernhardHeuvel]

Thanks for sharing. So how exactly did you apply the diatomaceous earth? Just around the hives on the ground? Or in-hive application?

 

[Jadeguppy]

I've used it under hives in the past. DE is my first go to for ant and flea control in my yard.

 

[ruthiesbees]

I've been using it for years now on the IPM board of my topbar hives that have screened bottoms. Very important that it be "bee-tight", but it's wonderful for killing the SHB adults and larvae, as well as mites and wax moth larvae. In our humid summers, I do have to replace it about every 10 days, but it is cheap. I buy the food grade kind because some were worried that it might blow up into the beehive into the combs (haven't seen that happen with my solid IPM boards, but it might be possible)

 

[Nhaupt2]

I was under the impression that adult beetles would fly for miles to the scent of a beehive. We luckily dont have a problem with them here in Colorado, but there are always random sightings around the time that packages from down south show up in the spring. I have only seen a few in my hives ever, and they showed up when the neighbor bought 20 packages a few years back. Luckily we have pretty heavy clay here which is not great for their reproduction. I don't doubt that the diatomaceous earth kills the larvae and the adults from your hive, but how many hundreds of hives do you think are around you that don't get treated as such?

 

[Tenacious Dave]

Thanks for sharing. So how exactly did you apply the diatomaceous earth? Just around the hives on the ground? Or in-hive application?

Just around the hives on the ground. Basically a perimeter around each hive. Try not to get any inside the hive or on any bees.

 

[Tenacious Dave]

I was under the impression that adult beetles would fly for miles to the scent of a beehive. We luckily dont have a problem with them here in Colorado, but there are always random sightings around the time that packages from down south show up in the spring. I have only seen a few in my hives ever, and they showed up when the neighbor bought 20 packages a few years back. Luckily we have pretty heavy clay here which is not great for their reproduction. I don't doubt that the diatomaceous earth kills the larvae and the adults from your hive, but how many hundreds of hives do you think are around you that don't get treated as such?

You are correct. I assume there are plenty of untreated hives in my area. I also screen the top vent holes. Most hives have only the notched inner cover, but some have extra holes for the feeder box. I screen off all possible entrances except the bottom landing board. This also helps to prevent wax moths from entering the hives.