I recently had a conversation with a research and extension person, and mention was made of an inability to use Formic Acid in Southern states when it is "too hot".
This confused me slightly, as I had always assumed that the bees did a good job of regulating brood nest temps (95F to 98F) and keeping a minimum relative humidity level (55% and up) in the brood area regardless of the outside conditions. I can understand that extremely high humidity days along the Gulf Coast can be damp enough to shut down formic outgassing, but there is no harm in extending the treatment by a few days if that kind of thing happens for a few days, as the formic simply stays in the package.
I'm interested in this, as I really like using Oxalic and Formic acid much more than using the various neurotoxins, as the mites can become resistant to a neurotoxin, but can't become resistant to a physiological attack posed by the acids. And if the formic isn't working as expected for some folks, this is worth looking into, as there are good models for things like Formic outgassing (Clausius-Clapeyron relationships, Raoult's law, Antoine's equation...) and it is not hard to collect samples and measure the actual amount for formic in the air inside the beehive versus what the ideal range for killing mites on bees and mites inside cells is. As temperature goes up, outgassing can increase at an "exponential" rate, so knowing the actual temp at the pad versus what the pad puts out sounds like something that needs some work.
Formic is the only non-neurotoxin that kills mites in the cell, and this is crucial to control of mites. If it is not working as well as it should, or if the output is too high, and harming brood, there should be a fairly simple approach of covering some of the perforated area on the formic pad depending on the temperature range, so duct tape to the rescue?
I'd like to hear from anyone who followed the instructions, yet still had problems with formic.
This confused me slightly, as I had always assumed that the bees did a good job of regulating brood nest temps (95F to 98F) and keeping a minimum relative humidity level (55% and up) in the brood area regardless of the outside conditions. I can understand that extremely high humidity days along the Gulf Coast can be damp enough to shut down formic outgassing, but there is no harm in extending the treatment by a few days if that kind of thing happens for a few days, as the formic simply stays in the package.
I'm interested in this, as I really like using Oxalic and Formic acid much more than using the various neurotoxins, as the mites can become resistant to a neurotoxin, but can't become resistant to a physiological attack posed by the acids. And if the formic isn't working as expected for some folks, this is worth looking into, as there are good models for things like Formic outgassing (Clausius-Clapeyron relationships, Raoult's law, Antoine's equation...) and it is not hard to collect samples and measure the actual amount for formic in the air inside the beehive versus what the ideal range for killing mites on bees and mites inside cells is. As temperature goes up, outgassing can increase at an "exponential" rate, so knowing the actual temp at the pad versus what the pad puts out sounds like something that needs some work.
Formic is the only non-neurotoxin that kills mites in the cell, and this is crucial to control of mites. If it is not working as well as it should, or if the output is too high, and harming brood, there should be a fairly simple approach of covering some of the perforated area on the formic pad depending on the temperature range, so duct tape to the rescue?
I'd like to hear from anyone who followed the instructions, yet still had problems with formic.
