[Steves1967]

So today I did my second weekly treatment, all haves had many dead mites on the bottom boards. A couple hives that overwintered last winter had thousands. Literally thousands of dead mites from last weeks treatment.

 

[Glen H]

So today I did my second weekly treatment, all haves had many dead mites on the bottom boards. A couple hives that overwintered last winter had thousands. Literally thousands of dead mites from last weeks treatment.

How long did it take, after the treatment to see the big mite drop? Did it happen the next day or was it bit by bit over several days the mite drop showed up? Was the big drop after the first treatment or after the second one?
How far apart were the treatments. I'm still learning to use my Vaporizer.

Glen

 

[Steves1967]

Glen, I have been super busy so I had not been out to see them at all in a week. The last time was when I treated them.

 

[cristianNiculae]

It would be so nice if somebody with enough experience on using different kind of vaporizers would write an article on the subject and post it as "info" on the main site. For now the information is pretty dispersed throughout the forum. We cannot buy vaporizers in all countries and if we were to buy them in Europe for example we would pay a lot of money including expensive transport.

Regards,
Cristian

 

[julysun]

Here is a video link, there are several on the web that demo the simple to complex vaporizers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALHz4B1vqKo

 

[Bob J]

How long did it take, after the treatment to see the big mite drop? Did it happen the next day or was it bit by bit over several days the mite drop showed up? Was the big drop after the first treatment or after the second one?
How far apart were the treatments. I'm still learning to use my Vaporizer.

Glen

Glen, On my hives the main mite drop was after two days..... Checked the first day and was disappointed but the second day had a huge drop.... Each successive day for the next 3 or so had less and less drop....

 

[Daniel Y]

The simplest vaporizer I have used is a small metal dish. make it very small and shallow. Over a hooka coal. I now have the $99 think from Canada and with the cost of other treatments it has paid for itself a couple of times over. I am waiting to see how long it lasts. I made my own but it cost as much as the one from Canada before I was finished.

Best news is I never see signs of mites in my hives anymore.

 

[Robbin]

How long did it take, after the treatment to see the big mite drop? Did it happen the next day or was it bit by bit over several days the mite drop showed up? Was the big drop after the first treatment or after the second one?
How far apart were the treatments. I'm still learning to use my Vaporizer.

Glen

Hi Glen, In my experience big mite drops follow the first two treatments, most on day 2 and 3. I treat 7 days apart. Drop counts begin to fall after the 2nd treatment. How much and how quickly depends on how much brood there is. I like to treat at least 3 times a week apart to cover a brood cycle. That way all the mites in the brood have emerged and can be treated.
following the 3rd treatment counts really fall off, thou I usually treat 4 times in a row. this year I've decided to go with 3 sets of 3 treatments. Now, before the supers go on, as I am in florida and building fast, then again after the supers come off and we're in the middle of the derth and once more in late fall as the brood cycles down. In Florida we have mild winters but tons of mites.
I didn't lose a hive over winter. Lost a small nuc last summer to SHB which you guys don't even have.
Good luck,
Robbin

 

[TELMAG]

I am new to bees and came across Glen H's Homemade oxalic acid vaporizer and made one myself but had some issues and not as neat as Glen's model. when I put it together and tested it the heater elements melted the plastic housing, guess I had the heater elements too far back in the plastic body. Have to look for some small insulating material to overcome it and also give support to the 3/4 pipe cap end and the immersion heater element.
Wondering if anyone else made one similar to Glens model and if they had similar problems.

 

[MichaelShantz]

snip

 

[Glen H]

I only powered that small heater for seconds at a time.
Try not heating it for as long. Just give it shots of power on and off.


Glen

 

[BeeAttitudes]

Never mind......sorry.

 

[snapper1d]

Here is one I put together this morning and posted it on another link.Its was blowing glow plugs though so When I get that resolved I think it should work good.

 

[nater37]

The amps on the battery make all the difference on time. My pickup battery takes 2.30 mins and my motorcycle takes 4.30 mins to finish off 2 grams. I put a 20 foot 12 gauge wire so I don't have to tote a battery around.

 

[snapper1d]

Is the tip of your glow plug some how against the plate.With the blown glow plugs I was told they had to be against the metal to keep from over heating and blowing.Mine blew in only a few seconds.

 

[nater37]

Yes the block is machined to fit the glow plug. I was nervous about blowing the glow plug after putting in water after treatment, but has worked fine so far.

 

[snapper1d]

So your heating element is toughing the metal.Well thats what I was needing to know.I will have to wrap mine with copper and put it in and then mast it down to touching the element real good.I can do that with my vice and not get it squeezed down without putting a lot of pressure on it.

 

[brushwoodnursery]

I'm fairly new to OV treatment but I had a pretty cool idea and wanted to run it by some folks. I had a friend who scorched her frames and melted some wax leaving it in too long. How can you tell? I also have trouble with this and timing and spilling and all the sundry things associated with using a flat burner on a long stick that I can't see doing its thing inside the hive. For me, the timing gets difficult to monitor when the element is hot. The squirrels in my brain started running around and I thought: why not something that is more portable, easy to use and you can see when the vapor is done?
My idea is to use a battery operated tool as a platform and hook in a small fan, a heating element and a clear plastic or glass "cone" to blow the vapors into the hive. I'll attach a sketch.
Before i go shredding and building, i wonder if any of you have thoughts about amperage, voltage, correct vaporizing temperatures and the concept in general.

 

[snapper1d]

I think there are already some vaporizers out there that do that.I think the problem is the vapor goes everywhere inside and out.I saw a guy using one on youtube.But if you can come up with something that would work go go ahead and show us.There is always a better way doing everything.

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

>> use a battery operated tool as a platform and ...

Keep in mind that a typical commercial vaporizer (and many of the homemade ones using glow plugs) are approximately 150 watts. At 12 volts that is about 13 amps. At 18 volts that is 8.4 amps. Your tool battery will need to be capable of delivering that load for the length your heater "on" time. That may be a challenge for a typical tool battery.