[Plannerwgp]

I tried Hopgurard on a few hives. The product consists of what appears to be thick paper of plastic type strips that fold over and fit over a frame. It was a very messy product that was what I would call greasy, sticky and didnt smell very good. I wonder if it was so greasey because of warm weather. Does anyone else have experience with this product?

 

[dudelt]

I tried the product about 6 years ago and promised myself I would never do that again. The instructions at the time (they may have changed since) stated you should put the strips in for a certain period of time ( I cannot remember how long it was but I think it was 5 days) and you could use the product 3 times a year. Since the product only worked on the phoretic mites, you actually needed to apply it 3 times in succession, not 3 times per year. All of my hives died from mites about 3 months later in December. The strips were messy and the smell was not that terrible. Hopguard II might be better but I have had great luck with OAV and Apivar and am not ready to try Hopguard again.

 

[bushpilot]

I have used HG2, they recently came out with HG3, which I have not used. Agred that HG2 is a bit messy. I think it worked adequately (it has been a while, so I forget), but I noted more bee death than I expected.

I have found my sweet spot for treating with OAV, with Formic as my other treatment.

 

[Plannerwgp]

Since I used it this one time I will not use it again. Instead of a second deep I used 2 supers that I do not want to contaminate with any other treatment so I thought HG would be the best choice. Now I am not certain how to proceed as I want to use these supers for honey next year. I cant use OAV or formic as they will imapct the supers.

 

[bushpilot]

Formic can be used with supers on, per the label.

If I understand you correctly, and you want to use OAV this year for boxes/frames that are going to be used for honey next year, I don't see any problem. OAV does not contaminate wax, it will be gone long before next year.

 

[Plannerwgp]

Unfortunately, I have a serious health problem with my lungs and can not go near the stuff. I have used Apivar on my other hives.

Formic can be used with supers on, per the label.

If I understand you correctly, and you want to use OAV this year for boxes/frames that are going to be used for honey next year, I don't see any problem. OAV does not contaminate wax, it will be gone long before next year.