By: Eric Malcolm
Eric and Kensie wearing full face respirators prior to an application of Oxalic acid treatment on the UMD colonies. (Photo: Eric Malcolm, September 4, 2024, Glenn Dale, MD)
We are attempting to manage Varroa using only non-synthetic chemicals. With Maryland's 2024 summer temperatures being so high, we decided to use ApiGuard (thymol) for our post-honey harvest mite treatment. The initial application of ApiGuard consisted of one 25 gram dose, per the application instructions for high temperatures. To be safe, we did a mid-treatment alcohol wash and found the yard average was nearly unchanged at around 8%.
We're not sure why the first dose of the ApiGuard treatment did not seem to work but we are very glad we checked mid-way as our need for quick mite reduction was urgent. There are a lot of colonies nearby, so it's always possible reinfestation occurred, but most of our splits and late spring nucs had significantly lower mite loads. A few of our overwintered colonies seem to have gathered mites like they were nectar in just a few short months. (One was twenty percent!)
We decided to change treatments and have just wrapped up our third round of Oxalic Acid vaporization (OAV), which were applied 5 days apart, in hopes of more quickly reducing mite loads. Stay turned and we will provide an update on what the mite loads look like once post-treatment inspections have been completed and lab results are in!
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